Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c16.s5.9

c16.s5.9

By the close of the fourteenth century, the situation was like this. Kashmir's introduction to Islam had started since the days of Mahmud of Ghazni. In 1315, one Shah Mirza arrived from Swat, helped oust the ruling Hindu dynasty and himself ascended the throne in 1346. But in Kashmir, till the coming of Timur at the end of the fourteenth century,⁸⁵ the population of Muslims was insignificant. Sind and Punjab were being effectively Islamised by rulers and Mongol invaders. In Gujarat, Deccan and Malwa also, because of the campaigns of local Muslim rulers against Hindu chiefs, the number of Muslims had risen. By the last years of the century, Muslim population of Delhi and its adjoining regions also went up, a fact which prompted Afif to write "from the *qasba* of Indrapat (present Indraprastha Estate) to the Kaushik-i-Shikar (present Delhi University area), five *kos* apart all the land was occupied......There were eight public mosques, and one private mosque...The public mosques were each large enough to accommodate 10,000 suppliants".⁸⁶ This clearly indicates a fairly large Muslim population in the capital city.