Great Famine of 1876–1878 - Revision history

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	~~[[File:Pope1880BritishIndia1~~.jpg\|~~thumb\|right\|~~Map of the [[British Indian Empire]] (~~1880~~), showing the ~~different~~ [[~~Provinces of~~ British India\|~~provinces~~]] ~~and~~ [[~~princely states~~\|~~native states~~]], ~~including those affected by the Great Famine~~ of ~~1876–1878~~.]]		{{Infobox famine
	The '''Great Famine of 1876–1878''' was a [[famine]] in [[British Raj\|India under Crown rule]]. It began in 1876 after an intense drought ~~resulting~~ in crop failure in the [[Deccan Plateau]].<ref name="Roy 2006 361">{{Harvnb\|Roy\|2006\|p=361}}</ref> It affected [[South India\|south]] and [[West India\|Southwestern India]]—the British-administered presidencies of [[Madras Presidency\|Madras]] and [[Bombay Presidency\|Bombay]], and the [[princely state]]s of [[Kingdom of Mysore\|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State\|Hyderabad]]—for a period of two years. In 1877 famine came to affect regions northward, including parts of the [[Central Provinces]] and the [[North-Western Provinces]], and a small area in the [[Punjab region\|Punjab]].<ref name=igi-III-488>{{Harvnb\|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III\|1907\|p=488}}</ref> The famine ultimately affected an area of {{convert\|257000\|sqmi\|km2\|order=flip}} and caused distress to a population totalling 58,500,000.<ref name=igi-III-488/> The [[excess mortality]] in the famine has been estimated in a range whose low end is 5.6 million human fatalities, high end 9.6 million fatalities, and a careful modern demographic estimate 8.2 million fatalities.<ref name=fieldhouse1996/><ref name="Dyson2018"/> The famine is also known as the '''Southern India famine of 1876–1878''' and the '''Madras famine of 1877'''.		\| name = Great Indian famine of 1876–1878
			\| image = FaminesMapOfIndia1800-1885.jpg
			\| caption = Map of the [[British Indian Empire]] (1885), showing the regions affected by various famines of the 19th century, including the Great Famine of 1876–1878.
			\| country = [[British Raj\|British India]]
			\| location = [[Madras Presidency\|Madras]], [[Bombay Presidency\|Bombay]], [[Kingdom of Mysore\|Mysore]], [[Hyderabad State\|Hyderabad]]
			\| period = 1876–1878
			\| total_deaths = 5.6–9.6 million
			\| death_rate =
			\| observations = [[Drought]], [[El Niño-Southern Oscillation]],
			\| theory = [[Commodification\|Grain commodification]], [[Cash crop\|Cash Crops]]
			\| preceded = [[Bihar famine of 1873–1874]]
			\| succeeded = [[Indian famine of 1896–1897]]
			}}
			The '''Great Famine of 1876–1878''' was a [[famine]] in [[British Raj\|India under Crown rule]]. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulted in crop failure in the [[Deccan Plateau]].<ref name="Roy 2006 361">{{Harvnb\|Roy\|2006\|p=361}}</ref> It affected [[South India\|south]] and [[West India\|Southwestern India]]—the British-administered presidencies of [[Madras Presidency\|Madras]] and [[Bombay Presidency\|Bombay]], and the [[princely state]]s of [[Kingdom of Mysore\|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State\|Hyderabad]]—for a period of two years. In 1877, famine came to affect regions northward, including parts of the [[Central Provinces]] and the [[North-Western Provinces]], and a small area in the [[Punjab region\|Punjab]].<ref name=igi-III-488>{{Harvnb\|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III\|1907\|p=488}}</ref> The famine ultimately affected an area of {{convert\|257000\|sqmi\|km2\|order=flip}} and caused distress to a population totalling 58,500,000.<ref name=igi-III-488/> The [[excess mortality]] in the famine has been estimated in a range whose low end is 5.6 million human fatalities, high end 9.6 million fatalities, and a careful modern demographic estimate 8.2 million fatalities.<ref name=fieldhouse1996/><ref name="Dyson2018"/> The famine is also known as the '''Southern India famine of 1876–1878''' and the '''Madras famine of 1877'''.

