Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c6.2

c6.2

Our source materials discussed in Section I are many and varied in nature. However their sifting and utilization for a demographic study of medieval India are beset with many difficulties. Of course it would not be fair to expect from medieval chroniclers definite population statistics; these are not found in any historical works in any country in the pre-census times. But while our sources are deficient in figures and data, they are rich in facts providing historical background and circumstantial evidence for demographic behaviour. We shall discuss their merits and faults in the same sequence as adopted in Section I.