INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

HISTORICAL FAMINES. 17
-When bullocks were slaughtered, crowds rmhed
forward to catch the blood, and consumed it for
their sustenance. . The famine being
unendurable, the Sultan ordered provisions for
six months to be distributed to all the population
of Delhi. The judges, secretaries, and
officers inspected all the streets and markets,
and supplied to every person provisions for half
a year." These relief measures are also confirmed
by Earni, a native chronicler. It would
appear from his description that" registers of
the people in the different streets were made,"
and from these lists each person received a six
months' supply; it would therefore seem that
this system of relief was no make-believe.
The next famine of which we have any account
is that of 1396, or rather that which may
be said to have commenced in that year. I
have been unable to discover the name of the
native author from whom James Grant Duff, in
his 'History of the Mahrattas: quotes; but as
my researches at the fountain-head have ended
in meagre and unsatisfactory results, I consider
that the fact of the authority remaining unknown
here is of little consequence. I now quote Duff:
B