Thread by @JoeAgneya

I have not come across a single mass epidemic in India before the British. And it was the Islamic invasions which brought bubonic plague from Central Asia. Ancient India idealised vegetarianism and never had serious trysts with infectious diseases like Europe & China, it appears.

Plague was rampant during and after the Delhi Sultanate. One could say it followed their armies. Things were even worse in the Mughal era. Surat and Agra were among the worst hit. Some British correspondences speak of over a thousand casualties a day in peak winter.

A map of the cities most effected by plague in 17th century Mughal India. Epidemics often followed and exacerbated famine, which was also becoming more frequent due to wars and oppressive administration.

Health and Disease in Medieval India-
Enyatullah Khan & M. Parwez