DATA ON MUGHAL-PERIOD VITAL STATISTICS — A PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF USABLE INFORMATION Shireen Moosvi” ‘The circumstances in which the Mughal empire declined and was de- stroyed has meant that its major central and provincial archives have perished with only few survivals. That these archives both of the ‘Mughals and their subordinate principalities were rich, with much material ftom detailed surveys is known to us ftom material derived from it in a systematised form by Abu'l Fazl in his Ain-i Akbari (©.1595), by Nainsi in his Vigat for Marwar (c.1664) and by Ali Muhammad Khan, the author of Mirat-i Ahmadi for Gujarat (¢.1761), and incidentally ot fragmentarily by other contemporary historians and travellers. Even greater evidence of its richness is provided by the few survivals, we have just referred to especially 17th century archives from the Mughal provinces of the Deccan (e.g. preserved in the A.P. Record Office, Hyderabad; the Inayat Jang Collection, National Ar- chives, New Delhi) and the records of the Amber principality in the Rajasthan State Archives, Bikaner, But these materials, while a de- light for a historian concerned with agricultural production (and so with statistics of cultivated area, number of ploughs, productivity, prices, land-tax rates, aggregated collection, etc.) give us a little in- formation on mortality and life expectation. Women and children, were not counted for even poll-tax (jizya) statistics, after the imposition of the tax in 1679. The ‘absolutely poor’ were also excluded, being ex- empt from the jizya. The tax, of course, did not apply to Muslims. ‘Thus even aggregate population change in any particular area cannot be followed. ‘The major short-run index of population growth can only be the change in the recorded cultivated/cultivable area and the size of real tax-collection. This, of course is based on the assumption ofa constant man : sown-land ratio or a constant man :tax ratic, both of which are questionable, and beg the issue of mortality rate or life expectation in absolute terms. 1, therefore, thought that one might begin to go to other kinds of information, with which European historical demography is very fa- miliar, namely, the histcry of births and deaths in families for whose individual members very detailed history is available. By its very na- ture this is bound to confine us to the Mughal imperial family, but, FAM-ID193, Aligarh, UPMedieval India 343 after all, in the case of medieval western Europe too it is the ducal families, not peasant families, with which beginning has been made in this field.’ ‘On the Mughal imperial family the official histories often record births and deaths of princes and princesses and their marriages quite punctiliously, at least, until the reign of Shahjahan. On emperor Babur’s Children, his daughter Gulbadan's memoirs? besides his own,? pro- vide more or less full information. Abu’l Fazl’s merit is that he not only supplements this data but offers the most reliable account for the offspring of Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir and his brothers (Murad and Daniyal in Akbar’s reign). The comprehensiveness of his evidence can be realized simply from the fact that while Jahangir himself men- tions only two of his daughters and contents himself by stating that “several other children had been born to me and had been received into God's mercy”,? Abu'l Fazl reports eight more daughters, that is 10 in all, The births of Shahjahan’s children are recorded in the Badshanamas of Qazvini* and Lahori’ as well as in the history of ‘Shahjahan’s reign by Salih.? These works are also our source of in- formation for the off-spring of Shahjahan’s brothers, viz., Khusrau, Parwez and Shahryar as well as his sons, Aurangzeb, Dara Shukoh and Shah Shuja. The Ma ‘asir-i Alamgiri has supplementary informa- tion on births of Aurangzeb’s children. The Akhbarat-i Darbar-i Mualla in the India Office Library, London, and the Rajasthan State Archives at Bikaner, indeed contain the desired information of the most dependable nature on births, deaths and marriage in the imperial family from Aurangzeb’s reign onward. