Mahamari Deshe O Bideshe

Those of us who have somehow survived the recent devastating COVID-19 pandemic have surely realized by now that among our everyday diseases, those that are deadly or pestilential periodically erupt into epidemics roughly every hundred years or into catastrophic pandemics every five hundred years, wreaking havoc across the world. The history of pandemics over the past two to three thousand years bears witness to this. Moreover, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has stated that this is not the end of pandemics; in the near future, any of these strains could mutate to create a new variant, taking an even more devastating form and causing widespread destruction. So what should be done? The only course is to fight comprehensively, drawing on the lessons of pandemics and epidemics from the past several thousand years. The present book provides a very concise chronological record of several major pandemics and epidemics in Indian and world history, beginning with the Athenian Plague of 431–426 BCE and extending to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to brief discussions on the time periods, causes, spread, and consequences of various pandemics and epidemics, the book explores topics such as infodemics, the lessons of pandemics, conspiracy theories, and the measures to be taken against different pandemics, attempting to answer several important questions. It also examines the roles of various rulers, states, and the World Health Organization in crisis management, evaluating their successes and failures—lessons that can be highly useful in tackling future crises. As the eminent English philosopher and jurist Sir Francis Bacon said, “knowledge itself is power.” To help interested readers easily find answers to various questions related to the subject, the author has followed the footsteps of the world-renowned historian Thucydides in this humble effort.