Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c6.s1.29

c6.s1.29

It must be emphasised, however, that large figures by themselves, though sometimes frightening, may not always be incorrect. In this connection let us examine the statement of Professor H. K. Sherwani, who, commenting on the details given by medieval chronicles on the Bahmani-Vijayanagar war says: "If the number of the enemies of the Bahmanis said to have been killed or massacred during the various campaigns undertaken during the hundred and fifty years of Bahmani rule were to be added together, there would hardly be a human soul left south of the Tungbhadra or in the Telingana."²⁰ It is true that the figures and statistics of contemporary (and later) writers are imposing, but there are reasons for their being so. The number of combat troops in the Deccan was undoubtedly large—so large that "it certainly demands a large strain on our credulity."²¹ Leaving aside the testimony of Indian writers in this regard, Nuniz, Barros, and Conti all place the army of Vijayanagar above a million. Abdur Razzaq (1442), who stayed at the Vijayanagar court for about six months and whose statement therefore can hardly be doubted, puts the number at 1,100,000 with 1,000 elephants. The Bahmanis too had an immensely large army. Nikitin states that in the 1462 campaign the Gulbarga forces amounted to 190,000 horse, 900,000 foot, and 575 elephants. The sultan himself, independently of his nobles, took the field with 300,000 men. Many other facts and data are available,²² but the above mentioned should suffice to prove that killings in the Bhamani-Vijayanagar war were on an extensive scale.