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Rh who were never numerically more than a sect of Hinduism to overrun the whole Punjab and Kashmír, to beat back the Afgháns to the mountains, and to found a powerful kingdom in which they were outnumbered by Hindus and Muhammadans by ten to one.

The population of the Punjab, exclusive of Kashmír, was, by the census of 1881, 22,712,120, of which 11,662,434 were Muhammadans, 9,232,295 Hindus, and 1,716,114 Sikhs. Taking British territory only, there is to each 10.000 of the general population of the Punjab a proportion of 595 Sikhs, being 55 per 10,000 less than in the census of 1868, when the proportion was 650. The districts in which Sikhs are proportionally most numerous are Firozpur, where they make 2595 out of each 10,000 of the population; Amritsar, where they make 2422; and Ludhiána, where they make 2055. Although the Sikhs may have been proportionally more numerous in the time of Ranjít, yet it is probable that they were more concentrated in the central districts, and in the most prosperous days of the Khálsa they never exceeded a total of two millions.

The Native States absorb more than a third of the total Sikh population of the Punjab, Patiála naturally taking the first place, the proportion to the general population being 2781 per 10,000. The distribution of the Sikhs according to caste is a