	==Preceding events==		==Preceding events==
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	Temple's recommendations were opposed by some officials, including William Digby and the physician [[W. R. Cornish]], Sanitary Commissioner for the [[Madras Presidency]].<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8>{{Harvnb\|Arnold\|1994\|pp=7–8}}</ref> Cornish argued for a minimum of {{convert\|1.5\|lb\|g\|sigfig=2\|order=flip}} of grain and, in addition, supplements of vegetables and protein, especially if the individuals were performing strenuous labour in the relief works.<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> However, Lytton supported Temple, who argued that "everything must be subordinated to the financial consideration of disbursing the smallest sum of money."<ref name=davis>Mike Davis, ''Late Victorian Holocausts, El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World'', Verso, 2001; calories for Buchenwald diet: 1750; Temple wage: 1627. Both involved hard labour (p.39); Temple's remark on financial considerations p.40</ref>		Temple's recommendations were opposed by some officials, including William Digby and the physician [[W. R. Cornish]], Sanitary Commissioner for the [[Madras Presidency]].<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8>{{Harvnb\|Arnold\|1994\|pp=7–8}}</ref> Cornish argued for a minimum of {{convert\|1.5\|lb\|g\|sigfig=2\|order=flip}} of grain and, in addition, supplements of vegetables and protein, especially if the individuals were performing strenuous labour in the relief works.<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> However, Lytton supported Temple, who argued that "everything must be subordinated to the financial consideration of disbursing the smallest sum of money."<ref name=davis>Mike Davis, ''Late Victorian Holocausts, El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World'', Verso, 2001; calories for Buchenwald diet: 1750; Temple wage: 1627. Both involved hard labour (p.39); Temple's remark on financial considerations p.40</ref>

	In March 1877 the provincial government of Madras increased the ration halfway towards Cornish's recommendations, to {{convert\|1.25\|lb\|g\|sigfig=2\|order=flip}} of grain and {{convert\|1.5\|oz\|g\|0\|order=flip}} of protein in the form of ''[[dal\|daal]]'' ([[pulse (legume)\|pulse]]s).<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> Meanwhile, many more people had succumbed to the famine.<ref name=igi-III-489/> In other parts of India, such as the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh\|United Provinces]], where relief was meagre, the resulting mortality was high.<ref name=igi-III-489>{{Harvnb\|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III\|1907\|p=489}}</ref> In the second half of 1878, an epidemic of [[malaria]] killed many more who were already weakened by malnutrition.<ref name=igi-III-489/>		In March 1877, the provincial government of Madras increased the ration halfway towards Cornish's recommendations, to {{convert\|1.25\|lb\|g\|sigfig=2\|order=flip}} of grain and {{convert\|1.5\|oz\|g\|0\|order=flip}} of protein in the form of ''[[dal\|daal]]'' ([[pulse (legume)\|pulse]]s).<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> Meanwhile, many more people had succumbed to the famine.<ref name=igi-III-489/> In other parts of India, such as the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh\|United Provinces]], where relief was meagre, the resulting mortality was high.<ref name=igi-III-489>{{Harvnb\|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III\|1907\|p=489}}</ref> In the second half of 1878, an epidemic of [[malaria]] killed many more who were already weakened by malnutrition.<ref name=igi-III-489/>

	By early 1877, Temple proclaimed that he had put "the famine under control". Digby noted that "a famine can scarcely be said to be adequately controlled which leaves one-fourth of the people dead."<ref name=davis/>		By early 1877, Temple proclaimed that he had put "the famine under control". Digby noted that "a famine can scarcely be said to be adequately controlled which leaves one-fourth of the people dead."<ref name=davis/>

