1918 flu pandemic in India was the outbreak of an unusually deadly influenza pandemic in British India between 1918 and 1920 as a part of the worldwide Spanish flu pandemic.[1][2] Also referred to as the Bombay Influenza or the Bombay Fever in India,[3][4] the pandemic is believed to have killed up to 17–18  million people in the country,[5] the most among all countries.[6][7] David Arnold (2019) estimates at least 12 million dead, about 5% of the population.[8] The decade between 1911 and 1921 was the only census period in which India's population fell, mostly due to devastation of the Spanish flu pandemic.[9][10] The death toll in India's British-ruled districts was 13.88 million.[11]

The pandemic broke out in Bombay in June 1918,[12][13] with one of the possible routes being via ships carrying troops returning from the First World War in Europe.[14][12] The outbreak then spread across the country from west and south to east and north,[14] reaching the whole of the country by August.[15] It hit different parts of the country in three waves with the second wave being the highest in mortality rate.[12][15] The death rate peaked in the last week of September 1918 in Bombay, in the middle of October in Madras, and in the middle of November in Calcutta.[13]

The outbreak most severely affected younger people in the age group of 20–40, with women disproportionately impacted.[15] According to the Sanitary Commissioner's report for 1918, the maximum death toll in a week exceeded 200 deaths in both Bombay and Madras.[13] The spread of the disease was exacerbated by a failed monsoon and the resultant famine-like conditions, that had left people underfed and weak, and forced them to move into densely populated cities.[4] As a result of the severity of the outbreak, the year 1919 saw a reduction of births by around 30 percent.[15] The population growth of India during the decade of 1911–1921 was 1.2%, the lowest among all decades under the British Raj. In his memoirs the Hindi poet, Suryakant Tripathi, wrote "Ganga was swollen with dead bodies."[16] The sanitary commissioner's report for 1918 also noted that all rivers across India were clogged up with bodies,[12][17][18] because of a shortage of firewood for cremation.[15]

Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India's independence struggle, was also infected by the virus.[7] The pandemic had a significant influence in the freedom movement in the country. The healthcare system in the country was unable to meet the sudden increase in demands for medical attention. The consequent toll of death and misery, and economic fallout brought about by the pandemic led to an increase in emotion against colonial rule.[7][12]

References

  1. ↑ "A study maps the spread (and decline) of the 1918 Spanish flu in India". Scroll.in. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  2. ↑ Man Aman Singh Chhina (12 May 2021). "Explained: When corpses of influenza victims were dumped in Narmada river in 1918". The Indian Express.
  3. ↑ "Deja flu: Spanish Lady killed 14 million in British India a century ago". The Times of India. 8 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  4. 1 2 "Coronavirus: What India can learn from the deadly 1918 flu". BBC. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  5. ↑ "References to death and disease in Hindi literature". 12 April 2020.
  6. ↑ Mayor, S. (2000). "Flu experts warn of need for pandemic plans". British Medical Journal. 321 (7265): 852. doi:10.1136/bmj.321.7265.852. PMC 1118673. PMID 11021855.
  7. 1 2 3 "How the Spanish flu changed the course of Indian history". Gulf News. 15 March 2015. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  8. ↑ Arnold, David (2019). "Death and the Modern Empire: The 1918–19 Influenza Epidemic in India". Transactions of the Royal Historical Society. 29: 181–200. doi:10.1017/S0080440119000082. S2CID 211656275.
  9. ↑ Sreevatsan, Ajai (13 March 2020). "Why 1918 matters in India's corona war".
  10. ↑ Malik, Shiv (15 April 2020). "What the history of pandemics tells us about coronavirus". Hindustan Times.
  11. ↑ Chandra S, Kuljanin G, Wray J (August 2012). "Mortality from the influenza pandemic of 1918–1919: the case of India". Demography. 49 (3): 857–65. doi:10.1007/s13524-012-0116-x. PMID 22661303. S2CID 39247719.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "An unwanted shipment: The Indian experience of the 1918 Spanish flu". The Economic Times. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  13. 1 2 3 Chandra S, Kassens-Noor E (2014). "The evolution of pandemic influenza: evidence from India, 1918–19". BMC Infectious Diseases. 14 (510): 510. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-14-510. PMC 4262128. PMID 25234688.
  14. 1 2 "Pandemics of the Past". India Today. 18 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  15. 1 2 3 4 5 Mills, I D (1986). "The 1918–1919 Influenza Pandemic – The Indian Experience". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 23 (1): 1–40. doi:10.1177/001946468602300102. PMID 11617178. S2CID 29136588.
  16. ↑ Tripathi, Suryakant (1958). "Nine". Kulli Bhat (in Hindi). New Delhi: Rajkamal Publication. p. 53. Retrieved 10 April 2022.
  17. ↑ White, F. Norman (1919). "United Provinces". A preliminary report on the influenza pandemic of 1918 in India / by the Sanitary Commissioner with the Indian Government. Simla: Government Monotype Press. p. 9. Retrieved 20 April 2022. Such a huge number of deaths occurring within such short a time made the disposal of corpses a very great difficulty, with the result that numberless bodies were thrown into the rivers of the province.
  18. ↑ "Copy of a letter no.3324/3 Q.2, dated 13th November 1918. From the General Officer Commanding 5th (Mhow) Division. To the Major-General L/c Administration, Southern Command". The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 in India. National Archives of India, New Delhi. June 1919. p. 93. Retrieved 20 April 2022. The deaths are so numerous while whole families, and also those who attend to cremations, are suffering so severely from this epidemic of influenza that cremation had become impossible" "Wood or cow-dung cakes were not available and hence bodies were simply thrown into the Narbada.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Further reading

  • Tumbe, Chinmay (2020). The age of pandemics (1817–1920): How they shaped India and the world. HarperCollins.
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