Demographic Politics And Population Growth - 2

[G.Subramaniam]

<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Aug 14 2006, 09:01 PM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Aug 14 2006, 09:01 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->G.Sub a question for you, do you think that the Muslim demographics declined, kept increasing or stayed stable once the Maratha, Sikh and Jat expansion began?

I know that the Muslim % went up once the British took over but what about before the British and under Hindu rule?
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Per the 1881 census, muslims were 19% of south asia
Anecdotally there was mass conversion to islam in the 19th century of
Namasudras, a Dalit bengali caste and village after village of east bengal became muslim majority
By backward extrapolation, I would say that muslims were 15% in 1800

My gut feel was that muslims were flat at 15% throughout 1700 - 1800

Upper caste hindus refused to take reconverts, well documented by
Abbe Dubois when brahmins of Mysore refused to accept return of forcibly converted hindus after death of Tipu Sultan

I am fairly sure that reconverts were accepted in the backward castes

So throughout the 18th century, there was a slow trickle of reconverts back to hinduism

This trickle was neutralised by
muslim mass breeding and womb management, namely widow remarraige
Whereas hindu widows were not remarried
and in addition the always muslim tactic of eloping with foolish hindu girls

So the answer is muslim demographics stayed stable under hindu rule