Major Famines in India during British Rule: A Referral Map

Abstract

This communication in regard to the map shows the extent of major famine affected areas in India during the British rule. There were approximately 25 major famines recorded during the British rule in India and we have selected only 12 well known major famines for preparing the referral map. This map can be useful for researchers who are working on different aspects of famine in India, the readers of Indian history and for other related purposes as well.

Full text

Major Famines in India during
British Rule: A Referral Map
Pulakes Purkait
1
Neeraj Kumar
2
Ramesh Sahani
3
Sumit Mukherjee
4
A
BSTRACT
This communication in regard to the map shows the extent
of major famine affected areas in India during the British
rule. There were approximately 25 major famines recorded
during the British rule in India and we have selected only
12 well known major famines for preparing the referral
map. This map can be useful for researchers who are
working on different aspects of famine in India, the readers
of Indian history and for other related purposes as well.
The w ord ‘famine’ has highly emotional and poli tical
connotations and this phenomenon is usually accompanied and
preceded by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and
increased mortality
[1]
. Famine had been a recurrent feature of
life of the people of India primarily due to high level of dependency
on Indian agriculture in a particular climatic phenomenon. i.e.,
the monsoon winds. In most cases prolonged droughts, combined
with policy failures, have periodically led to major Indian
famines
[2-3]
.
1. Post Doctoral Fellow (UGC), Department of Anthropology, Punjab University,
Chandigarh, India, E-mail: pulakes.purkait28@gmail.comORCiD: https://
orcid.org/0000-0002-8814-9939
2. Ph. D. Research Scholar, Department of Geology, Punjab University,
Chandigarh, India, E-mail: neerajksaini2018@gmail.com
3. Assistant Professor, Department of Anthrop ology, Punjab University,
Chandigarh, India, E-mail: rameshksahani1966@gmail.com
4. Guest Professor, Department of Geography, University of Calcutta, Kolkata,
India, E-mail: sumitmkj@gmail.com

62 Anthropos India
All through the human history, we come across frequent
occurrence of famine dating back to 400 B.C. the first one with
available records. Legendary and historical evidence have reports
of more than 90 famines in 2500 years of history in South Asia
[4]
. There were approximately 25 major famines during the British
rule in India, spread all over the States and regions of India
[5]
.
The incidence of severe and repeated famine reached its
numerically deadly peak during the late 18
th
and whole of 19
th
centuries. Administrators of British India were bad enough to
allow remarkable impact on the long term population growth of
the country
[6]
. Famines in India resulted in more than 60 million
deaths over the course of the 18
th
 20
th
centuries, and only the
Great Bengal famine of 1770 is estimated to have taken the
lives of nearly 10 million people
[7]
. However, 30  40 million
Indians were the victims of famines in the latter half of the 20
th
century
[5, 8, 9]
.
There are several maps of different famine events in India,
which are in different forms or formats drawn on the political
maps of that period. Hence, those valuable original maps pose
problems at the time of comparative spatial studies or to understand
and depict the regional and temporal variations in a compact
manner. The major objectives focus on the construction of referral
map of famine affected India during the British rule.
For conducting such research maps of different famine affected
areas and corresponding data have been collected from different
sources, like book, research articles, website and through net
searching with the key word ‘Famine in India’ and ‘Map of Famine
in India’, ‘List of Famines’, etc. We have also searched different
theses, research articles and maps of published research articles.
We have selected only twelve major famines of India during the
period 1765 to 1947 of the British rule.
Findings
A single map of India, with boundaries as in 2011 Census, is
prepared plotting the data and spatial extent of twelve major
famines selected for the purpose. The boundaries of present States
and Union Territories of India are shown in a separate inset map
to avoid the graphical complexity and confusion in the main map.
The famines included here occurred both in the Princely
States, regions administered by Indian Rulers and British India
regions administered either by the British East India Company

Major Famines in India during British Rule: A Referral Map 63
Figure 1: Referral map  Major famines area in India during
British rule [1765 to 1947]

