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The '''''Doji bara'' famine''' (also '''Skull famine''') of | The '''''Doji bara'' famine''' (also '''Skull famine''') of 1791–1792 in the [[Maratha confederacy|Maratha Confederacy]] and [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]] was brought on by a major [[El Niño]] event lasting from 1789–1795 and producing prolonged droughts.<ref>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=80}}</ref> Recorded by William Roxburgh, a surgeon with the [[British East India Company]], in a series of pioneering meteorological observations, the El Niño event caused the failure of the South Asian monsoon for four consecutive years starting in 1789.<ref name=grove-elnino-81>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=81}}</ref> | ||
The resulting famine, which was severe, caused widespread mortality in [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]], [[Maratha Kingdom|Southern Maratha Kingdom]], [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], [[Gujarat]], and [[Marwar]] (then all ruled by Indian rulers).<ref name=igi-III-502/> In regions like the [[Madras Presidency]] (governed by the East India Company), where the famine was less severe,<ref name=igi-III-502>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=502}}</ref> and where records were kept, half the population perished in some districts, such as in the [[Northern Circars]].<ref name=grove-elnino-82>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=82}}</ref> In other areas, such as [[Bijapur, Karnataka|Bijapur]], although no records were kept, both the famine and the year 1791 came to be known in folklore as the ''Doji bara'' (also ''Doĝi Bar'') or the "skull famine," on account, it was said, of the "bones of the victims which lay unburied whitening the roads and the fields."<ref>{{Harvnb|Elliot|1863|p=288}}</ref> As in the [[Chalisa famine|''Chalisa'' famine]] of a decade earlier, many areas were depopulated from death or migration. According to one study, a total of 11 million people may have died during the years 1789–1792 as a result of starvation or accompanying epidemics of disease.<ref name=grove-elnino-83>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=83}}</ref> | The resulting famine, which was severe, caused widespread mortality in [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]], [[Maratha Kingdom|Southern Maratha Kingdom]], [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], [[Gujarat]], and [[Marwar]] (then all ruled by Indian rulers).<ref name=igi-III-502/> In regions like the [[Madras Presidency]] (governed by the East India Company), where the famine was less severe,<ref name=igi-III-502>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=502}}</ref> and where records were kept, half the population perished in some districts, such as in the [[Northern Circars]].<ref name=grove-elnino-82>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=82}}</ref> In other areas, such as [[Bijapur, Karnataka|Bijapur]], although no records were kept, both the famine and the year 1791 came to be known in folklore as the ''Doji bara'' (also ''Doĝi Bar'') or the "skull famine," on account, it was said, of the "bones of the victims which lay unburied whitening the roads and the fields."<ref>{{Harvnb|Elliot|1863|p=288}}</ref> As in the [[Chalisa famine|''Chalisa'' famine]] of a decade earlier, many areas were depopulated from death or migration. According to one study, a total of 11 million people may have died during the years 1789–1792 as a result of starvation or accompanying epidemics of disease.<ref name=grove-elnino-83>{{Harvnb|Grove|2007|p=83}}</ref> | ||
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==Historical accounts== | ==Historical accounts== | ||
===Maratha | ===Maratha confederacy=== | ||
====Poona==== | ====Poona==== | ||
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====Dharwar==== | ====Dharwar==== | ||
The [[Dharwar]] region suffered great distress. According to the {{Citation | title = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar | year = 1884}}, <blockquote>In 1790, the march of the [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]]s under Parashuram Bhau through [[Dharwar]] to [[Mysore|Maisur]] was accompanied by such devastation, that on its return from Maisur the victorious army almost perished from want of food. In 1791- | The [[Dharwar]] region suffered great distress. According to the {{Citation | title = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar | year = 1884}}, <blockquote>In 1790, the march of the [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]]s under Parashuram Bhau through [[Dharwar]] to [[Mysore|Maisur]] was accompanied by such devastation, that on its return from Maisur the victorious army almost perished from want of food. In 1791-1792 there was a terrible famine, the result of a series of bad years heightened by the depredations caused by the Marathas under Parashuram Bhau. The distress seems to have been great in [[Hubli]], Dambal, and Kalghatgi, where the people were reduced to feeding on leaves and berries, and women and children were sold. In Dambal the rains failed for twelve years and for three years there was no tillage. From the number of unburied dead the famine is remembered as Dogi Bára or the Skull Famine. The distressed were said to have been relieved by the rich. Beyond seizing some stores of grain at Hubli the [[Peshwa]]'s government seem to have done nothing.<ref name="Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar 1884 307">{{Harvnb|Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar|1884|p=307}}</ref></blockquote> | ||
