Plague and famine have been recurrent features of life in the South Asian subcontinent countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
[2] 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.
According to the Pali historical sources, a plague and famine assailed Sri Lanka in the time of Upatissa II of Anuradhapura (reg.
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.
When morning dawned a great cloud poured rain on the earth and all who had suffered from those diseases, held a high festival... the Lord of men decreed: 'When there shall be on the Island an evil such as famine, plague or the like, thus shall it be done'.
[10] In addition, archaeo-pathology research has documented the Black Death in central Asia, a region with close links to India at the time.
[11] 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.