An African Diaspora in Medieval Deccan: The Military-Labour Market and its Social Dimensions

Abstract

This paper seeks to study the social dimensions of the working of the military- labour market in the Deccan region, from the 14th to the 17th century, with special reference to an African diaspora group in medieval India, that is, the Habshis, an ethnic group of Ethiopian extraction. In order to better appreciate the distinctions and commonalities of their trajectory of societal evolution in comparison to other social groups within the contemporary Deccan, a comparative study of the Habshis with another ethnic group, the Marathas, has been attempted as a case study. It is aimed at investigating how two distinct patterns of military-labour engagement, that is, through military slavery in case of the Habshis, as well as through enlisting the support of freeborn auxiliaries in case of the Marathas, impacted the social evolution of these two communities, as well as the various dimensions of that impact. Dimensions such as the upward social mobility of these groups, the caste-class location that their rise conferred upon them, the question of gender, as well as how their distinct vintages had an impact on their subsequent demographic development, will be taken up for investigation in this study.