Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c11.121

c11.121

This army was organized on the quota system; each high officer or autonomous ruler being expected to produce on demand a fixed number of troops. This system was not very different from the one prevailing in the Vijayanagar empire which had more than a million troops of its own. Accordingly 4 to 4.4 million should not be considered to be too high for the extensive empire of Akbar. Therefore, as in the case of the South, its numerical strength should help form an estimate of population of the North. Calculating on the basis of this figure in the ratio of 1 : 30 (adopted by Moreland for the South), we get a population of about 120 to 132 millions for Akbar's empire. To this may be added 30 millions or a little more for the South and the tracts not included in Akbar's empire, and the total population of India in 1600 would again come to about 150 to 165 million.