Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c18.54

c18.54

The enslavement of women and children too was a common phenomenon now. The practice was revived under Shahjahan : it had not probably been abolished completely earlier. An interesting piece of information supplied by Manucci should suffice here. He gives a long list of women dancers, singers and slave-girls like Hira Bai, Sundar Bai, Nain-jot Bai, Chanchal Bai, Apsara Bai, Khushhal Bai, Kesar Bai, Gulal, Champa, Chameli, Saloni, Madhumati, Koil, Menhdi, Moti, Kishmish, Pista etc., etc., and adds : "All the above names are Hindu, and ordinarily these.. are Hindus by race, who had been carried off in infancy from various villages or the houses of different rebel Hindu princes. In spite of their Hindu names, they are, however, Mahomedans."⁴¹ It appears that the number of such converts was so large that even their Hindu names could not be changed to Islamic.⁴²