	All in all, the Government of India spent Rs. ~~8 1/~~30 million in relieving 700 million units (1 unit = relief for 1 person for 1 day) in British India and, in addition, another Rs. 7.2 million in relieving 72 million units in the [[princely states]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore\|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State\|Hyderabad]].<ref name=igi-III-489/> Revenue (tax) payments to the amount of Rs. 6 million were either not enforced or postponed until the following year, and charitable donations from Great Britain and the [[British Empire\|colonies]] totaled Rs. 8.4 million.<ref name=igi-III-489/> However, this cost was minuscule ''per capita''; for example, the expenditure incurred in the [[Bombay Presidency]] was less than one-fifth of that in the [[Bihar famine of 1873–74]], which affected a smaller area and did not last as long.<ref name = hall-matthews-1996-219/>		All in all, the Government of India spent Rs. 30 million in relieving 700 million units (1 unit = relief for 1 person for 1 day) in British India and, in addition, another Rs. 7.2 million in relieving 72 million units in the [[princely states]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore\|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State\|Hyderabad]].<ref name=igi-III-489/> Revenue (tax) payments to the amount of Rs. 6 million were either not enforced or postponed until the following year, and charitable donations from Great Britain and the [[British Empire\|colonies]] totaled Rs. 8.4 million.<ref name=igi-III-489/> However, this cost was minuscule ''per capita''; for example, the expenditure incurred in the [[Bombay Presidency]] was less than one-fifth of that in the [[Bihar famine of 1873–74]], which affected a smaller area and did not last as long.<ref name = hall-matthews-1996-219/>

	===Famine in Mysore State===		===Famine in Mysore State===
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	==See also==		==See also==
	*[[Indian famine of ~~1896–97~~]]		*[[Indian famine of 1896–1897]]
	*[[Indian famine of 1899–1900]]		*[[Indian famine of 1899–1900]]
	*[[Famines, Epidemics, and Public Health in the British Raj]]
	*[[Timeline of major famines in India during British rule]]		*[[Timeline of major famines in India during British rule]]
	*[[Company rule in India]]		*[[Company rule in India]]
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	*[[Great Famine (Ireland)]]		*[[Great Famine (Ireland)]]
	*[[Bengal famine of 1943]]		*[[Bengal famine of 1943]]
	*[[El ~~Niño-Southern~~ Oscillation]]		*[[El Niño–Southern Oscillation]]
	*[[William Digby (writer)\|William Digby]]		*[[William Digby (writer)\|William Digby]]
	*[[Late Victorian Holocausts]]		*[[Late Victorian Holocausts]]
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	*{{Citation \| last = Temple \| first = Sir Richard \| author-link = Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet\| year = 1882 \| title = Men and events of my time in India \| publisher = London: John Murray. Pp. xvii, 526 \| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHsBAAAAQAAJ}}		*{{Citation \| last = Temple \| first = Sir Richard \| author-link = Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet\| year = 1882 \| title = Men and events of my time in India \| publisher = London: John Murray. Pp. xvii, 526 \| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHsBAAAAQAAJ}}
	{{Refend}}		{{Refend}}

			{{Famine in India}}

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Famine of 1876-1878}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Famine of 1876-1878}}

>RenatUK: Adding short description: "Famine in India under Crown rule" (Shortdesc helper)

2021-07-07T17:33:10Z

Adding short description: "Famine in India under Crown rule" (Shortdesc helper)

New page

{{Short description|Famine in India under Crown rule}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2014}}
[[File:Pope1880BritishIndia1.jpg|thumb|right|Map of the [[British Indian Empire]] (1880), showing the different [[Provinces of British India|provinces]] and [[princely states|native states]], including those affected by the Great Famine of 1876–1878.]]
The '''Great Famine of 1876–1878''' was a [[famine]] in [[British Raj|India under Crown rule]]. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the [[Deccan Plateau]].<ref name="Roy 2006 361">{{Harvnb|Roy|2006|p=361}}</ref> It affected [[South India|south]] and [[West India|Southwestern India]]—the British-administered presidencies of [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] and [[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]], and the [[princely state]]s of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]]—for a period of two years. In 1877 famine came to affect regions northward, including parts of the [[Central Provinces]] and the [[North-Western Provinces]], and a small area in the [[Punjab region|Punjab]].<ref name=igi-III-488>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=488}}</ref> The famine ultimately affected an area of {{convert|257000|sqmi|km2|order=flip}} and caused distress to a population totalling 58,500,000.<ref name=igi-III-488/> The [[excess mortality]] in the famine has been estimated in a range whose low end is 5.6 million human fatalities, high end 9.6 million fatalities, and a careful modern demographic estimate 8.2 million fatalities.<ref name=fieldhouse1996/><ref name="Dyson2018"/> The famine is also known as the '''Southern India famine of 1876–1878''' and the '''Madras famine of 1877'''.

