Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c5.s3.6

c5.s3.6

Indian Census Reports from 1872 onwards too are important. The first all-India census was held in 1872. But it was non-synchronous, the enumeration extended over two to three months, and it took place in different areas in different months. But after 1881 more scientific methods of enumeration were brought into use. Population figures of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries by themselves are of no use to us, but Census Reports are not merely catalogues of figures. They trace historical background and deduce evidence for any particular or collective demographic behaviour. Information of social, religious, or economic nature collected by census officials, having a bearing on modern population patterns, could also be fruitfully used for the study of medieval Indian population trends.