A History of Agriculture in India v2.c85.23

v2.c85.23

Plague had become endemic in Deccan and Gujarat for several years. 'It now broke out with violence in Bijapur, and in the royal camp,' states Khafi Khan. 'It was so virulent that when an individual was attacked with it, he gave up all hope, and thought only about his nursing and mourning. The black-pated guest-slayer of the sky sought to pick out the seed of the human race from the field of the world, and the cold blast of destruction tried to cut down the tree of life in every living being, and to remove every shoot and sign of life from the surface of the world. The visible marks of the plague were swellings as big as a grape or banana under the arms, behind the ears, and in the groin, and a redness was perceptible round the pupils of the eyes, as in fever or pestilence. It was the business of heirs to provide for the internment of the dead, but thousands of obscure and friendless persons of no property died in the towns and markets, and very few of them had the means of burial. It began in the twenty-seventh year of the reign, and lasted for seven or eight years.⁵