==Preceding events==
[[File:GrainFamineMadras.jpg|thumb|right|Grain destined for export stacked on Madras beaches (February 1877).]]
The ''Great Famine'' may have partially been caused by an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the [[Deccan Plateau]].<ref name="Roy 2006 361"/> It was part of a larger pattern of drought and crop failure across India, China, South America and parts of Africa caused by an interplay between a strong [[El Niño]] and an active [[Indian Ocean Dipole]] that led to between 19 and 50 million deaths.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Marshall |first1=Michael |title=A freak 1870s climate event caused drought across three continents |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2183901-a-freak-1870s-climate-event-caused-drought-across-three-continents/ |website=New Scientist}}</ref>

The regular export of grain by the colonial government continued; during the famine, the viceroy, [[Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton|Lord Robert Bulwer-Lytton]], oversaw the export to England of a record 6.4 million hundredweight (320,000 tons) of wheat, which made the region more vulnerable. The cultivation of alternate [[cash crop]]s, in addition to the [[commodification]] of grain, played a significant role in the events.<ref>S. Guha, Environment and Ethnicity in India, 1200-1991
2006. p.116</ref><ref>Mike Davis, 2001. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World. Verso, London.</ref>

The famine occurred at a time when the colonial government was attempting to reduce expenses on welfare. Earlier, in the [[Bihar famine of 1873–74]], severe mortality had been avoided by importing rice from Burma. The Government of [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] and its Lieutenant-Governor, [[Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet|Sir Richard Temple]], were criticised for excessive expenditure on charitable relief.<ref>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=488}}, {{Harvnb|Hall-Matthews|1996|pp=217–219}}</ref> Sensitive to any renewed accusations of excess in 1876, Temple, who was now Famine Commissioner for the Government of India,<ref name=igi-III-488/> insisted not only on a policy of ''[[laissez faire]]'' with respect to the trade in grain,<ref>{{Harvnb|Hall-Matthews|1996|p=217}}</ref> but also on stricter standards of qualification for relief and on more meagre relief rations.<ref name=igi-III-488/> Two kinds of relief were offered: "relief works" for able-bodied men, women, and working children, and gratuitous (or charitable) relief for small children, the [[elderly]], and the [[indigent]].<ref>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|pp=477–483}}</ref>

==Famine and relief==
[[File:Graphic1-1877.JPG|thumb|right|Engraving from ''[[The Graphic]]'', October 1877, showing two forsaken children in the [[Bellary district]] of the [[Madras Presidency]].]]
[[File:Bellary Zilla,Great Famine of 1876–78..jpg|thumb|right|Engraving from ''The Graphic'', October 1877, showing the plight of animals as well as humans in Bellary district.]]
[[File:Famine in India Natives Waiting for Relief in Bangalore.jpg|thumb|right|People waiting for famine relief in [[Bangalore]]. From the'' [[Illustrated London News]]'' (20 October 1877).]]
[[File:Madras famine 1877.jpg|thumb|right|A contemporary print showing the distribution of relief in [[Bellary]], [[Madras Presidency]]. From the ''[[Illustrated London News]]'' (1877).]]
[[File:WWHooperFamine1876-78GroupOfEmaciaedMenandOneWoman.jpg|thumb|right|Famine stricken people during the famine of 1876-78 in Bangalore.]]
The insistence on more rigorous tests for qualification, however, led to strikes by "relief workers" in the [[Bombay Presidency|Bombay presidency]].<ref name=igi-III-488/>
In January 1877, Temple reduced the wage for a day's hard work in the relief camps in [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] and Bombay<ref name=hall-mathews2008-5>{{Harvnb|Hall-Matthews|2008|p=5}}</ref>—this 'Temple wage' consisted of {{convert|1|lb|g|sigfig=2|order=flip}} of grain plus one [[Indian anna|anna]] for a man, and a slightly reduced amount for a woman or working child,<ref>{{Harvnb|Washbrook|1994|p=145}}, {{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=489}}</ref> for a "long day of hard labour without shade or rest."<ref name = hall-matthews-1996-219>{{Harvnb|Hall-Matthews|1996|p=219}}</ref> The rationale behind the reduced wage, which was in keeping with a prevailing belief of the time, was that any excessive payment might create '[[Dependent personality disorder|dependency]]' (or "demoralisation" in contemporaneous usage) among the famine-afflicted population.<ref name=hall-mathews2008-5/>