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to sift this evidence. Tam, therefore, presenting this paper with a considerable amount of hesitation because I realise that much more spadework should have been undertaken before stepping into a field on which practically no work has been done so far. Nevertheless, these statistics suffer from a certain lacuna, in the case of princesses these are unsatisfactory, pos~ sibly, there is no comprehensive reporting of births of children to them. This is besides the fact that in the 17th century many princesses did not marry, as a part of imperial policy. We have, therefore, to confine ‘ourselves to the ‘male-tree” only. The data, as far as available, on births deaths and marriages of the ‘Mughal Imperial family from Babur to Aurangzeb and their sons other than the succeeding monarchs is set out in the Appendix (with full reference). A summary statement is given below:344 IHC: Proceedings, 58th Session, 1997 Soa Diedin Daughters _Diedia Total Total Infancy infancy Born died in Infancy Babur 0S 7 2 17 7 Humayun 6 4 1 3 B 7 Akbar 5 2 3 1 8 3 Jahangir é i z 7 q] e Murad 2) als ifs olio 3 afis Daniyal 4 2 4 3 5 5 Shanjahan—§] a 7 ql Kusra 3}13, ila of s 3)2 ala Parver 2 2 1 3 2 Shanryat 4 1 1 « 5 o ° 0 Aurangzeb F q ql 7 9 i DaraShukoh 3} 107 ye ot sho? Shah Shuje’ 2 1 7] 1 4 4 Let us begin with infant mortality. We learn specifically that Babur (b.1483; 4.1530), had from his five wives seventeen children of whom 10 were sons and 7 daughters out of the 10 sons, 5 died in infancy and of 7 daughters, 2 did not survive to adulthood. Thus the infant mortal- ity rate in the case of his children was 41.2% (50% for males and 28.6% for females). Of Humayun (b.1506; 4.1556), as many as four out of six sons did not survive, while 3 of 7 daughters died in infancy. Thus out of 13 children from four wives seven could not reach adult- hood, giving an infant mortality of 53.8%. Akbar (b.1542; 4.1605) had from his several wives only 3 sons and 3 daughters who reached adulthood. Two sons died, within a month of birth, and one daughter too died in infancy. Thus infant mortality carried off a third of his children, though they must doubtless have received the greatest care that contemporary medicine and nursing could provide. The case with his eldest son Jahangir (b.1569; 4.1627) is even ‘more startling. Many wived like his father (at least 8 wives and two concubines bore him children) he had six sons and eight daughters of ‘whom one son died within a month of birth. Of his daughters 4 died more or less immediately after birth, one at 1] months and another when 3 years. Only two of his daughters attained adulthood. There 100 the infant mortality claimed over a half (57.1%) of his off spring. Of Akbar’s two other sons, Murad (b.1570, 4.1599) had two sons, both of whom died in infancy, and only one daughter survived to reach a least her teens’; Danyal (b.1571, 4.1603) had four sons and four daughters, of whom two sons and 3 daughters died in infancy, In theMedieval India 345 fourth generation of the imperial house the infant mortality rate was ‘on the whole 60%, being 41.6% for males and as high as 77% for females. Johangir’s son Shahjahan (b. 1592; d,1666) married famous, wife ‘Mumtaz Mahal (bom 19 April 1593) in 1612. She died in 1631 after about 19 years of marriage and born him 14 children (6 sons and & daughters). Of these only four sons and two daughters survived their father. Three daughters died immediately after birth one was stillborn. ‘One died at the age of three