Deccan famine of 1630–32

The Deccan famine of 1630–1632 was a famine in the Deccan Plateau, Khandesh and Gujarat.[1] The famine was the result of three consecutive staple crop failures, leading to intense hunger, disease, and displacement in the region. This famine remains one of the most devastating famines in the history of India, and was the most serious famine to occur in the Mughal Empire.

A Dutch report of the famine in Surat noted that the famine was the result of three consecutive staple crop failures, leading to intense hunger, disease, and displacement in the region. Some also claims the demands of the army of Shah Jahan camped at Barhanpur was also one of the reasons. About three million people died in Gujarat in the ten months ending in October 1631 while another million died around Ahmednagar. The Dutch report gives an overall death toll of 7.4 million by late 1631, which might be for the whole region.[2]