Temple's recommendations were opposed by some officials, including William Digby and the physician [[W. R. Cornish]], Sanitary Commissioner for the [[Madras Presidency]].<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8>{{Harvnb|Arnold|1994|pp=7–8}}</ref> Cornish argued for a minimum of {{convert|1.5|lb|g|sigfig=2|order=flip}} of grain and, in addition, supplements of vegetables and protein, especially if the individuals were performing strenuous labour in the relief works.<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> However, Lytton supported Temple, who argued that "everything must be subordinated to the financial consideration of disbursing the smallest sum of money."<ref name=davis>Mike Davis, ''Late Victorian Holocausts, El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World'', Verso, 2001; calories for Buchenwald diet: 1750; Temple wage: 1627. Both involved hard labour (p.39); Temple's remark on financial considerations p.40</ref>

In March 1877 the provincial government of Madras increased the ration halfway towards Cornish's recommendations, to {{convert|1.25|lb|g|sigfig=2|order=flip}} of grain and {{convert|1.5|oz|g|0|order=flip}} of protein in the form of ''[[dal|daal]]'' ([[pulse (legume)|pulse]]s).<ref name=arnold-1994-7-8/> Meanwhile, many more people had succumbed to the famine.<ref name=igi-III-489/> In other parts of India, such as the [[United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|United Provinces]], where relief was meagre, the resulting mortality was high.<ref name=igi-III-489>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=489}}</ref> In the second half of 1878, an epidemic of [[malaria]] killed many more who were already weakened by malnutrition.<ref name=igi-III-489/>

By early 1877, Temple proclaimed that he had put "the famine under control". Digby noted that "a famine can scarcely be said to be adequately controlled which leaves one-fourth of the people dead."<ref name=davis/>

All in all, the Government of India spent Rs. 8 1/30 million in relieving 700 million units (1 unit = relief for 1 person for 1 day) in British India and, in addition, another Rs. 7.2 million in relieving 72 million units in the [[princely states]] of [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] and [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]].<ref name=igi-III-489/> Revenue (tax) payments to the amount of Rs. 6 million were either not enforced or postponed until the following year, and charitable donations from Great Britain and the [[British Empire|colonies]] totaled Rs. 8.4 million.<ref name=igi-III-489/> However, this cost was minuscule ''per capita''; for example, the expenditure incurred in the [[Bombay Presidency]] was less than one-fifth of that in the [[Bihar famine of 1873–74]], which affected a smaller area and did not last as long.<ref name = hall-matthews-1996-219/>

===Famine in Mysore State===
Two years before the famine of 1876, heavy rain destroyed [[Eleusine coracana|ragi]] crops (a type of [[millet]]) in [[Kolar]] and [[Bangalore]]. Scant rainfall the following year resulted in drying up of lakes, affecting food stock. As a result of the famine, the population of the state decreased by 874,000 (in comparison with the 1871 census).

