Rulers Of India By Ranjit Singh

Lepel Griffin · 1892 · Licence to be verified · archive.org ↗

1THE SIKHS

231

3who were never numerically more than a sect of

4Hinduism to overrun the whole Punjab and Kashmir,

5to beat back the Afghans to the mountains, and to

6found a powerful kingdom in which they were out-

7numbered by Hindus and Muhammadans by ten to

8one.

9The population of the Punjab, exclusive of Kash-

10mir, was, by the census of 1881, of which

1111,66^2^,434 were Muhammadans, 9,^^32,295 Hindus,

12and 1,716,114 Sikhs. Taking British territory only,

13there is to each 10,000 of the general population of

14the Punjab a proportion of 595 Sikhs, being 55 per

1510,000 less than in the census of 1868, when the pro-

16portion was 650. The districts in which Sikhs are

17proportionally most numerous are Firozpur, where

18they make 2^595 out of each 10,000 of the population ;

19Amritsar, where they make 2422 ; and LudhMna,

20where they make 2055. Although the Sikhs may

21have been proportionally more numerous in the time

22of Eanjit, yet it is probable that they were more con-

23centrated in the central districts, and in the most

24prosperous days of the Kh^lsa they never exceeded a

25total of two millions

26The Native States absorb more than a third of the

27total Sikh population of the Punjab, Patiala natur-

28ally taking the first place, the proportion to the

29general population being 2781 per 10,000. The

30distribution of the Sikhs according to caste is a

31^ A telegram from India of the 7th Feb. 1893 gives the Sikli popu-

32lation by the census of 1891 as 1,907,836 for the whole continent.