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FAMINES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, 1500 to 1767
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1662 (a) [to 1663]: eastern Bengal (to Cooch Behar?)1662 map
Documented causes: drought + maladministration
Documented effects: social collapse

H. Blochmann, "Koch Bihar, Koch Hajo, and Asam, in the 16th and 17th centuries ..." (in "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal" vol. 41, pt. 1, 1872, pp 49-101)
[The core of Blochmann's paper is a translation from the main text of Shihabuddin Talish, "Fathiyah i 'Ibryah" recounting the story of Mir Jumla's invasion of Assam in 1662-3. Chapter 13 finds the invaders, around August 1662, at the foot of 'Jur Parbat' (Assamese for "fever mountain') suffering from fever and a limited choice of foods, mostly shali rice:]
p91: [An aside by Talish] "It was altogether an extraordinary year, and famine even raged in Jahangirnagar [the then-official name for Dhaka]."
p93: [The invaders, having retreated to Ghargaon, are supplied by land and by boat up the Bramahputra in late October, and prepare a new advance, only to face a shock a month later, in chapter 15:] "Numerous requests to conclude peace arrive from the Rajah, but the Nawab pays no attention to them. An unwelcome news also reaches the camp, that in consequence of the famine in Bengal no rice has been sent, and Ibn i Hussain had put his sailors on short rations. The Nawab sent off 12,000 maunds of shali to Lak'hugar."
Sir Jadunath Sarkar, "The History Of Bengal: Volume II, Muslim Period 1200 To 1757" (1948)
pp343-4: "During Mir Jumla’s absence in Assam a severe famine visited Bengal, which lasted in some form for two years. The price of grain rose owing to the high rate of zakat or compulsory alms, the virtual suspension of movements of merchants on account of internal insecurity, the grasping habits of the chowkidars and the oppression of the rahdars (toll-collectors). The distress of the people became so acute that, in the words of Talish, 'Life appeared to be cheaper than bread, and bread was not to be found'."

[Details of the Talish reference are given in Shireen Moosvi, "Scarcities, Prices and Exploitation: The Agrarian Crisis, 1658-70" (in "Studies in History", Vol. 1, Issue 1, 1985, pp45-55 ) p47: "Shihab-ud Din Talish, Fathiya-i 'Ibriya, supplement, Bodleian Or. 589, ff. 79b-80a, 1 10b— 1 la. This supplement has not been printed in the published text of the work"]
VOC, "Dagh-register Behouden Int Casteel Batavia ... Anno 1663" (1891)
p21 (24 Jan 1663; report from India dated 30 Sep 1662): "In Decca loopen geruchten, dat seekere steene straet, dewelke over een groot moerasch gelegen hadde, 't sy van selfs of door bestelling van de Assammers, gebroken en door de Ganges voorts weg gespoelt en sulcks den nabab het wederkeeren uyt Assam genoegsaem benomen was, alhoewel nochtans syn Hoogheyt vele zadels en toomen uyt Decca ontboden heeft gehadt. 't Sy soo 't will, de Comp'e dryft ondertusschen haaren handel in Bengale gerustelyck en sonder bekommering. In Decca is de leefdtocht duer en daer sterven veele menschen van honger. De persoon, die met de nababs olifanten van Chormandel gecomen is, is in Decca aengeland."
Khan Chowdhuri Amanatulla Ahmed (trans. S.C. Ghosal), "History of Cooch Behar" (1942)
p207: "During the reign of Maharaj Prannarayan (1665 A.D.) there was a serious famine owing to failure of rain."
[This text is unfortunately ambiguous; 1665 was the year of Pran Narayan's death, but he was the ruler whom Mir Jumla subdued in 1662 before invading Assam, so possibly this refers to the Bengal region famine of 1662-3, rather than a second isolated area of famine in 1665]
VOC, "Dagh-register Behouden Int Casteel Batavia ... Anno 1663" (1891)
p167 (news received May 1663): "Op den eysch van Malacca, de welke bestaat in een scheeps lading rys, 50 slaven ende eenige provisien, en sal men de slaven niet konnen senden, dewyl het de nabab, Chanchanna, verboden heeft, nae dien door de groote dierte en hongersnood in de quartieren van Decca al te veel menschen alomme vervoert eu verkocht worden: ende evenwel en syn de landen omtrent Ougly voor desen noyt abondanter van levensmiddelen geweest. Maer het ongemeen hoog opperwaater heeft de tegenwoordige schaersheyd veroorsaekt, dewelke voor eerst noch niet te beteren staat, dewyl de nabab, gelyck boven gesecht, met syn leger in korten op Decca sal komen."

pp666-7 (news received 13 Dec 1663): "Nae 't schryven van den gouverneur, Speelman, soude hy het fluygten, Suylen, in 't laatste van Augusti mede nae Bengaele afsenden … den directeur all eenigsints beducht is en waerom syn E. ook niet can weten, offer eenige scheepsruymte tot overvoer van rys uyt Bimelepatnam nae Seylon sal connen gemist worden: soo en can syn E. mede geen gissing maeken, wat quantiteyt rys op de uytstaende schulden tot Kancka en omtrent Bellesoor sal incomen en bovendien hoeveel d'onse tot Pipely sullen connen insamelen. D'Opperhoofden aldaer, Sr. Voorburg en Weyns, geven hoope van 400 lasten; dan het selve is onseker om groot gebreck van dat graen allerwegen en besonderlyck omtrent Decca, alwaer van veele menschen van honger sterven en de kinderen door haer ouders van armoede werden vercocht, een saek, die by menschen gedencken door gebreck van levensmiddelen niet en is geschiet. Wanneer het gemelte Kuyken behouden comt te arriveeren, soo is syn E. voornemens 't selve te employeeren tot het overvoeren van de geéyste zyde wormen, terwe ende 't saat van amphioen voor Jaffapatnam." ...
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