Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c26.21

c26.21

We have on many occasions referred to Edward Thornton's *Gazetteer of the Territories Under the Government of the East India Company* in four volumes (1854). It provides information on a variety of subjects usually contained in a *Gazetteer*, but its unique feature is that it gives population statistics of most of the cities and districts of India for the pre-census period of A.D. 1800-1850. Thornton collected his data from a number of sources like the *Indian Legislative Dispatches*, *Parliamentary Return of April, 1851*, Heber's *Narrative of Journal*, *East India Company Manuscript Documents*, Sleeman's *Rambles and Recollections*, Butters's *Topography of Oudh*, Garden's *Tables of Routes*, and most important of all, reports of Madras Census and other censuses locally held. Some of the information provided by Thornton is reproduced here to give an idea of Hindu-Muslim proportion about the year 1800 at which our study closes. The figures are for the period ranging between 1800 and 1851, but these, by and large, can convey a fair idea of the population of important cities and districts and Hindu-Muslim ratio about the year A.D. 1800.