The Deccan famine of 1630–1632 was a

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...

associated with a back-to-back crop failure. The famine happened during the reign of Mughal Emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

. The famine was the result of three consecutive staple crop failures, causing plague and leading to intense hunger, disease, and displacement in the region. Famine was further intensified by the Mughal campaign led by

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

and Deccan after Malwa's Mughal commander turned rogue and joined hands with Deccan forces of Nizam Shah and Adil Shah. About three million people died in Gujarat in the ten months ending in October 1631 while another million died around Ahmednagar. The report gives an overall death toll of 7.4 million by late 1631, which might be for the whole region.

Account of Peter Mundy during Deccan Famine

Peter Mundy Peter Mundy ( fl. 1597 – 1667) was a seventeenth-century British factor, merchant trader, traveller and writer. He was the first Briton to record, in his ''Itinerarium Mundi'' ('Itinerary of the World'), tasting '' Chaa'' (tea) in China and trav ...

writes his first hand account of Deccan Famine as "The Gujarat famine began with a drought in 1630, attacks on crops by mice and locusts in the following year, and then excessive rain. Famine and water-borne diseases created high mortality: 3 million died in 1631. People migrated towards less affected areas, many died on the way, and dead bodies blocked the roads. Both Persian and European sources tell the story of this famine, with a subverted cornucopoeia of grotesque consumption patterns: cattle-hide was eaten, dead men’s bones were ground with flour, cannibalism was frequent, and people fed on corpses. Carts belonging to banjaras (carriers) transporting grain from the more productive regions of Malwa were intercepted and supplies diverted to feed Shah Jahan’s royal army in Burhanpur, who were fighting territorial wars in the Deccan (southern) provinces. The pre-famine price of wheat was 1 mahmudi per man; in 1631 it had risen to 16. Imperial charitable practices of opening free kitchens and offering land revenue remission had limited effect. Gujarat was one of the main production centres for calico cloth and this trade was badly affected by the death and migration of weavers."

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FAMINES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, from 1500 to 1767
Famines in India 1630s in India Mughal Empire Natural disasters in Maharashtra 17th-century natural disasters 17th century in India 1630 in India 1631 in India 1632 in India 1630 natural disasters 1631 natural disasters 1632 natural disasters 1630s natural disasters Deccan Plateau 17th-century famines Incidents of cannibalism {{india-hist-stub

Account of Peter Mundy during Deccan Famine

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