and another at 7, both of small-pox. One son was stillborn, one died when still less than a year old and another died one and half year old. The only other son Gauhar Sultan born of a different mother also died in infancy. Thus for his children the fant mortality rate was as high as 60% with the daughters being af- fected still more than the sons. Our knowledge is rather incomplete about Shahjahan’s brother Khusrau (b.1587; d.1677). But we know he had three sons, one of whom died in infancy. Both sons of Parwez (b.1589; d.1627) died without reaching adulthood while Shahryar (b.1604-1626) had no son, and only one daughter survived him. On the whole in the Sth generation, of the 22 children 12 died in infancy giving a rate of 54.5% for overall infant mortality; 62.5% for females and 53.8% for males. The offspring of Aurangzeb (b.1618; 4.1707) were more fortu- nate. He had 5 sons and 5 daughters of these only one daughter Zinnatun Nisa (b. 1643) seems to have died early, since no further in- formation is available about her, beyond her birth and name. All other 3 sons and 4 daughters attained adulthood. For details see Appendix. For Aurangzeb’ three brothers our information is incomplete. The births of three sons and two daughters of Dara Shukoh (b.1615; 4.1627) and two sons and two daughters of Shah Shuja‘ (b.1616, d.1659) are reported by Lahori. Though admittedly small our sample helps to provide some data, even if tentative, about the sex-ratio and infant mortality: out of 104 recorded births 56 were of males and 48 of females, the male-female atio being $3.8:46.2, There is a possibility that the higher number of male births is due to the bias in reporting rather than in actual fact. Indeed, it can be argued that the fact that reported female births are not much behind male births, gives us some confidence that our infor- mation is fairly comprehensive. A very striking feature of these statistics is that infant mortality rate is extraordinarily high. At least 45 out of 104 children born dur-346 IHC: Proceedings, 58th Session, 1997 ing the period 1504-1667, died in infancy, giving a rate of 43.27% (39.29% for males; 45.83% for females). This is exceptionally high when compared with British ducal families. where for the period 1480- 1679 an infant mortality has been estimated at 31.5% (for males, 34%: females, 29%).’ The ratios between males and females infant mortal- ity rates were also different in India: Whereas in England the female infant mortality rate was substantially lower than male infant mortal- ity (29% against 34%), the ratios were reversed in India (39% against 46%). The reason for this situation needs to be explored. Had the Mughals followed a normal marriage policy, the data for marriage age would have been quite interesting, since the princes” and princesses’ age at their marriages would be known. But from Akbar’s time onwards the belief that imperial status would be de- meaned if princesses were married to persons outside the family kept an exceptionally large number of the princesses unmarried; and, while marriages with cousins did still take place, there could be doubt some as to the representative character of such marriages. However, it should be desirable to collect information on such marriages for marriage- ‘age data for males and females. From an earlier period (before 1566), when the taboo on princesses’ marriages had not developed, I have traced a few examples." Gulchihra, daughter of Babur, founder of the Mughal line, was born, 1515-17, and married-off in 1530, at the age of 141 years only. She was widowed in 1533, and re-married in 1549, at the age of 3341 years. Another daughter of Babur, Dildar, born 1511-15, was older, 1742 years, at her first marriage, which took place in 1530. Babur’s son, Humayun, had a deughter, Bakhshi Banu, 1540. ‘She was married to Ibrahim in 