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.[1] Chalisa (literally, "of the fortieth" in Hindustani) refers to the Vikram Samvat calendar year 1840 (1783).[2] The famine affected many parts of North India, especially the Delhi territories, present-day Uttar Pradesh, Eastern and Western Punjab, Rajputana, and Kashmir, then all ruled by different Indian rulers.[3] The Chalisa was preceded by a famine in the previous year, 1782–1783, in South India, including Madras City and surrounding areas (under British East India Company rule) and in the extended Kingdom of Mysore (under the rule of 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,[1] 60 percent of the villages in the middle Doab of present-day Uttar Pradesh,[4] and over 30 per cent of the villages in the regions around Delhi.[5] It is thought that up to 11 million people may have died in the two famines.[1]
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
References
- [{{{url}}} Rulers, Townsmen, and Bazaars: North Indian Society in the Age of British Expansion 1770–1870]. Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. 530.
- [{{{url}}} The Great El Nino of 1789–93 and its Global Consequences: Reconstructing an Extreme Climate Event in World Environmental History].
- [{{{url}}} The Indian Empire, Economic (Chapter X: Famine, pp. 475–502]. 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..
- [{{{url}}} Agrarian Society and the Pax Britannica in Northern India in the Early Nineteenth Century].
Further reading
- [{{{url}}} Famine: Social Crisis and Historical Change (New Perspectives on the Past)]. Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 164.
- [{{{url}}} Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India]. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd (reprinted by Adamant Media Corporation).
- [{{{url}}} India's Historical Demography: Studies in Famine, Disease and Society]. Riverdale MD: The Riverdale Company. Pp. ix, 296.
- [{{{url}}} Report of the Indian Famine Commission, Part I]. Calcutta.
- [{{{url}}} Food Supply and Starvation: A Study of Famines with Reference to the Indian Subcontinent].
- [{{{url}}} Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Enquire into the Famine in Bengal and Orissa in 1866, Volumes I, II]. Calcutta.