Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c8.46

c8.46

Now the main problem is : what could be the population of India in A.D. 1000 ? This gives rise to another question : what were the territorial boundaries of India whose population we are going to estimate ? The India of A.D. 1000 was much bigger than what it (India and Pakistan) is today. The Hindu Shahiya kings ruled upto Hindu Kush mountains including Kabul and Lamghan and their coins used to be struck at Qandhar.²⁸ In the east the Kamrup country bordered on China.²⁹ According to some Arab geographers even Tibet (or at least a part of it) was included within the Indian frontiers.³⁰ The India of A.D. 1000 was thus a very vast country indeed. No wonder that Sulaiman the Merchant, who had visited India and China several times, writes (A.D. 851) that 'the country of India is larger than that of China...Its rulers are also larger in number'.³¹