FAMINES IN THE INDIAN SUBCONTINENT, 1500 to 1767

1550-ish (a): Kollam / Coulam, Malabar Coast
Documented causes: drought
Documented effects: Christian relief efforts

Daniello Bartoli, "Dell'istoria della Compagnia di Gesu` l'Asia" (pt. 1 book 3, 1820)

p205: [attempts to establish a new church and hospital on the Malabar Coast, apparently at Coulan (=Kollam), probably shortly after October 1549] "E un di questi anni, in cui, per gran secco, gittò una carestía generale per tutta la Costa, con estrema scarsità d'ogni cosa da vivere; nondimento le offerte alle Chiese non iscemarono punto più, che se fosse corsa la solita abondanza. Quanto poi all'uso d'esse: quivi si adunavano dì e notte, a far loro esercizj di pietà verso Dio; cantando le orazioni, e recitando ad alta voce le regole della Fede: vi si portavano i malati; e de'bambini massimamente, molto vi ricoveravano, con chiari miracoli, la sanità. …" [This does not seem to be mentioned in the annual reports of P. Nicolaus Lancillotus from Kollam up to 1551, so I may well have misunderstood the location or the time in Bartoli's rambling text.]

1550-ish (b): Punjab

Documented causes: drought

Documented effects: livestock deaths; Sikh relief efforts

Max Arthur Macauliffe, "The Sikh Religion, Its Gurus, sacred Writings and Authors" (vol. 2, 1909)

p36: [An incident which apparently took place near the end of the life of the second Sikh Guru, Angad Dev (who died in 1552 CE), at Khadur near the site of Amritsar] "It happened that one year there was a great drought in the land. The months of Har, Sawan, and even half of Bhadon — from the middle of June to the end of August — had passed, and the usual rains of the season had not appeared. Food stuffs became scarce and dear, and the people were greatly distressed. Cattle too suffered severely, and died in large numbers, for all the tanks were dry and no water came from heaven. The people went in a body to the Tapa [a local rival to the Guru, named as Malukey in some sources] and represented their condition. He said it was a small calamity in comparison with another which had befallen their town. ' I am a monk,' he said, ' yet no one worshippeth me, but all worship the family man. Go now and tell the Guru to procure you rain.' The cultivators replied : ' The Guru telleth no one to worship him. He careth naught for king or emperor, he thinketh not of eating or drinking. Every offering made him is sent into his kitchen, whence the poor, the indigent, the traveller, and the stranger are fed. We have no power to compel the Guru.' The Tapa replied, ' If you expel him from the city I will send you rain in less than twenty-four hours. If, on the other hand, you allow him to remain, let him cause rain to fall.' On hearing this the ignorant Jats lost their heads, went to the Guru, and requested him to send rain. The Guru said, 'Rest satisfied with God's will. God hath no partner in His designs, and no one can influence Him.' The Jats then delivered to the Guru the Tapa's message. The Guru replied that if they thought they could thus gain their object, he would willingly leave their town. …" [The story continues for some time: suffice to say that the villagers do not treat the Tapa kindly when he fails to produce the promised rain.]