Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c17.s5: Malwa
Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c17.s5
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Malwa
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Since the days of Khalji and Tughlaq sultans of Delhi, there were large number of Muslims in Malwa, both indigenous and foreign.⁴⁵ These numbers went on growing during the rule of the independent Muslim rulers of Malwa, the Ghoris and Khaljis (1401-1562). The pattern of growth of Muslim population in Malwa was similar to that in the other regions. Captives made in campaigns against Kherla, Orissa, and Gagraun, in the first quarter of the fifteenth century, would have added to Muslim numbers. Similarly when sultan Mahmud led an expedition against the Hara Rajputs in 1454, he put many of them to the sword, "and sent their children into slavery at Mandu." In 1468 from the ravaged and burning town of Karahra (near Chanderi), 7,000 prisoners were taken.⁴⁷
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⁴¹ Castanheda, *Historia do descobrimento e conquista de India pelos Portugueses* (Third Ed. Coimbra, 1928), II, p. 316. Mentioned in Lach, *op. cit.* (V, n. 24), p. 399.
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⁴² Lach, I, 401.
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⁴⁵ U. N. Day, *Medieval Malwa* (Delhi, 1967), pp. 6-7.
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⁴⁶ *C.H.I.*, III, *op. cit.*, (II, n. 25) p. 356.
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⁴⁷ *Ibid.*, p. 360.
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The harem of Malwa sultans formed a great source of proselytization. The seraglio of Ghayas-ud-din (1469-1500) was filled with beautiful slave girls and daughters of Rajas and Zamindars.⁴⁸ The number of its inmates was 16,000 according to Nizam-ud-din and 10,000 according to Ferishtah.⁴⁹ However, with the rise of Rajputs to power in Malwa, the enslavement of Hindus and the proselytizing activity of Malwa rulers may not have been as sustained as in other regions. Foreign elements in the Malwa army and administration were also not conspicuous.
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⁴⁸ Day, *op. cit.* (n 45), p 244. *Ferishtah*, *op. cit.* (II, n. 6), II, p. 255.
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⁴⁹ *Tabqat-i-Akbari*, *op. cit.* (VI, n. 83) III, p. 351. Ferishtah, *op. cit.* (II, n. 6), II, 255. Dr. U.N. Day, *op. cit.* (n. 45) pp. 244-46 thinks that the figure of Nizamuddin is exaggerated. Probably it is not. When it is realised that Ghayasuddin had two battalions of Habsh and Turkish women guards, each of 500, the figure of 1600 (given by Wolseley Haig) appears to be too small to be true. In fact according to Pires, who wrote between 1512 and 1515, the king of Malwa was said to have 2,000 women warriors who rode out to battle with him (*The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires* (London, 1944), I, p. 37 cited in Lach, I, p. 420). A harem of 1600 inmates would have hardly aroused any comment from medieval chroniclers. But Ghayas's seraglio was an unique institution. It was built with beauties collected from all over the world (Ferishtah). Girls were also abducted to supply its requirements. "Besides the musicians, singers, and dancers, usually found in a royal seraglio there were goldsmiths, black-smiths, shoemakers, weavers, potters, tailors, makers of bows, arrows, and quivers, carpenters, wrestlers, and jugglers, each of whom received fixed wages, their officers, also women, being paid at high rates...". (W. Haig and Ferishtah). The wages—two seers of grain and two tankahs per head per day—given to harem inmates were so low as to make one feel that it was a stable for women rather than a harem. If the number was manageable the women would have been paid and looked after better. In view of all this, the figure of 16,000 may not, after all, be an exaggeration.