1550, when she must have been 10 years only; the groom was 6 years older. She was widowed in 1560, to be remarried the same year, at the age of about 30 years. These three instances give an average age of barely 14 years, for the female enter- ing first marriage. If this, as well as the widow-marriage, has any more general significance, it would be for Muslims only, since among Hin- dus the marriage customs were different, there being no widow re- marriage among Hindu upper castes and child marriages being more common. It may, however, be interesting to investigate at what age Rajput brides were received for Mughal princes in marriage. AAs for average life-span, the data for the Mughal imperial family would be worth exploring though the family, owing to rivalry for suc cession, had a much larger share of unnatural deaths among males in the 17th century (not the 16th century, when in this respect better con- ditions prevailed). The three sons of Akbar, who survived infancy, and none of whom died unnatural deaths attained the ages of 58, 29Medieval india 347 and 33 years; the average age at death was then 40 years. If one takes into account, the sons who died in infancy, this would represent a life expectation (at birth) of 24 years only. Of the three daughters, who survived infancy, | have not been able to trace the age at death of the eldest (though doubtless this may be traced), the other two were 65 and 40 years at the time of their deaths, The greater longevity for daughters here indicated may be due to the heavy drinking which de- stroyed the health and constitutions of their brothers. The data may, therefore, not again be representative of general conditions. Thope to be able to work out more data from the sources to present a less fragmentary picture of the Mughal imperial family and, hope- fully, draw upon data for some aristocratic families as well For the common people, the data are very scarce. But there may be ways in which the problem can be overcome. For example, Zamindaris (superior rights) were, in both Hindu and Muslim custom, divided equally among sons. In a village of Bahraich, which was un- der the zamindari of one family, the shares in the village zamindari ‘were sold to an outsider by separate transactions in Aurangzeb’s reign (1556-1707). In each transaction the seller gives his line of descent and his share of zamindari." This information when collected does not only enable us to reconstruct the family tree but also to establish as to how many sons in each generation reached marriageable age to have children of his own. The following picture emerges: First generation -X had 3 sons Second generation Parsu had 1 son Darya wo 34 Y unknown number of sons Third generation Satba had 2 sons Kalyan » 2s Ratan y Don Zz » unknown number of sons Fourth generation Desi ” ” non» Lachman ' non Kanai ” " 4s Lauki ” n nn Shankandi a "hon Patri 2 sons Kasi unknown number of sons Clearly, the ‘unknowns’ are far too many here. The known part gives us the figure of 2.1 sons who in each case had at least reached348 JHC: Proceedings, 58th Session, 1997 adulthood to inherit and have children. Of peasant family similar data can be reconstructed for a family similar data can be constructed for a family ncar Mathura from a sc- ries of documents from 1595 to 1723." First generation Sundar Gaurwa had 3 sons 2nd generation Jadu (1599-1600) had 3 sons X had unknown number of sons Yuo# nono 3rd Lalchand (1640-54) had unknown number of sons Karan (1633) had unknown number of sons Mathura (1653) had 1 son 4th» Har Ram (1691) had 1 son Sth oy Sanda had 3 sons 6h Ramchand (1701-23) Sukha (1701) Shyam Singh (1701-12) Note: Years within bracket represent years when the person was alive. Thus 5 persons over five generations had 11 sons (2.2 for each father) who reached adulthood. The result is very similar to that for the