Sir Richard Temple was sent by the [[British Raj|British India Government]] as Special Famine Commissioner to oversee the relief works of the Mysore government. To deal with the famine, the [[Kingdom of Mysore|government of Mysore]] started relief kitchens. A large number of people journeyed to Bangalore when relief was available. These people had to work on the Bangalore–Mysore railway line in exchange for food and grains. The Mysore government imported large quantities of grain from the neighbouring British ruled [[Madras Presidency]]. Grazing in forests was allowed temporarily, and new tanks were constructed and old tanks repaired. The [[Dewan]] of Mysore State, [[C. V. Rungacharlu]], in his [[Mysore Dasara|Dasara]] speech estimated the cost to the state at 160 [[lakh]]s, with the state incurring a debt of 80 lakhs.<ref name=Prasad>{{cite news|last1=Prasad|first1=S Narendra|title=A devastating famine |url=http://www.deccanherald.com/content/423536/a-devastating-famine.html|access-date=19 January 2015|issue=Bangalore|publisher=Deccan Herald|date=5 August 2014}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
The [[Mortality displacement|excess mortality]] in the famine has been estimated to lie in a range whose low end is approximately 5.5 million human deaths, the high end approximately is 9.6 million deaths and a careful modern demographic estimate of which is 8.2 million deaths.<ref name=fieldhouse1996>{{Harvnb|Fieldhouse|1996|p=132}} Quote: "In the later nineteenth century, there was a series of disastrous crop failures in India leading not only to starvation but to epidemics. Most were regional, but the death toll could be huge. Thus, to take only some of the worst famines for which the death rate is known, some 800,000 died in the North West Provinces, Punjab, and Rajasthan in 1837–38; perhaps 2 million in the same region in 1860–61; nearly a million in different areas in 1866–67; 4.3 million in widely spread areas in 1876–78, an additional 1.2 million in the North West Provinces and Kashmir in 1877–78; and, worst of all, over 5 million in a famine that affected a large population of India in 1896–97. In 1899–1900 more than a million were thought to have died, conditions being worse because of the shortage of food following the famines only two years earlier. Thereafter the only major loss of life through famine was in 1943 under exceptional wartime conditions.(p. 132)"</ref><ref name="Dyson2018">{{cite book|last=Dyson|first=Tim|title=A Population History of India: From the First Modern People to the Present Day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3TRtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|year=2018|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-882905-8|pages=137–}} Quote: "Estimating the number of people who died as a result of a famine is not straightforward. Assumptions are required, and often they are not specified in detail and can be influenced by political considerations. However, for the 1876‒78 famine, towards the low end of the range Visaria and Visaria mention official estimates for British administered provinces which suggest that there were about 5.6 million ‘excess’ deaths. Towards the high end of the range, the campaigner William Digby—who witnessed the crisis in Madras Presidency—put the figure at 9.4 million for India. Between these numbers, a careful estimate by Arup Maharatna is that there were around 8.2 million deaths. (p. 137)"</ref>

The excessive mortality and the renewed questions of "relief and protection" asked in its wake, led directly to the constituting of the Famine Commission of 1880 and to the eventual adoption of the [[Indian Famine Codes]].<ref name=igi-III-489/> After the famine, a large number of agricultural labourers and [[handloom weaver]]s in [[South India]] emigrated to British tropical colonies to work as [[Indentured servant|indentured labourers]] in plantations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roy|2006|p=362}}</ref> The excessive mortality in the famine also neutralized the natural population growth in the Bombay and Madras presidencies during the decade between the first and second censuses of British India in 1871 and 1881 respectively.<ref>{{Harvnb|Roy|2006|p=363}}</ref> The famine lives on in the Tamil and other literary traditions.<ref name="Zvelebil1974">.....panchalakshna tirumugavilasam, a satire published in 1899, composed by Villiappa Pillai, one of the court poets of Sivagangai. This narrative piece full of humour and biting irony deals in ca.4500 lines with the conditions of the people suffering in the great famine of 1876... God Sunderesvara of [[Madurai]] pleads his helplessness in solving the problems of inhabitants hit by the famine..{{cite book|author=Kamil Zvelebil|author-link=Kamil Zvelebil|title=Tamil Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQ33i496MsIC&pg=PA218|access-date=1 January 2013|year=1974|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3-447-01582-0|pages=218–}}</ref> A large number of ''[[Kummi]]'' folk songs describing this famine have been documented.<ref>{{cite news|title= இந்தவாரம் கலாரசிகன் |url=http://www.dinamani.com/edition/story.aspx?SectionName=Tamil%20Mani&artid=259447&SectionID=179&MainSectionID=179&SEO=&Title=%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D%20%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B2%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D|access-date=17 August 2010|newspaper=[[Dina Mani]]|date=20 June 2010|language=ta}}</ref>

