Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c9: IV. A. D. 1000-1200

Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c9

Language: English

IV. A. D. 1000-1200

Jatindra Mohan Datta's figure of two hundred million as the population of India around A.D. 1000 may be taken to be a reasonably correct estimate. But as the eleventh century dawned, a sudden and rapid demographic decline was registered. The first thirty years of the eleventh century in India were witness to the repeated invasions of Mahmud of Ghazni. During and after his campaigns, the population of the country declined rapidly. Mahmud's invasions alone meant to the country a loss of about two million people.¹

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¹ See Appendix A—"Loss of Indian Population during Mahmud of Ghazni's Invasions."

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The region of Mahmud's activity extended from Peshawar to Kanauj in the east and from Peshawar to Anhilwara in the south-west. So the loss of population was only in northern India. Many of the places that he attacked were deserted². But dissemination of the Indian population due to foreign invasions had started even before Mahmud's time (especially during Muhammad bin Qasim's invasion of Sind³ and Subuktagin's attacks), and was continued thereafter. For instance from the *Tarikh-i-Subuktagin* of Baihaqi we learn about the attack on Banaras in A.D. 1033, only three years after Mahmud's death, by his successor Masud, resulting in great loss of life. "This year is also recorded by Indian historians", says Baihaqi, "as remarkable for a great drought and famine in many parts of the world, especially in Persia and India, in which entire provinces were depopulated."⁴

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² Alberuni's *India*, trs. by Edward C. Sachau, 2 vols. (London, 1910), I, p. 22.

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³ "According to Indian inscriptions, the territories overrun by the (Arab) invaders included Sind, Cutch, Surashtra or Kathiawar, Chavotaka (some Chapa principality of Gujarat or Western Rajputana), a Maurya principality apparently in southern Rajputana or Malwa, and the Gurjjara territory apparently round Binmal or Broach. The progress of the Arabs was stopped by the Chalukyas in the south, the Partiharas in the east, and the Karkotas in the north". Majumdar and others, *An Advanced History of India*, *op. cit.*, (III, n. 24) p. 182.

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⁴ Baihaqi *Tarikh-i-Subuktagin* trs in E and D, *op. cit.*, (I, n. 2) II, pp. 58-59.

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However, after the series of Ghaznavid expeditions there were no major invasions from abroad till almost the end of the twelfth century. But, in the meanwhile, Indian rulers were waging wars for political supremacy in India itself. Since the overlordship of the whole of this vast country was neither probably the aim of any single ruler nor even a remote possibility, their energies remained confined to provoking internal strife or attacking their neighbours, but in these futile exercises the country's population was certainly disseminated. Nevertheless, wars remained a common feature in the eleventh and twelfth centuries throughout the country.

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In Madhya Desa (Upper Ganges Valley) the Kalachuri kings had made themselves masters of Allahabad, Banaras and the Southern Doab, and had pushed their conquests southwards as far as Kalinga But they were opposed by a hostile combination of the rulers of Gujarat, Malwa and the Deccan, losing in the process the control of Madhya Desa to the Gahadvalas. Govind Chandra, the Gahadvala prince (1104-1114) and ruler (1114-1154) successfully repulsed Turkish attacks on northern Avadh, Banaras and other Buddhist and Hindu holy places. But the rivalry of the Gahadvalas with the Chauhans, who had set up an empire in the west with seats at Delhi and Ajmer, came to an end only when Muhammad Ghori had destroyed the scions of both houses—Prithviraj Chouhan and Jaya Chandra (Jai Chand) at the close of the twelfth century.

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In the east the Senas of Bengal were ousted by the Palas towards the close of the eleventh century. The Senas had come from Karnatika in the Deccan, and one of its warlike prince Vijaya Sen vanquished the king of Gaud, apparently of Pala lineage, and the neighbouring princes of North Bihar, Assam and Orissa. The last ruler of this dynasty, whose power was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khaljī at the end of the twelfth century, claimed to have pushed his conquests as far as the southern ocean, reduced Kamrup to subjection, and vanquished the king of Banaras.

