Moshiurrahmanatik at 09:13, 29 March 2026

2026-03-29T09:13:54Z

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{{short description|Famine in North India in 1783–1784}}
{{Infobox famine
| name = Chalisa famine
| country = [[India]] and [[Pakistan]]

| period = 1783–1784
| total_deaths = between 11 to 20 million

| death_rate =
| preceded =
| succeeded =
|causes=[[drought]]}}
[[File:India1765.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Map of India (1765) shows [[Awadh|Oudh]], the [[Doab]] (the region in present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]] between the [[Ganges]] and [[Yamuna River|Jumna]] rivers), [[Rohilkhand]], the [[History of Delhi#17th century to 19th century|Delhi territories]], eastern [[Punjab region|Punjab]], [[Rajputana]] and [[Kashmir]], all affected by the ''Chalisa'' famine.]]

The '''Chalisa famine''' of 1783–1784 in the [[Indian subcontinent]] followed unusual [[El Niño]] events that began in 1780 and caused droughts throughout the region.<ref name=grove-elnino-80>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=80}}</ref> ''Chalisa'' (literally, "of the fortieth" in [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]]) refers to the [[Vikram Samvat]] calendar year 1840 (1783).<ref>{{Harvnb|Bayly|2002|p=503}}</ref> The famine affected many parts of [[North India]], especially the [[History of Delhi#17th century to 19th century|Delhi territories]], present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]], Eastern and Western [[Punjab region|Punjab]], [[Rajputana]], and [[Kashmir]], then all ruled by different Indian rulers.<ref name=igi-III-502>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=502}}</ref> The ''Chalisa'' was preceded by a famine in the previous year, 1782–1783, in South India, including [[Chennai|Madras City]] and surrounding areas (under [[British East India Company]] rule) and in the extended [[Kingdom of Mysore]] (under the rule of [[Hyder Ali|Haider Ali]] and [[Tipu Sultan]]).

Together the two famines may have depopulated many regions of India, including, for example, 17 percent of the villages in the [[Sirkali]] region of present-day [[Tamil Nadu]],<ref name=grove-elnino-80/> 60 percent of the villages in the middle [[Doab]] of present-day [[Uttar Pradesh]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Bayly|2002|p=90}}</ref> and over 30 per cent of the villages in the regions around Delhi.<ref>{{Harvnb|Stokes|1975|pp=508–509}}</ref> It is thought that up to 11 million people may have died in the two famines.<ref name=grove-elnino-80/>

==See also==
*[[Timeline of major famines in India during British rule (1765 to 1947)]]
*[[Famines, Epidemics, and Public Health in the British Raj]]
*[[Company rule in India]]
*[[Famine in India]]
*[[Drought in India]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==References==
*{{Citation | last = Bayly | first = C. A. | author-link=Christopher Bayly|title = Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion 1770–1870 |year = 2002 | publisher = Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. 530 | isbn = 0-19-566345-4}}
*{{Citation | last = Grove | first = Richard H. | title = The Great El Nino of 1789–93 and its Global Consequences: Reconstructing an Extreme Climate Event in World Environmental History | journal = The Medieval History Journal | year = 2007 | volume = 10 | issue = 1&2 | pages = 75–98 | doi = 10.1177/097194580701000203| hdl = 1885/51009 | hdl-access = free }}
*{{Citation | last = Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III
| title = The Indian Empire, Economic (Chapter X: Famine, pp. 475–502 | publisher = Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. xxx, 1 map, 552. | year = 1907}}
*{{Citation | last = Stokes | first = Eric | author-link=Eric Stokes (historian)|title = Agrarian Society and the Pax Britannica in Northern India in the Early Nineteenth Century | year = 1975 | journal = Modern Asian Studies | volume = 9 | issue = 4 | pages = 505–528 | jstor = 312079 | doi=10.1017/s0026749x00012877| s2cid = 145085255 }}

==Further reading==
*{{Citation | last1 = Arnold | first1 = David | last2 = Moore | first2 = R. I. | title = Famine: Social Crisis and Historical Change (New Perspectives on the Past) | year = 1991 | publisher = Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 164 | isbn = 0-631-15119-2}}
*{{Citation | last = Dutt | first = Romesh Chunder | title = Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India | orig-year = 1900| year = 2005 | publisher = London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd (reprinted by Adamant Media Corporation) | isbn = 1-4021-5115-2}}
*{{Citation | editor-last = Dyson | editor-first = Time | title = India's Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Disease and Society | year = 1989 | publisher = Riverdale MD: The Riverdale Company. Pp. ix, 296}}
*{{Citation | last = Famine Commission | year = 1880 | title = Report of the Indian Famine Commission, Part I | publisher = Calcutta}}
*{{Citation | last = Ghose | first = Ajit Kumar | title = Food Supply and Starvation: A Study of Famines with Reference to the Indian Subcontinent | year = 1982 | journal = Oxford Economic Papers |series=New Series | volume = 34 | issue = 2 | pages = 368–389| doi = 10.1093/oxfordjournals.oep.a041557 | pmid = 11620403 }}
*{{Citation | last = Government of India | year = 1867 | title = Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Famine in Bengal and Orissa in 1866, Volumes I, II | publisher = Calcutta}}

{{Famine in India}}
{{coord missing|India}}

[[Category:Famines in British India]]
[[Category:Famines in India]]
[[Category:1783 in India]]
[[Category:1784 in India]]
[[Category:1783 disasters]]
[[Category:1780s natural disasters]]
[[Category:1784 disasters]]
[[Category:18th-century health disasters]]
[[Category:18th-century famines]]
[[Category:18th-century disasters in India]]
[[Category:18th-century droughts]]

Chalisa famine - Revision history

Moshiurrahmanatik at 09:13, 29 March 2026