The prices of food grains spiraled up. <blockquote> At Dambal grain was sold at two and a half pounds the rupee. In 1791 between 23 April and 6 May, the rupee price of rice was six pounds (3 pakka [[Seer (unit)|sher]]s) at Kárur, Ránebennur, Motibennur, Háveri, Sháhánur, Kailkunda, Hubli, and Dhárwár; of gram six pounds (3 pakka shers) at Kárur, Motibennor, Hubli, and Dharwar, and eight pounds (4 pakka shers) at Háveri, Sháhánur and Kailkunda; and of [[Sorghum bicolor|Indian millet]] eight pounds (4 pakka shers) at Kárur, Ránebennur, Motibennur, Háveri, Hubli, and Dhárwár, and ten pounds (5 pakka shers) at Sháhánur and Kailkunda.<ref name="Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar 1884 307"/></blockquote> | The prices of food grains spiraled up. <blockquote> At Dambal grain was sold at two and a half pounds the rupee. In 1791 between 23 April and 6 May, the rupee price of rice was six pounds (3 pakka [[Seer (unit)|sher]]s) at Kárur, Ránebennur, Motibennur, Háveri, Sháhánur, Kailkunda, Hubli, and Dhárwár; of gram six pounds (3 pakka shers) at Kárur, Motibennor, Hubli, and Dharwar, and eight pounds (4 pakka shers) at Háveri, Sháhánur and Kailkunda; and of [[Sorghum bicolor|Indian millet]] eight pounds (4 pakka shers) at Kárur, Ránebennur, Motibennur, Háveri, Hubli, and Dhárwár, and ten pounds (5 pakka shers) at Sháhánur and Kailkunda.<ref name="Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar 1884 307"/></blockquote> | ||
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==References== | ==References== | ||
*{{Citation | last1= Bilgrami |first1 = Hosain | last2 = Willmott | first2 = C. | title= Historical and descriptive sketch of His Highness the Nizam's dominions, Volume 2|publisher= Bombay: The Times of India Steam Press | year = 1884 | url = https://books.google.com/?id=-8qCAAAAIAAJ}} | *{{Citation | last1= Bilgrami |first1 = Hosain | last2 = Willmott | first2 = C. | title= Historical and descriptive sketch of His Highness the Nizam's dominions, Volume 2|publisher= Bombay: The Times of India Steam Press | year = 1884 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-8qCAAAAIAAJ}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Dalyell | first = R. A. |title = Memorandum on the Madras famine of 1866| year = 1867| publisher = Madras Central Famine Relief Committee| url = https://books.google.com/?id=BdHC9m_LCXoC}} | *{{Citation | last = Dalyell | first = R. A. |title = Memorandum on the Madras famine of 1866| year = 1867| publisher = Madras Central Famine Relief Committee| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BdHC9m_LCXoC}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Elliot | first = Walter | title = On the Farinaceous Grains and Various Kinds of Pulse used in Southern India | journal = Transactions of the Botanical Society | year = 1863 | volume = 7 | issue = 1–4 | pages = 276–299 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JX8FAAAAQAAJ | *{{Citation | last = Elliot | first = Walter | title = On the Farinaceous Grains and Various Kinds of Pulse used in Southern India | journal = Transactions of the Botanical Society | year = 1863 | volume = 7 | issue = 1–4 | pages = 276–299 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=JX8FAAAAQAAJ | doi=10.1080/03746606309467837}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Belgaum| title = Volume 21| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/?id=NRMIAQAAIAAJ}} | *{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Belgaum| title = Volume 21| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NRMIAQAAIAAJ}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Bijapur| title = Volume 23| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/?id=87PQDQ4E0KkC}} | *{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Bijapur| title = Volume 23| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87PQDQ4E0KkC}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar| title = Volume 22| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL4MAAAAIAAJ | *{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Dharwar| title = Volume 22| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1884|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fL4MAAAAIAAJ}} | ||
*{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Poona| title = Volume 28, Part 2| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1885|url=https://books.google.com/?id=ALYBAAAAYAAJ}} | *{{Citation | last = Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency: Poona| title = Volume 28, Part 2| publisher = Bombay: Government Central Press | year = 1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ALYBAAAAYAAJ}} | ||
*{{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 = 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 | s2cid = 162783898 | 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 = 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}} | ||
==Further reading== | ==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 = 978-0-631-15119-7}} | *{{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 = 978-0-631-15119-7}} | ||
*{{Citation | last1 = Mellor | first1 = John W. | last2 = Gavian | first2 = Sarah | title = Famine: Causes, Prevention, and Relief | journal = Science |series=New Series | year = 1987 | volume = 235 | issue = 4788 | pages = 539–545 | jstor = 1698676 | doi=10.1126/science.235.4788.539| pmid = 17758244 | url = http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll5/id/2274 }} | *{{Citation | last1 = Mellor | first1 = John W. | last2 = Gavian | first2 = Sarah | title = Famine: Causes, Prevention, and Relief | journal = Science |series=New Series | year = 1987 | volume = 235 | issue = 4788 | pages = 539–545 | jstor = 1698676 | doi=10.1126/science.235.4788.539| pmid = 17758244 | s2cid = 3995896 | url = http://cdm15738.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p15738coll5/id/2274 }} | ||
{{Famine in India}} | |||
{{coord missing|Maharashtra}} | {{coord missing|Maharashtra}} | ||