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In the central and western parts of the country, a similar situation prevailed. To the house of the Chandelas of Bundelkhand belonged Ganda (A.D. 999-1025) who had defied Mahmud Ghaznavi for long but ultimately had to acknowledge the invader’s overlordship. After Ganda’s death the Chandelas and the Kalachuris of Chedi came into conflict, for both aspired to the overlordship of northern India. Gangeya Deva Kalachuri (1015-1040) pushed his conquests as far as Tirhut ; his son Karan Deva (1040-1070) waged wars against the rulers of Malwa and Magadh. Karan also gave a crushing defeat to the Chandela king Kirtivarman Deva (1049-1100). But the defeat was soon retrieved. Henceforward the history of the Chandelas is a history of conflicts with their neighbours. Wars against Gujarat were successful, but when the Chandela rulers plunged into a prolonged and bitter struggle with the Chauhans of Delhi, they were completely crushed by Prithvi Raj in 1182-83. They ceased to be a political power when Qutbuddin Aibak advanced against Kalinjar in 1202. The Kalachuris of Chedi became subject to the same process of decadence. The Parmar ruler Bhoj of Malwa who came to the throne in A.D. 1010 waged successful wars against Gujarat, Chedi and Karnatik. But the latter avenged their defeat about the time of his death in 1053-54. Kumarapala, the Solanki king of Gujarat (1142-73), similarly fought against the Chauhan Raja of Ajmer and the king of Malwa who had come to the latter’s aid. He also established his suzerainty in Konkan.

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In the South, warlike activities were as common as in the North. From 973 to 1190 Karnataka was dominated by the Chalukyas, and the Chalukyas were engaged in bitter feuds with the Paramaras of Malwa and the Cholas of Tanjore (early eleventh century). The Cholas under Rajaraja I and his famous son, Rajendra Chola I, conquered nearly the whole of the Tamil Nadu region. His general marched as far as the Ganges and Rajendra Chola himself inflicted a defeat on Mahipal I of Bengal as well as the Chalukya king of the Deccan.

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This brief picture of a warring India, was surely detriment to population growth. Alberuni’s work “scarcely reminds the r of the incessant wars...during which it had been prepared."⁵ Nevertheless, he is almost moved by the atmosphere around him, and his picture of India cannot be called encouraging from the demographic point of view.

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⁵ Sachau in Alberuni, *op. cit.* (n. 2), p. xxiii.

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Alberuni makes mention of a number of cities and towns; although he does not attempt an estimate of their population.⁶ At this time Delhi seems to have been an obscure town, it was not considered worthy of mention in the works of Utbi and Alberuni in connection with Mahmud Ghaznavi's campaigns.⁷ Kanauj, writes he, was "a very large place", but "most of it is now in ruins and desolate".⁸ He thus confirms the statement of Al Masudi, quoted earlier, that at one time Kanauj was very populous and prosperous, but he knew of its destruction in 1018-19; hence the remark. Bhilsan (Bhilsa, Vidisha) he calls "a place most famous among the Hindus."⁹ Although such stray notices do not help much in our study, yet the work of Alberuni does give the impression that India, a vast country with a great civilization, was on the path of demographic decline.

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⁶ *Ibid.*, I, pp 196-212.

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⁷ It "was probably founded by a Tomar chieftain about the middle of the eleventh century". *Advanced History of India, op. cit.* (III, n. 24), p 186.

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⁸ Alberuni, I, p. 199.

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⁹ *Ibid.*, p. 202.

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Al Idrisi wrote a little more than a hundred years after Alberuni about the middle of the twelfth century, mainly about Sind and the West Coast. He gives an impression of demographic recovery. He calls Debul a "populous place, (and) ..Ships laden with the productions of Uman, and the vessels of China and India come to Debul."¹⁰ "Mansura occupies a space of a mile square, (but it) is great, populous, rich, and commercial...The bazars are filled with people, and well stocked with goods."¹¹ The Meds, living between Hind and Sind "are numerous"¹² Alor "is a pleasant place, and worthy of comparison with Multan as regards size"... Kalari...is a pretty town, well fortified, and is a busy trading place. "Sharusan (Sadusan) is remarkable for its size...It is much resorted to...Firabuz is a town of which the inhabitants are rich...Kirusi is nearly as large as Multan...Armail is nearly as large as Firabuz. It is well peopled...The inhabitants are rich...Darak is a populous trading town...Fardan is a commercial town the environs of which are well populated." Similar are the notices about Multan, Jandur (Jand-rud), and Sandur. "Masurjan is a well peopled commercial town."¹³

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¹⁰ *Nuzhat-ul-Mushtaq. op. cit.* (III, n. 20), p. 77.