64 Anthropos India
Table 1: Major famines in India during British rule [1765 to 1947]
Name of the Famine / Event
[Date & Duration] Territory Mortality/ Death Reference
Great Bengal Famine 1770
[1769 – 73]
Causes: Drought
British Territory:
Bihar, Northern and Central Bengal
in India, Bangladesh (present day)
10 million dead
(one third of population) of
India,
[7,11]
Chalisa Famine
[1783– 84]
Causes: Drought
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Delhi, Western Oudh, Eastern Punjab
region, Rajputana, and Kashmir
11 million
Large areas were
depopulated
[11,12]
Doji Bara Famine or
Skull famine
[1789–92]
Causes: Drought
British Territory:
Madras Presidency
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Hyderabad, Southern Maratha
country Deccan, Gujarat, and
Marwar
11 million;
People died in such numbers
that they could not be
cremated or buried
[11,12]
Agra Famine 1837
[1837–38]
Causes:Drought and failure of crops
British Territory:
Central Doab and trans-Jumna
districts of the North-Western
Provinces (later Agra Province),
including Delhi and Hissar
0.8 million
[7,12,13,14]
Upper Doab Famine
[ 1860–61]
Causes: -
British Territory:
Upper Doab of Agra; Delhi and
Hissar divisions of the Punjab
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Eastern Rajputana
2 million
[7,12,13,14]
Orissa Famine 1866
[1865-67]
Causes: Drought
British Territory:
Orissa and Bihar; Bellary And
Ganjam districts of Madras
presidency (presently in Odissa)
814,469 in Orissa,
135,676 in Bihar and 10,898
in Ganjam:
1 million
[7]

Major Famines in India during British Rule: A Referral Map 65
Name of the Famine / Event
[Date & Duration] Territory Mortality/ Death Reference
Rajputana Famine 1869
[1868-70]
Causes:unfavorable monsoon and shortage of fodder
British Territory:
Ajmer, Western Agra, Eastern Punjab
Indian kingdoms Territory: Rajputana
1.5 million deaths mostly
in Rajputana
[14]
Bihar Famine
[1873–74]
Causes: Drought
British Territory:
Bihar
little to none significant
mortalities
[15]
Great Famine of 1876–78
& Southern India Famine [Madras Famine of 1877]
[1876–78]
Causes: Drought, large-scale crop failures & grain exports by
the British from India
British Territory:
Madras and Bombay
North West Provinces [ central
Provinces, United Provinces and Small
are of Punjab]
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Mysore and Hyderabad
6.1 to 10.3 million;
5.5 million in British
Territory;
Mortality unknown for
princely states.
[7, 12,13,14]
16,17]
British Territory:
Madras, Bombay, Deccan, Bengal,
United Provinces, Central Provinces
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Northern and eastern Rajputana, parts
of Central India and Hyderabad
6 million (British
Territories),
Mortality unknown in
Princely States
Series of Famines in India
[1896–1902]
 Indian Famine of 1896-97
 Indian Famine of 1899-1900
Causes: Drought and British Policies
British Territory:
Bombay, Central Provinces, Berar,
Ajmer
Indian kingdoms Territory:
Hyderabad, Rajputana, Central India,
Baroda, Kathiawar, Cutch,
1 million (in British
territories);
Mortality unknown for
princely states.
[7,12,13,14]
Bengal Famine 1943
[1942-45]
Causes: Combination of effects of cyclonic storm, crop
disease, and drought and British Policies
British Territory:
Bengal: West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha
Bangladesh
1.5-7 million
[7,13,18]

66 Anthropos India
from 1765 to 1857 or by the British Crown, in the British Raj,
from 1858 to 1947. Other than the major famines there were
several localized or minor ones occurred during the period of the
East India Company in 176970 in Bengal, in 1783 in North
India, in 179092 in the Deccan especially Bombay and
Hyderabad, in 1800 in Mysore, in 1803 in Bombay, in 1804 in
North India, in 1807 in Madras, in 1813 in Bombay, in 1823 and
1833 in Madras, and in 1837 in North India
[10]
. Four inset maps
of India are also presented at the bottom depicting three
consecutive famines on each for a visual clarity of the pattern of
spread.
It is very much clear that almost whole of India and Bangladesh
including major parts of Nepal and southern Pakistan remained
affected by famine in one or the other period. It is further
interesting to note that clear exceptions happened in certain parts
of India where famine never visited during the index period which
includes whole of Malabar coast or State of Kerala, whole of Sikkim
Himalayas and a contiguous belt joining Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur in India’s north east.
Conclusion
On the basis of above concept, we have prepared a referral map
of major famines in India during the British Rule. We can see
from the Map (figure 1) that almost all parts of India suffered from
famine in different time periods. There are some areas which
were affected several times within the given period. This map can
be useful for researchers who are working on famine in India or
famine effect on metabolic syndrome in India and other purpose
as well.
Acknowledgments
We wish to express our deep gratitude to the Vice Chancellor,
Panjab University Chandigarh, for logistic support.
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68 Anthropos India
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1. Timeline of major famines in India during British rule,
https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmXoypizjW3WknFiJnKLwHCnL72vedxj
Q k D DP 1 m X W o6 u c o / wi k i / Ti m e l i n e _o f _ m a jo r _ f a m in e s
_in_India_during_British_rule.html.
Chronological list of famines in India between 17651947
Famine in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
List of famines  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
h t t p : / / b h a r a t r a k s h a k . w i k i a . c o m / w i k i / F a m i n e s _ i n _
British_ruled_India:_ Their_Causes_and_Consequences