The Great Famine had a lasting political impact on events in India. Among the British administrators in India who were unsettled by the official reactions to the famine and, in particular by the stifling of the official debate about the best form of famine relief, were [[William Wedderburn]] and [[A. O. Hume]].<ref name=hall-matthews-2008-24>{{Harvnb|Hall-Matthews|2008|p=24}}</ref> Less than a decade later, they would found the [[Indian National Congress]] and, in turn, influence a generation of [[Indian nationalist]]s. Among the latter were [[Dadabhai Naoroji]] and [[Romesh Chunder Dutt]] for whom the ''Great Famine'' would become a cornerstone of the economic critique of the [[British Raj]].<ref name=hall-matthews-2008-24/>

==See also==
*[[Indian famine of 1896–97]]
*[[Indian famine of 1899–1900]]
*[[Famines, Epidemics, and Public Health in the British Raj]]
*[[Timeline of major famines in India during British rule]]
*[[Company rule in India]]
*[[Famine in India]]
*[[Drought in India]]
*[[Great Famine (Ireland)]]
*[[Bengal famine of 1943]]
*[[El Niño-Southern Oscillation]]
*[[William Digby (writer)|William Digby]]
*[[Late Victorian Holocausts]]
*[[Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879]]
*[[Great Eastern Crisis]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
*{{Citation | last = Arnold | first = David | title = The 'discovery' of malnutrition and diet in colonial India | year = 1994 | journal = Indian Economic and Social History Review | volume = 31 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–26 | doi=10.1177/001946469403100101| s2cid = 145445984 }}
*{{Citation | last = Davis| first = Mike | title = Late Victorian Holocausts|author-link=Mike Davis (scholar) | year = 2001|publisher=Verso Books. Pp. 400| isbn = 978-1-85984-739-8|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3IrKEzgkQkMC&pg=PA7}}
*{{Citation| last = Fieldhouse | first = David | chapter = For Richer, for Poorer? |editor-last = Marshall |editor-first = P. J. | title = The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire|pages = 108–146|publisher=Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 400| year = 1996| isbn = 0-521-00254-0|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=S2EXN8JTwAEC&q=famine+british+empire+india&pg=PA132}}
*{{Citation | last = Hall-Matthews | first = David | title = Historical Roots of Famine Relief Paradigms: Ideas on Dependency and Free Trade in India in the 1870s | journal = Disasters | year = 1996 | volume = 20 | issue = 3 | pages = 216–230 | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-7717.1996.tb01035.x| pmid = 8854458 }}
*{{Citation | last = Hall-Matthews | first = David | title = Inaccurate Conceptions: Disputed Measures of Nutritional Needs and Famine Deaths in Colonial India | journal = Modern Asian Studies | year = 2008 | volume = 42 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–24 | doi = 10.1017/S0026749X07002892}}
*{{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 = Roy | first = Tirthankar | title = The Economic History of India, 1857–1947, 2nd edition | year = 2006 | publisher = New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. xvi, 385 | isbn = 0-19-568430-3}}
*{{Citation | last = Washbrook | first = David | title = The Commercialization of Agriculture in Colonial India: Production, Subsistence and Reproduction in the 'Dry South', c. 1870–1930 | year = 1994 | journal = Modern Asian Studies | volume = 28 | issue = 1 | pages = 129–164 | jstor = 312924 | doi=10.1017/s0026749x00011720}}
{{Refend}}