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¹¹ *Ibid.*, p. 78.

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¹² *Ibid.*, 79.

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¹³ *Ibid.*, pp. 79-84.

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"The towns of India (as separate from Sind) are very numerous" says Idrisi. Kambaya is well known as a naval station; Subara is a populous, busy town; Sindan is populous and large and has an extensive commerce both in exports and imports. Broach and Asawal (old name for Ahmedabad) are well populated. The list of Al Idrisi is long¹⁴ and includes remarks about as far-off regions as Malwa and Banaras. He even talks of Kanauj as a strong and prosperous kingdom,¹⁵ which indicates its rehabilitation after the devastating attack of Mahmud.¹⁶ Some sort of recovery is also discernible in the rebuilding of a few temples destroyed by Mahmud and construction of new ones by Indian rulers.¹⁷

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¹⁴ *Ibid.*, pp. 85-93.

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¹⁵ *Ibid.*, pp. 90-91.

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¹⁶ Alberuni, *op. cit.* (n. 2), I, p. 199.

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¹⁷ Thornton's *Gazetteer*, *op. cit.* (I, n. 7), see under Abu.

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But a little reflection would help realise that in spite of the notices of Al Idrisi, Indian population did show a decline during this period. Idrisi mostly talks of port-towns and cities in Sind. This Sind was under Muslim rule. Khwaja Masud bin Sad bin Salman, a poet contemporary of Sultan Ibrahim Ghaznavi, also loved his Lahore, now a Muslim city in the Ghaznavid empire. These Muslim writers were right in their own way of thinking and feeling. The population of Punjab and Sind impressed them; in its important towns there were now many Muslim inhabitants, and they felt jubilant at the extension of Islam into India. They, naturally, did not care to note that immigration of a few Muslims from abroad would have been neutralized by the emigration of Indians to South-East Asia in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, that conversions to Islam did not mean addition to population, and that both Punjab and Sind had larger number of inhabitants in pre-Mahmud days.

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Evidence for the decline of population in the eleventh and twelfth centuries is quite strong. Firstly, Mahmud Ghaznavi's invasions had resulted in loss of Indian population and the recession of Indian territorial boundaries. Kabul and Lamghan had been taken by Subuktagin, and under Mahmud the western Punjab up to Lahore at least had been annexed to the Ghaznavid empire. Khwaja Salman gives the boundaries of this empire thus: "Its length extends from Lahore to the Euphrates, and its breadth from Kashmir to the borders of Sistan".¹⁸ Governors of the Punjab like Ariyạruk, Niyaltigin etc. were now appointed by Ghazni. Naturally, the portion of the Punjab annexed to the Ghaznavid empire had been written off as lost to India by the Indian rulers, and it does not figure in their struggle for their supremacy in the country.¹⁹ Recession of frontiers meant a smaller India with a smaller population.

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¹⁸ *Diwan-i-Salman*, E and D *op. cit.* (I, n. 2), IV, p. 518.

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¹⁹ Lost in the first quarter of the eleventh century, Western Punjab was regained for India by Iltutmish after defeating Yaldoz in 1217. C.H.I., III, *op. cit.* (II, n. 25), p. 52.

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Secondly, from Punjab, now a 'foreign' land, attacks on Indian rulers were launched off and on, again resulting in loss of population. Mahmud had appointed officers in the Punjab "whose sole aim was to wage wars against the Rais."²⁰ Even after the Ghaznavid empire had declined and Mahmud's descendants had shifted to Lahore, Ghaznavid commanders and rulers continued to raid Indian towns and cities.

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²⁰ M. Habib, *Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznin* (Delhi Reprint, 1951), p. 95.

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Above all, Hindu rulers were constantly fighting against one another throughout this period and in all parts of the country. Their wars would have caused population decline. All these facts clearly indicate a demographic decline during these two centuries. The population of India in A.D. 1000 has been estimated at 200 million. The population of the 'shrunken' India in 1200 may not have been more than 190 million.