Plague and famine have been recurrent features of life in the South Asian subcontinent countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The two health disasters often go hand-in-hand. That failures to scientifically examine the remains of disaster victims can lead to misidentifications and misinterpretations is now recognised in the research literature.Acharya, A. B. (2015). "Role of forensic odontology in disaster victim identification in the Indian context," J Dent Specialities 3, no. 1: pp. 89-91. While forensic dentistry is taught in India, the use of odontology to help explain historical problems is in its infancy.Dutta, M., Ghosh, B., Biswas, A., & Kingsley, D. (2022). "Forensic odontology: An analysis of challenges met by the Indian odontologist," International Journal of Health Sciences 6, S5, pp. 6420–6431. https://doi.org/10.53730/ijhs.v6nS5.10130

400 BCE or before Vesali The earliest known plague in India is documented by the Ratana Sutta which records an outbreak in the time of the Buddha that occurred in the north Indian city of Vesali. As he came into the city the sutta was recited and the plague subsided. This text has long been used as a paritta or protective text, one of the early instances of texts used in this manner mentioned in the Milindapanha.

525-26 Anuradhapura According to the Pali historical sources, a plague and famine assailed Sri Lanka in the time of Upatissa II of Anuradhapura (reg. 525 – 526). Following the precedent set in the time of the Buddha, the king ordered the Ratana Sutta to be recited by monks while walking the streets of the city. In the words of the Culavamsa: This event in Sri Lanka anticipates the Plague of Justinian.

930s South India and Sri Lanka The Culavamsa reports that Kassapa V of Anuradhapura (reg. 929 - 939) ordered the Sri Lankan army to withdraw from south India after he heard that troops were dying from plague.Culavamsa, vol. 1, 52: vv. 77-81, translation Wilhelm Geiger, available on archive.org at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.277108/page/n217/mode/2up?q=upasagga. The Chola king in this encounter was Parantaka I (reg. 907 - 955).Culavamsa, vol. 1, 52, p. 169, n. 4, translation Wilhelm Geiger.

1300s The Black Death spread across the world in the 14th century with devastating effect. For India, accounts of this pandemic are anecdotal,Digby, S. (2004). “Before Timur Came: Provincialization of the Delhi Sultanate through the Fourteenth Century,” 298-356 in Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 47. with clear testimony for bubonic plague found only from the 17th century.Ansari, B. (1994). “An account of bubonic plague in seventeenth century India in an autobiography of a Mughal emperor,” 351-52 in Journal of Infection 29. This has led some to think the disease did not reach India in the 1300s,(Sussman 2011) a premature conclusion given plague is mentioned in Tughlaq dynasty sources. Since 2015, new evidence has been published,Green, M. (2015) “Taking ‘Pandemic’ Seriously: Making the Black Death Global,” 27-62 in Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World: Rethinking the Black Death, ed. M. Green & C. Symes. Amsterdam; Hymes, R. & Green, M. (2022); New Evidence for the Dating and Impact of the Black Death in Asia. Leeds. and a fresh examination of historical and philological problems undertaken.Tresso, C. (2021). “A Two-year Journey under the Arrows of the Black Death: The Medieval Plague Pandemic in Ibn Baṭṭūṭa’s Travels,” 137-89 in Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 21 no. 1. In addition, archaeo-pathology research has documented the Black Death in central Asia, a region with close links to India at the time.Spyrou, M. et al (2022). “The source of the Black Death in fourteenth-century central Eurasia,” 718-24 in Nature 606.

A number of human skeletons, possibly of the 14th century, were found during conservation work on the south side of the medieval Nīlakaṇṭheśvara temple, Udaypur, Madhya Pradesh. These were quietly disposed of for fear of stirring up controversy. Somewhat later, human remains were found at Ujjain, near the Mahākāl temple. The absence of scientific examinination led to unsubstantied speculation on the part of the press.Loot or Priests? Skeletons from Mughal Era Recovered During Excavation Madhya Pradesh's Ujain, News 18, see https://www.news18.com/news/india/loot-or-priests-skeletons-from-mughal-era-recovered-during-excavation-madhya-pradeshs-ujain-3997022.html. Retrieved March 2024. While the date of the Ujjain remains is an open question, the site, like Udaypur, flourished under the Paramara rulers.

1790s Dharwad A mass burial of over 600 individuals was found near Annigeri in Navalgund taluk, Dharwad district and reported widely in the press.For example, The Indian Express in 2012: https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/karnataka/2012/Aug/20/natures-wrath-mystery-of-annigeri-human-skulls-solved--398568.html In 2014, a report on the findings was published by the Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, Karnataka.Karnataka (India). Directorate of Archaeology & Museums. 2014. Archaeological Excavation at Annigeri : District Dharwad Karnataka India (February–March 2011) : Report first ed. Mysore: Department of Archaeology Museums and Heritage. A full account, summarising the shifting interpretations, was prepared by K. V. Ramakrishnarao and posted on his Blog in 2020.Annigeri skulls and skeletons, found in August 2010: https://kvramakrishnarao.wordpress.com/2020/05/02/annigeri-skulls-and-skeletons-found-in-august-2010-different-misinterpretations-made-initially-are-used-even-today-to-beat-rajaraja-and-rajendra-1/. Retrieved March 2024.

Third plague pandemic 1896-1920s India was hard hit during the third plague pandemic, which had started in China in the 1850s and reached Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1896.Natasha Sarkar, The Last Great Plague of Colonial India (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024). This Bombay plague epidemic spread to the rest of the country, causing at least 10 million deaths in British India before ending in the early 1920s.

1994 north India

In September 1994, India experienced an outbreak of plague that killed over 50 people and caused travel to New Delhi by air to be suspended until the outbreak was brought under control.Plague Fears Cancel Flights. The Daily Gleaner, 1 October 1994. The outbreak was feared to be much worse because the plague superficially resembles other common diseases such as influenza and bronchitis; over 200 people that had been quarantined were released when they did not test positive for the plague.Plague Fears Beginning to Recede. The Daily Gleaner, 2 October 1994. Cases were detected in Maharashtra (488 cases), Gujarat (77 cases), Karnataka (46 cases), Uttar Pradesh (10 cases), Madhya Pradesh (4 cases) and New Delhi (68 cases).

See also Black Death in the Middle East Famine in India COVID-19 pandemic in India

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