===Further reading===
{{Refbegin|40em}}
*{{Citation | last = FAHEEM | first = S. | title = Malthusian Population Theory and Indian Famine Policy in the Nineteenth Century | year = 1976 | journal = Population Studies | volume = 30 | issue = 1 | pages = 5–14 | doi=10.2307/2173660 | jstor = 2173660 | pmid = 11630514}}
*{{Citation | last = Bhatia | first = B. M. | title = Famines in India: A Study in Some Aspects of the Economic History of India With Special Reference to Food Problem, 1860–1990 | year = 1991 | publisher = Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division. Pp. 383 | isbn = 81-220-0211-0}}
*{{Citation | last = Davis| first = Mike|author-link=Mike Davis (scholar)| title = [[Late Victorian Holocausts]]: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World | year = 2001 | publisher = Verso. Pp. 464 | isbn = 1-85984-739-0}}
*{{Citation | last = Digby| first = William | author-link = William Digby (writer)| year = 1878 | title = The Famine Campaign in Southern India: Madras and Bombay Presidencies and province of Mysore, 1876-1878, Volume 1 | publisher = London: Longmans, Green and Co | url = https://archive.org/details/faminecampaignin01digbuoft}}
*{{Citation | last = Digby| first = William | author-link = William Digby (writer)| year = 1878 | title = The Famine Campaign in Southern India: Madras and Bombay Presidencies and province of Mysore, 1876-1878, Volume 2 | publisher = London: Longmans, Green and Co | url = https://archive.org/details/faminecampaigni00digbgoog}}
*{{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 | last = Dyson | first = Tim | year = 1991 | title = On the Demography of South Asian Famines: Part I | journal = Population Studies | volume = 45 | issue = 1 | pages = 5–25 | jstor = 2174991 | doi=10.1080/0032472031000145056
| pmid = 11622922 }}
*{{Citation | last = Dyson | first = Tim | year = 1991 | title = On the Demography of South Asian Famines: Part II | journal = Population Studies | volume = 45 | issue = 2 | pages = 279–297 | jstor = 2174784 | doi=10.1080/0032472031000145446 | pmid = 11622922
}}
*{{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}}
*{{Citation | last = Hardiman | first = David | title = Usuary, Dearth and Famine in Western India | year = 1996 | journal = Past and Present | volume = 152 | pages = 113–156 | doi=10.1093/past/152.1.113}}
*{{Citation | last = Hill | first = Christopher V. | title = Philosophy and Reality in Riparian South Asia: British Famine Policy and Migration in Colonial North India | journal = Modern Asian Studies | volume = 25 | issue = 2 | year = 1991 | pages = 263–279 | doi=10.1017/s0026749x00010672}}
*{{Citation | last = Klein | first = Ira | title = Death in India, 1871-1921 | journal = The Journal of Asian Studies | volume = 32 | issue = 4 | year = 1973 | pages = 639–659 | doi=10.2307/2052814| jstor = 2052814 | pmid = 11614702 }}
*{{Citation | last = McAlpin | first = Michelle B. | title = Famines, Epidemics, and Population Growth: The Case of India | year = 1983 | journal = Journal of Interdisciplinary History | volume = 14 | issue = 2 | pages = 351–366 | doi=10.2307/203709| jstor = 203709 }}
*{{Citation | last = McAlpin | first = Michelle B. | title = Dearth, Famine, and Risk: The Changing Impact of Crop Failures in Western India, 1870–1920 | year = 1979 | journal = The Journal of Economic History | volume = 39 | issue = 1 | pages = 143–157 | doi=10.1017/S0022050700096352}}
*{{Citation | last = Singh | first = Deepti | title = Climate and the Global Famine of 1876–78 | year = 2018 | journal = Journal of Climate | volume = 31 | number = 23 | pages = 9445–9467 | doi=10.1175/JCLI-D-18-0159.1| bibcode = 2018JCli...31.9445S }}
*{{Citation | last = Temple | first = Sir Richard | author-link = Sir Richard Temple, 1st Baronet| year = 1882 | title = Men and events of my time in India | publisher = London: John Murray. Pp. xvii, 526 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cHsBAAAAQAAJ}}
{{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Famine of 1876-1878}}
[[Category:Famines in British India]]
[[Category:Famines in India]]
[[Category:1870s in British India]]
[[Category:1876 in India]]
[[Category:1877 in India]]
[[Category:1878 in India]]
[[Category:History of Chennai]]
[[Category:1876 natural disasters]]
[[Category:1877 natural disasters]]
[[Category:1878 natural disasters]]
[[Category:History of Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Disasters in Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:History of Karnataka]]
[[Category:History of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Disasters in Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Natural disasters in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:19th-century famines]]