zamindari family from Bahraich. Unluckily, nothing at all can be said about the number of daughters surviving into adulthood in each generation, and there is no knowing whether the sons of the same father were born of one or more wives. There is thus no seeming pos- sibility of working out any kind of reproduction rates from such infor- mation at the present stage. There is another kind of material, which may be of use here. Offi- cial documents where parties to a sale or contract made an attestation before the gazi, had their description (chihra) inscribed on its margin, in case they were illiterate and could not sign for themselves. These invariably give the ages of the persons and it may be possible to trace the ages to which persons are known to have lived if a sufficient number of such documents are scrutinized. As T have already said this paper is in the nature of @ note, written more to draw attention to materials containing demographic informa- tion than draw any firm conclusions about expectation of life or re= production pattern. However, the high infant mortality rates ineven the Imperial family must force us to adopt a sombre view of the condi- tions of health and medicine even in households which had access to the best that power and wealth could provide.Medieval India 349 APPENDIX BABUR’S CHILDREN (b.1483-1530) by Aiysha Sultan Begum, (a cousin he married in 1500) BY , p35 Gulbadan, £60 1. Fakheunnise Begum 1302 BN. p36 4. within a mont sm Begum married in 1506 2. Humayun ». 1506 4.1556 BN, p344, AN. 1, p92 3. Barbul 4 Mibrjahan 4 in infancy Guitadan, £65 5. Ishan Daulet 6 Farag b. 15201521 AN, 1, 9352 by Gutrukh Beg 4.1556 AN, 1, 357. b.18160.1587 ‘AN, 1, 9301 4 infancy Gulbscan, p.146 lived long to have a son Ibid 4 before 1530, 1, Gulezar lived long to get married Gulbadan, p.232. by Dildar Begum 12. Gutrang, basiias Gutbacan, p.232. 3. Gulehibre b1515-17 a 16, married 1530 widowed id. p23, 1533 remarned 1549) alive till 1557 Hinaal ». 1519 killed 1551 Gulbadan b. 1523 41603, Gulbadan, p.230. Alwar 4.1529 infact by Masuma (died in Child birth) Masuma Lived long to be married Ibid, p.231. HUMAYUN’S CHILDREN by Haji Begum ‘Alman b. 1528 dinfant AW, 1, 118, Afiga/Agiqa 1531 lost at Gulbaden 208, 24 chausa 1539 by Hamide Banu Begum Akbar b. 1542 4.1605 ANA, 183 ‘A daughter > 1542 4 infant ‘AN, A, 220. by Mah Chuchak Bakhnisa +. 1550 had ason in India 1588-5 Sakina Banu lived wget manied AW, 1, 839350 IHC: Proceedings, 38th Session, 1997 7. Amina Banu no information 8. Famukh Nise mated to Sheh ‘Abul. Mali (1356) 9. Mirea Hakim 15544 1, Far Fal SSS dintant by deughter of Jujaq Mirza of Khwarzinn 11, brahim Sulaiman 1553 infant 12 Khanish by Gunwar Bibi 13, Bakshi Banu , 1540 married 1350 to AN 1 p32. ANA 9352. AN, 1 332 AN, M128, orahim (© 1534, killed 1560) widowed at 20 remarried toM, Sharafuddin Husain 1560 AKBAR'S CHILDREN LH b. 1564 4. ANT, P2356 ‘erins by concubine month 2H 3. Salim b, 15694.1627 Ibid, p343, 4. Shatvada Khanun b. 15696. Thi, 9348. bby concubine 5. Murad by a concubine b13704.1597 Ibid. pp.353, 753, 6. Daniyal by Daulat Shad 6.1571 4.1603, Iie. p.373. 7. Sbukrun Nisa Begum ». after Daniyal alive ia Shahjahan's reign 8, Aram Banu Begun, base AN, Ml, p-440. JAHANGIR’S CHILDREN by danghter of Bhagwant Das 1 Nisa Begum b.1585 4.1646 Tuzuk p. Lahorill, p.604. 2. Sultan Kurad 2.1586. infant AM, MI, p493 3, Sultan Khusraw ».1587 4.1627 Wid, p.523 by Jagat Gorsin a/Mors Raja 4, Begum Sultan 1.1582 4. infant hid, p.581 5. Adaughter 6.1597 d. infant 6. Khurram 1392 4. 1666 Ibid. 10, p.603. 7. Mffet Bana 15800. 3 yearold Ibid, I, p.$36. by Sabib Jamal d/ Kb. Hasan 8 Parver b.1589.4.1627 Ibid, UL, 568. 