| [[56]] At this
time there was great scarcity in the cities and villages [[57]] of India,
and there was a terrible famine/1/
in many parts, and especially in the province of Delhi. Though they were
finding signs of gold, they could see no trace of corn. Men took to eating
one another; some would join together and carry off a solitary man, and
make him their food. Though this recompense of men's acts lasted for two
years, the intense distress was for one year. Apparently it was the pain
of the past coming out in evidence so that by the blessings of the holy
accession to the throne of the Caliphate, the inequalities of the time,
and the crookedness of the world, might all at once be removed.
/1/ A. F. was an eye-witness of this famine, for he was then in his fifth year and living at Agra. See A'in, text II.424, and Jarrett III.425, where he gives several details. The famine is also described by Bada'uni who says that he saw with his own eyes men eating one another. He gives the chronogram khashm yazd, "God's Wrath." This yields 962, and as A. F. says that the famine lasted two years, it apparently prevailed during 962 and 963. See Asiatic Quarterly Review for Jan. 1901, pp. 29, 30, and for July 1901, p. 193. ===========
|
== Akbar-nama
vol. 2 == Abu'l-Fazl == Glossary
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