Agra famine of 1837–38 - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Agra famine of 1837–1838 was a famine in the newly established North-Western Provinces

North-Western Provinces

The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India which succeeded the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and existed in one form or another from 1836 until 1902, when it became the Agra Province within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh .-Area:The province included all...

(formerly Ceded and Conquered Provinces

Ceded and Conquered Provinces

The Ceded and Conquered Provinces constituted a region in northern India that was ruled by the British East India Company from 1805 to 1834; it corresponded approximately—in present-day India—to all regions in Uttar Pradesh state with the exception of the Lucknow and Faizabad divisions...

) of Company-ruled India

Company rule in India

Company rule in India refers to the rule or dominion of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent...

that affected an area of 25000 square miles (64,749.7 km²) and a population of 8 million people. The central Doab
Doab
A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...

in present-day Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh abbreviation U.P. , is a state located in the northern part of India. With a population of over 200 million people, it is India's most populous state, as well as the world's most populous sub-national entity...

—the region of the districts of Kanpur, Etawah

Etawah

Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. The city was an important center for the Revolt of 1857 . Also is the place of sangam or confluence between Yamuna and Chambal...

, Mainpuri

Mainpuri

Mainpuri is a city and a municipal board in Mainpuri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra.-Geography:...

, Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

and Kalpi

Kalpi

Kalpi is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is on the right bank of the Yamuna.-History:...

—was the hardest hit; the trans

Trans

Trans is a Latin noun or prefix, meaning "across", "beyond" or "on the opposite side".Trans may refer to:- Science and technology :* Cis-trans isomerism, in chemistry, a form of stereoisomerism...

-Jumna districts of Jalaun

Jalaun

Jalaun is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The town was formerly the residence of a Maratha governor, but never the headquarters of the district, which are at Orai.-History:...

, Hamirpur

Hamirpur

Hamirpur is the name of two cities and two districts in India:* Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh, the administrative headquarters of Hamirpur District, Himachal Pradesh* Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh...

, and Banda also suffered extreme distress.

By the end of 1838, approximately 800,000 people had died of starvation, as had an even larger number of livestock. The famine came to be known in folk memory as chauranvee, (Hindi, literally, "of ninety four,") for the year 1894 in the Samvat

Samvat

Samvat is any of the various Hindu calendars. In India, there are several calendars in use:* Vikrama Samvat: lunar months, solar sidereal years* Shaka Samvat : lunar months, solar sidereal years* Shaka Samvat : solar tropical...

calendar corresponding to the year 1838 CE

Common Era

Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...

Onset of the famine

There had been a number of droughts and near-famines in the region in the first third of the nineteenth century. The years of scarcity included: 1803–1804, 1813–14, 1819, 1925–26, 1827–28, and 1832–33. Especially in the 1830s, a number of factors—which included a decade long economic depression, ecological changes in the region, and likely El Niño events—conspired to create a succession of scarcities, of which the Agra famine of 1837–38 was the last.

The 1837 summer monsoon

Monsoon

Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...

rains failed almost entirely in the region of the Doab
Doab
A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...

lying between Delhi

Delhi

Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...

and Allahabad

Allahabad

Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...

as well in the trans

Trans

Trans is a Latin noun or prefix, meaning "across", "beyond" or "on the opposite side".Trans may refer to:- Science and technology :* Cis-trans isomerism, in chemistry, a form of stereoisomerism...

-Jumna districts. During August and September 1837, reports of both severe drought and the failure of the kharif (or autumn) harvest rushed in from different parts of the region. By the time the Governor-General of India

Governor-General of India

The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...

, Lord Auckland

George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland

George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland, GCB, PC was a British Whig politician and colonial administrator. He was thrice First Lord of the Admiralty and also served as Governor-General of India between 1836 and 1842....

, assumed charge of the administration of the North-Western Provinces on January 1, 1838, the winter monsoon rains had failed as well, and no rabi
Rabi crop
Different crops have different requirements for their proper growth , as they grow in different season . Based on the season in which they grow , crops are categorised as:-1.rabi crops2.kharif crops...

(or spring) harvest was expected. A famine was, consequently, declared and Auckland commenced a tour of the famine-afflicted regions. In his report to the Court of Directors of the East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

dated 13 February 1838, Auckland wrote not only about human distress, but also about the impact of the famine on livestock:

"... harrowing accounts of famine and distress pour in from Calpee
Kalpi
Kalpi is a city and a municipal board in Jalaun district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is on the right bank of the Yamuna.-History:...

, Agra
Agra
Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

, Etawah
Etawah
Etawah is a city on the Yamuna River in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the administrative headquarters of Etawah District. The city was an important center for the Revolt of 1857 . Also is the place of sangam or confluence between Yamuna and Chambal...

and Mynpoorie
Mainpuri
Mainpuri is a city and a municipal board in Mainpuri district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra.-Geography:...

... not only has the khareef crop in these districts entirely failed but the grass and fodder were also lost. This has led to extensive mortality amongst the cattle, and in some districts nearly all those which have not perished on the spot, have been driven off to other parts of the country in order that they might be saved. It has thus happened that great difficulty has been experienced in irrigating the land for the rubbee
Rabi crop
Different crops have different requirements for their proper growth , as they grow in different season . Based on the season in which they grow , crops are categorised as:-1.rabi crops2.kharif crops...

crops, and much land which would otherwise have been cultivated has lain waste from this want of means of irrigation."

