Muntakhab al-tawarikh 4.2

4.2

At this time a dreadful famine raged in the eastern provinces, especially in Agra, Bayana and Dehli, so that one sir of the grain called juwari rose to two and a half tankas, and even at that price could not be obtained. Many of the faithful closed their doors, and died by tens and twenties, and even in greater numbers, and found neither coffin nor grave. Hindus perished in the same numbers. The common people fed upon the seeds of the thorny acacia, upon dry herbage of the forest, and on the hides of the cattle which the wealthy slaughtered and sold. After a few days, swellings rose on their hands and feet, so that they died, and the date is represented by the words khashm-i izad, "Wrath of God." The author with his own eyes witnessed the fact that men ate their own kind, and the appearance of the famished sufferers was so hideous that one could scarcely look upon them. What with the scarcity of rain, the famine and the desolation, and what with uninterrupted warfare for two years, the whole country was a desert, and no husbandmen remained to till the ground. Insurgents also plundered the cities of the Musulmans.