Growth of Muslim Population in Medieval India, A.D. 1000–1800 c12.21

c12.21

There was a famine in Dacca in Bengal in 1662-63; in 1670 there was scarcity in Bihar in which according to Marshall, 90,000 people perished in Patna alone.¹⁵ 1683 witnessed visitation of famine in the Deccan (Konkan). A virulent pestilence accompanied it and in one week a third of the Mughal army, campaigning against the Marathas, died.¹⁶ Three years later, in 1686, a severe famine reduced the garrison of Sikandar Shah of Bijapur to mere 2,000 men and made him surrender to Aurangzeb. Two years later a bubonic plague swept away half the population of Bijapur¹⁷