Other nineteenth century accounts also spoke of distress, chaos, and migration southwards:

"Grain merchants closed their shops, the peasantry took to plunder; cattle starved and died; in the part of the Mathura district west of the Jumna, the village thatches were torn down to feed the starving beasts. There was a general move of the people in the direction of Mâlwa, that Cathay
Cathay
Cathay is the Anglicized version of "Catai" and an alternative name for China in English. It originates from the word Khitan, the name of a nomadic people who founded the Liao Dynasty which ruled much of Northern China from 907 to 1125, and who had a state of their own centered around today's...

or land of plenty, where, in the imagination of the North Indian rustic, the fields always smile with golden grain and poverty is unknown."

Auckland found the conditions in these districts to be so distressing that, in his words, "the largest expenditure" was required "in order to palliate the evil, and prevent the total depopulation of the country by starvation and emigration."

Relief

Although some relief was provided in the last few months of 1837, famine relief on a large scale did not begin until February 1838. In his report to the Governor-General

Governor-General of India

of February 1838, Mr. Rose, the Deputy-Collector of Cawnpore observed that while the relief was still insufficient, it had nonetheless lessened the distress somewhat, and had, according to him, stemmed the tide of emigration to other regions. It had also served, in his view, as an exemplar in encouraging others to organize their own relief efforts. Rose wrote:

"... the relief afforded, in its present state, is inadequate to the wants of the people, but it must not on that account be considered valueless. Thousands have by it been saved from death by starvation, and the flood of emigration has been checked. The aid afforded ... will ... evince to the people that the Government are anxious to relieve their present unparalleled suffering, and the example thus set forth has ... been an inducement to hundreds to bestir themselves, on behalf of the starving poor, who never before thought of lending their aid in relieving the distress."

From the onset of the scarcity, the Government provided only "work-relief" for able bodied persons. "Charitable relief," or relief for the old and indigent, was left to private efforts. At first, local grain merchants were drafted in the relief effort: the laborers in the relief works received ration tickets which they then exchanged for grain at the grain merchant's; the merchant, in turn, recovered the cost of the grain plus his profit by presenting the tickets to the government. Soon, however, it was discovered that the merchants were adulterating the grain rations to fully half their weight with "sand or powdered bones." In April 1838, therefore, the Government took over the distribution of the rations. The table below gives the expenditure in the relief works in one district, Farrukhabad

Farrukhabad

Farrukhābād , is one of the important cities of Central Doab Region in the State of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The city was founded in 1717 by Mohammed Bangash who named it after the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. Farrukhabad is situated on the bank of sacred river Ganges.-Demographics: India...

, for the duration of the scarcity.

Year/Month	Total expenditure in Rupee Rupee The rupee is the common name for the monetary unit of account in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Mauritius, Seychelles, Maldives, and formerly in Burma, and Afghanistan. Historically, the first currency called "rupee" was introduced in the 16th century... s (Rs.)	Number of persons relieved
{\| cellpadding="3" border="1" class="wikitable" ! bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="3" \| Famine relief and expenditure in Farrukhabad Farrukhabad Farrukhābād , is one of the important cities of Central Doab Region in the State of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The city was founded in 1717 by Mohammed Bangash who named it after the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. Farrukhabad is situated on the bank of sacred river Ganges.-Demographics: India... district from August 1837 to August 1838
1837	\|
August	494	9,848
September	1,825	35,568
October	1,884	36,990
November	1,375	21,965
December	1,553	25,632
1838	\|
January	6,845	138,778
February	13,884	273,468
March	27,595	476,346
April	20,591	359,041
May	25,913	459,045
June	33,609	530,621
July	21,392	350,532
August	6,046	106,493
Total	Rs. 163,006	2,824,397

According to , a total of Rs. 2,300,000 was spent on relief throughout the famine-afflicted region.

Merchants

Merchants as a class were variably affected by the famine, with some wealthier merchants, who had sufficient capital to diversify their holdings, profiteering, even as the poorer ones suffered much distress. At the onset of the famine, the rich salt merchants of the middle Doab
Doab
A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...

were immediately able to switch from salt to grain and make windfall profits. The small salt merchants, especially the itinerant merchants, however, did not have such flexibility. According to , a British military officer observed Banjara

Banjara

The Banjara are a class of usually described as nomadic people from the Indian state of Rajasthan, North-West Gujarat, and Western Madhya Pradesh and Eastern Sindh province of pre-independence Pakistan...

merchants—who had traditionally traded salt from their region in Rajputana

Rajputana

Rājputāna was the pre-1949 name of the present-day Indian state of Rājasthān, the largest state of the Republic of India in terms of area. George Thomas was the first in 1800 A.D., to term this region as Rajputana...

for grain from Rohilkhand

Rohilkhand

Rohilkhand is a region of northwestern Uttar Pradesh state of India.Rohilkhand lies on the upper Ganges alluvial plain and has an area of about 25,000 km²/10,000 square miles...

to the north-east—returning "from the northern markets of Farrukabad

Farrukhabad

and Shahjahanpur

Shahjahanpur

Shahjahanpur is a municipal board, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Uttar Pradesh, India.-History:During the reign of Shahjahan, Mughal forces demolished the city of Kant...

" with no loads of grain on their cattle; the price of grain had been too high for them to turn a profit. Similarly, the intermediate salt merchants, who had traditionally bought salt in bulk from the big merchants and offered it on credit to the small ones, now found themselves with nothing to buy or sell.

The Agra region, had in fact had a serious economic downturn in the decade before, as bullion had become scarce. The smaller merchants, such as those selling "brass vessels, low grade cloths and liquor" had already been in considerable distress, since their patrons, the small farmers, had no surplus income to buy their goods with.

Onset of the famine

Relief

Merchants

See also