Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India

Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India (1000-1800) is a book written by K. S. Lal published in 1973.

The book assesses the demographics of India between 1000 CE and 1500 CE. On the basis of the available historical evidence, K.S. Lal concluded that the population of Indian subcontinent in 1000 was about 200 million and in 1500 was about 170 million. He says, however, that "any study of the population of the pre-census times can be based only on estimates, and estimates by their very nature tend to be tentative."

Lal estimates that about 60 to 80 million people died in India between 1000 and 1525 as a result of the Islamic invasion of Indian subcontinent. He concluded that about 2 million people died during Mahmud of Ghazni's invasions of India alone.[1]

Reviews

Stephen Neill in his book A History of Christianity in India, regarded the statistics and material to be "Important sidelights".[2] Historian Jeremy Black in his book Contesting History: Narratives of Public History (2014), remarked these writings to be "recent good works".[3]

Simon Digby disputed Lal's study of the demographic situation in medieval India in a review in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Digby stated that estimate lacks accurate data in pre-census times.[4] Marxist historian Irfan Habib criticized the book in 1978 in The Indian Historical Review. He described Lal's starting population figure as "a figment of the imagination of one scholar resting on nothing more tangible than the imagination of another", and faulted Lal for unexplained or faulty assumptions in his other population estimates.[5] K. S. Lal wrote a reply to Irfan Habib's criticism in 1979 in his book Bias in Indian Historiography (1979) and Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India (1999).

Koenraad Elst, a Hindutva sympathizer, referred to Lal's statistics in his book Negationism in India, remarking that "More research is needed before we can settle for a quantitatively accurate evaluation of Muslim rule in India, but at least we know for sure that the term crime against humanity is not exaggerated."[6]

See also

References
  1. (pp. 211–217)
  2. A History of Christianity in India: The Beginnings to AD 1707, Cambridge University Press, page 528, Stephen Neill
  3. Contesting History: Narratives of Public History, page. 183, A&C Black, 13-Mar-2014
  4. Digby, Simon (1975). "Reviews: K. S. Lal: Growth of Muslim population in medieval India (A.D. 1000-1800)". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 38 (1): 176–177. JSTOR 614231.
  5. Habib, Irfan (January 1978). "Economic History of the Delhi Sultanate - An Essay in Interpretation". The Indian Historical Review. IV (2): 287–303.
  6. Elst, Koenraad. "CHAPTER TWO - NEGATIONISM IN INDIA". Koenraad Elst. Retrieved 26 January 2014.

Further reading
  • K. S. Lal. (1979) "Bias in Indian Historiography" (edited by Dr. Devahuti)
  • K. S. Lal. 1999. Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India


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