''Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India (1000-1800)'' is a book written by

K. S. Lal Kishori Saran Lal (1920–2002), better known as K. S. Lal, was an Indian historian. He is the author of several works, mainly on the medieval history of India. Career He obtained his master's degree in 1941 at the University of Allahabad. In ...

published in 1973. The book attempts to assesses the demographics of India between 1000 CE and 1500 CE. 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 Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn ( fa, ; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi ( fa, ), was the founder of the Turkic Ghaznavid dynasty, ruling from 998 to 1030. At t ...

's invasions of India alone. The book's conclusions were disputed by several scholars. The book was praised by

Koenraad Elst Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...

, and the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...

Reviews

The book garnered mixed reviews.

Stephen Neill Stephen Charles Neill (1900–1984Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, p. 488.) was a British Anglican bishop, missionary and scholar. He was proficient in a number of languages, including Ancient Greek, Latin and Tamil. He went to Trini ...

, in his book ''A History of Christianity in India'', regarded the book to contain "important sidelights". Professor Fritz Lehmann of

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thr ...

regarded the book as an "ambitious work" that contained a "mixture of half-truth and downright error." Simon Digby disputed Lal's study of the demographic situation in medieval India in a 1975 review in ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies''. Digby argued that because the sources used by Lal were poor and because there were significant unknown variables, Lal's estimates were not credible. Digby compared Lal's book to other speculative work, concluding that such writing was an example of

garbage in, garbage out In computer science, garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is the concept that flawed, or nonsense (garbage) input data produces nonsense output. Rubbish in, rubbish out (RIRO) is an alternate wording. The principle applies to all logical argumentatio ...

. Marxist historian

Irfan Habib Irfan Habib (born August 10, 1931) is an Indian historian of ancient and medieval India, following the methodology of Marxist historiography in his contributions to economic history. He identifies as a Marxist and is well known for his strong ...

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. 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 Koenraad Elst (; born 7 August 1959) is a Flemish right wing Hindutva author, known primarily for his support of the Out of India theory and the Hindutva movement. Schola ...

, 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 Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

is not exaggerated." Roshni Sengupta writes that this book endeared K.S. Lal to the RSS, who used it to portray Muslims as "destructive barbarians, foreigners and immoral degenerates." Saeed Rid and Mohammad Hassan also write that the RSS regard the book's claims as a "gospel truth".

Reviews

See also

References

Further reading