9. A daughter 1597 4. infant id by Karamaal Kisan Rathor 10, Bihar Begum b.1591 4. infant tid by Siter of Abiya Cak Kashs 11, A daughter 1.1892. infant Ibid, » 609.Medieval Ind'a 351 by cone: 12, Jahandar b.1604-5 4 Ticuk, 9.301 13. Shaharyar boas 4 ret MURAD’S CHILDREN by daughter of Khan-i Azam Aziz Koka 1. Rustem B.1SBEd Chilhood AN, 111, p $29 2. Alam Sultan 6.1589 Chilhood AN, TI, 581 5. A daughter sarried to Parwair's son Tusuk, p38 DANIYAL’S CHILDREN Left 3 sons 4d. AN, IH, p.837 by duSultan Kaawaje 1, Saadat Banu first child 6.1589 AN, I, p78, by d/Quile Kh 2 aon 6.1897 4. infant AN, p.729. 3, Bulagi Begum 4 Tabmuras ‘married Bihar Banu AN IL, p831 Hahangir killed 1627 5. Hoshang, ‘martied Hoshmand Banu killed 1627 6. Mahi Begum ‘same mother AN, II, 200 (Geath in 28 Mareh 1377 7. Burhani Beguis 8 Bayanghar b.1604 d. infant AN, UL, 7.831. SHAMJAHAN’S CHILDREN 1, ©1593 married 1612 4.1633 had 8 sons and six daughters 1. Hurtiga 1.1613 at 3 of small pox 2. Jahan Ara bist Salih p61 3. Dara Shikoh bles Ibid, 9.70 4 Shah Shuja bist6 Wid, p73, . Rohsan Rai b.isi7 Qazwini, 72 6 Aurangzeb bisi8 Salih, p.95. 7. Ummid Bakhsh b.1619 4. infant Salih I, p.99. 8. Surriye Banu b.1620 d. 7 years Lahore, I, p.197 (of smal pox) 9. Murad Bakhsh b.t624 Salih, 1,p.142. 10, Lutfullab b.1625 4.1% yes Labor, ', p.198. M1. Daulat Aftoz 1628 4.1629 Lanori 1. pp.198 & 259. 12 Gauhar Ara bd. infant Qazwini, 9.198 13. A daughter still bora ibid. p.271 14. Son non ia by d. Shahnawar Khan S/Abdul Rahim Khan Khana 15, Gaubar Sulten b.1619 4. infant Tid, p 304352 THC: Proceedings, 55th Session, 1997 KHUSRAU’S CHILDERN 1587 4.1627 by d/Azam Khan Koka 1. Buland Akhtar 1609. young infatn 2. Dawar Bakhsh 1 Killed 1627-28 (had'a daughter Hoshmand Bana ‘married to Hoshang/Daniysl) 3. Gurshaps: PARWEZ’S CHILDREN by married Murad’s daughter 1. Dut Andesh b.1615 6 infant 2. Son bd in 3. Daughter ». ? marsied to Dara Shukoh SHAHARYAR’S CHILD 1. One daughter AURANGZEB'S CHILDREN by Nawab Bai 1, Mubammad . 1639 4.20 years —_Lahori (1) p.170 2. Muazzan/Shah Alam 1643 4.1712 Ibid. 3. Bacrun Nisa 1647 4. 1670 Ibid by Ditras Banu 4. Aum . 1653 killed 1707 5. Akbar b 1657 41704 6 Zebunnisa b. 1638 4.1702 7 Zinnatun Nisa 1643 8. Zubdatun Nisa ». 1651 4.1707 Ma‘asir- Alamgir, pp.$33-39 by Bai Uaatpur! 9. Kam Baksh », 1667 killed 1709 by Aurangabadi Mi 10, Mikuni 1661 4.1706 married to [nid Bakhsh son of Murad Bakhsh DARA SHIKOH’S CHILDREN by d/Sul. Parmez (mactied 1632) Lahori 201) p.2) 1. Sipihr Shikon >. 16a Lahori 201) 388, 2 Adaughter 1634 Ibid 3 3) Mike Shukeh b.t6at Ibid, p 1053 5. Mumtaz Shulkoh 1683 hid p337Medieval india 353 SHAH SHUJA’S CHILDREN by di Mirza Rustam (married 1632) Lahor, 2(1), 103, 1. Dilband Ban baa mother died next day 2. Zsin Muhammad b 1639 Lahori 201), 165, 3. Gulrukh Banu ¥.1639 Twig by diRaja Gursea Kishtwar 4._Buland Akar bt6a6 Lahori 2(1), 434 NOTES AND REFERENCES. 1.8 Peller, Studies on Mortality since the Renaissance, TR. Bémonds, On Duration of Life in he English Peerage, TH. Hollingsworth, ‘A Demograpbi > Study of the British Ducal Families’ Population Studies, vol IX, London, 1987. 2. Gulbadan Begum, Humayun Nama, ed. tt. A'S. Beaveridge, London, 1902 3. Baburnama, te. AS. Beveridge, 2 vols, Londen, 1921 4. Abu'l Faz, Akbarnama, Bib. Ind. ed. 3 vols. Calcutta, 1873-87, S$. Tucuk-i Jahangiri, ed. S. Ahmad, Gha2ipur and Aligath, 1863-4, p.6 6. Amin Quzwini Badshahnana, Transcript of MS Raza Library, Rampur in Depart- ment of History, Aligarh 7. Abéul Hamid Lahori, Badshahnama, Bib. Ind, Calouts, 1866-72. 8. M. Salih Kanboh, dmal-i Sclih, ef, G. Yaedani, 4 vols Bib, Ind. Caleutta, 1912- 46, 9. Hollingsworth, op. cit, 8 10. All these references are from Gulbadan Banu, Humayun Nama, ed. & t AS, Beveridge, London, 1902, pp 931, 225, 214, 11. fan Habib, Agrarian System of Mughal India, Bombay, 1963, pp.15SS-7, 12. Irfan Habib, ‘Peasant Differentiation and the Structure of Village Community: The 16th and 17th Century Evidence fom Nothern India" Peasant ia Indian History ed. V. Thakur, Patna, 1996,