Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c6.s3: Conclusions

c6.s3.1

It is thus clear that contemporary and later source materials, which are the bases of our study, are far from being 'perfect' for research on medieval Indian demography. But while direct information on medieval population is not available, some facts and data left by contemporary chroniclers have a direct bearing on our area of study. Some information can also be gleaned from the references of foreign visitors, mostly travellers and traders, especially about cities and regions thickly or sparsely populated. But contemporary writers themselves might have made mistakes about their figures, and the validity of our conclusions based on their evidence may be open to question. Our data, assumptions, and conclusions, therefore, cannot be unquestionably correct. We can only estimate possibilities and seek limits within which truth may lie.⁴⁵