History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.361.4

v4.c62.361.4

1-3 we have the story of Uṣasti Cākrāyaṇa who took from another's plate *kulmāṣas* that the other had been eating (i. e. he took *ucchiṣṭa* food), when the country of Kurus was overwhelmed with a shower of hail (or by locusts). The Bālakāṇḍa (chap. 9) refers to a famine in the country of Aṅga under Romapāda. The Nirukta II. 10 refers to a drought in the dim past for twelve years in the kingdom of Śantanu. A Mauryan inscription from Mahāsthāna (ancient Puṇḍranagara) shows that Gaṇḍaka coins were distributed and also corn to famine-stricken people (J. A. S. B. for 1932 p. 123). The Sohagpur Copperplate Inscription (of Mauryan times) contains an order of the mahāmātras of Śrāvastī that the *dravya* storehouses were to be spent only in case of drought. Vide Annals of B. O. R. Institute, vol. XI p. 32ff., E. I. vol. 22 p. 1 and J. A. S. B. vol. VII (for 1941) part 2 p. 203. The Rājatarangiṇī records several times the occurrence of famines in Kashmir at different periods (e. g. vide II. 17-54, V. 270-278, VII. 1219 ff). The Maṇimekhalai (chap. 28) speaks of a famine for twelve years at Kāñcī in South India. There was a terrible famine (called the famine of Durgādevī) for twelve years in the Deccan about 1396 A. D. (vide Grant Duff's 'History of the Marāthas' vol. I. p. 43). Vide E. I. vol. 15 p. 12 for a reference to a severe famine in *śake* 1313 when paddy could not be had even at the rate of ten nāḷis a paṇam.