Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c23.24

c23.24

The harem system, so common in the medieval elite society, was also a great check in the over-growth of population. Multi-marriages, say having three or four wives, meant many children in the family, but not in a large harem. Let it be explained with the help of an example. Khan-i-Jahan Maqbul, the Prime Minister of Firoz Shah Tughlaq, had 2,000 women in his harem. Now if each one of these two thousand would have been married separately to two thousand men, they would have produced a large number of children of which a few thousand would have surely survived. But being in the possession of one man, they did not add as many to the population as otherwise they would have done. Besides, possession of a large number of women by one man would have deprived many others from obtaining wives, because there is no evidence to show that in medieval India the number of women was larger than that of men. Therefore, because of the harem system, many men would have perforce remained bachelors and some made eunuchs to serve in the seraglios, adding no numbers to the population. In harem, sex was probably secondary, intrigue the primary activity. From the time of Shah Turkan to that of Roshan Ara there are references to one woman being the 'political' rival of another, and removal of the opponent by poison was not uncommon. Also, since the first-born had greater legitimacy to succession, his mother ever tried to see that the other wives aborted.¹²