Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c17.4

c17.4

After Timur's visitation, a number of developments took place. The Sultanate was weakened and Hindu rulers in northern India gathered strength. But a number of independent Muslim-ruled kingdoms like Gujarat, Malwa, Khandesh and Jaunpur also came into being at the expense of the weakened Sultanate. Bahmani kingdom had declared independence about the middle of the fourteenth century, and Bengal too had become virtually independent. Curiously enough the break up of the Turkish empire helped in the rapid rise of Muslim population in the fifteenth century. The Hindu rulers no doubt had gathered strength, but they had to keep on fighting against newly established Muslim kingdoms as well as the Delhi Sultanate and in the process, and whenever they were defeated, a number of their soldiers and subjects were captured and made Musalmans. Besides conversions of non-Muslims in India a large number of foreign Muslims also arrived from abroad during this period.