10 - The famine of 1770

Summary

Historically Bengal has been, relative to other parts of India, immune to large-scale failures of the monsoon. The only major famines in Bengal in the past three centuries have been in 1770, 1866, and 1943-44. Generally sufficient rainfall and low variability, relative to other parts of the subcontinent, are special features of Bengal's climate. The western districts of Bankura, Birbhum, Burdwan, and Hughli average between fifty and sixty inches of rain annually while the central and eastern districts receive more.

The famine of 1770 was one of the greatest calamities in Bengal's history. It carried off between one sixth and one third of the population. Coming in the wake of the Maratha invasions and the unparalleled revenue exactions of Siraj-ud-daula, Mir Qasim, and the East India Company, the famine must have left many Bengalis wondering whether a darker yuga (age) or the wrath of the deities had descended on their society. Despite the high mortality and suffering, there were few signs that people blamed human agency for the absence of relief. As in the subsequent famines, there was little violence, even when the East India Company refused to lower its revenue demands on the survivors. That refusal, we may infer, limited the ability of revenue payers to indulge their dependents, as was customary, as they struggled to resume cultivation of deserted fields and attract replacements for deceased laborers.

Before the 1770 famine, there was a British consensus that Bengal's economy was deteriorating.