Famine Truths, Half Truths, Untruths |
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Common terms and phrases
31 per cent agricultural Akbar ancient army authority average Behar Benares Bengal Bernier Bombay British administration British India Calcutta causes of famine Central Provinces century Congress crop area cultivation deaths Delhi denounced Digby Digby's districts double cropped drought Dutt Dutt's elephants Elliot empire England English enormous estimate facts Famine Commission famine of 1770 Famine Report Famines in India figures Government grain gross produce half Hindus hundred Hunter increased industry Jahangir jizya labour lacs land revenue land tax landlords Lord William Bentinck Madras Megasthenes ment million sterling millions of acres millions of rupees misstatement Mogul Moslem native nearly never officers Oudh patriots peasant peasantry Permanent Settlement poor population Prosperous India Punjab quotes railways rain rainfall Raja rent rule rulers rupee ryots sovereign spent square miles statement statistics Strabo taxation tenants thousand tion Tippera truth twenty untruth Warren Hastings writes zemindars
Popular passages
Page 21 - ... there is scarcely a province in the empire in which, either in battle or by the sword of the executioner, five and six hundred thousand human beings have not, at various periods, fallen victims to this fatal disposition to discontent and turbulence.
Page 31 - Life was offered for a loaf,* but none would buy ; rank was to be sold for a cake, but none cared for it; the ever-bounteous hand was now stretched out to beg for food ; and the feet which had always trodden the way of contentment walked about only in search of sustenance.
Page 31 - ... alms-houses, such as are called langar in the language of Hindustan, for the benefit of the poor and destitute. Every day sufficient soup and bread was prepared to satisfy the wants of the hungry. It was further ordered that so long as His Majesty remained at...
Page 80 - Long may they enjoy it; — but in India, that haughty spirit, independence, and deep thought, which the possession of great wealth sometimes gives, ought to be suppressed. They are directly adverse to our power and interest. The nature of things, the past experience of all governments, renders it unnecessary to enlarge on this subject. We do not want generals, statesmen, and legislators; we want industrious husbandmen.
Page 32 - I brought nothing into this world, and, except the infirmities of man, carry nothing out. I have a dread for my salvation, and with what torments I may be punished. Though I have strong reliance on the mercies and bounty of God, yet, regarding my actions, fear will not quit me ; but when I am gone, reflection will not remain. Come then what may, I have launched my vessel to the waves.
Page 31 - Destitution at length reached such a pitch that men began to devour each other, and the flesh of a son was preferred to his love.
Page 16 - When the collector . . . asks the Hindus to pay the tax, they should pay it with all humility and submission. And if the collector wishes to spit into their mouths they should open their mouths, without the slightest fear of contamination, so that the collector may do so. ... The object of such humiliation ... is to prove the obedience of infidel subjects under protection, and to promote the glory of Islam, the true religion, and to show contempt for false religions. "(KM Panikkar, op. cit., p. 128.)...
Page 31 - ... that men began to devour each other, and the flesh of a son was preferred to his love. The numbers of the dying caused obstructions in the roads, and every man whose dire sufferings did not terminate in death and who retained the power to move wandered off to the towns and villages of other countries. Those lands which had been famous for their fertility and plenty now retained no trace of productiveness...
Page 4 - Generally speaking, the men who have hitherto written on the affairs of India were a set of liars, — D eimachos holds the first place in the list, Megasthenes comes next ; while Onesikritos and Nearchos, with others of the same class, manage to stammer out a few words (of truth). Of this we became the more convinced whilst writing the history of Alexander. No faith whatever can be placed in Deimachos...
Page 72 - ... of centuries is from the conquering Hindus. It is needless to say that the conquerors viewed the aborigines with the contempt and hatred which have marked the conduct of all conquering nations, whether on the banks of the Indus seventeen hundred years before Christ, or on the banks of the Mississippi seventeen hundred years after Christ! History repeats itself; and the Punjab was cleared of its non-Aryan aborigines just as the United States of America have, in modern times, been cleared of the...