How Karnataka tackled a pandemic in the 19th century

A relief camp during the plague pandemic that ravaged the country in the late 1800s and early 1900s; refugees camping in fields.

The Third Plague Pandemic that ravaged the world in the late 1800s and early 1900s is uncannily similar to today’s COVID-19 pandemic. It reared its ugly head in China in the 1860s, reached Hong Kong in 1894, Mumbai in August 1896, Hubballi in December 1897, and Bengaluru in August 1898. Businesses closed, streets emptied, and more than 6,000 people died in Bengaluru in its first year alone.

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Nervous authorities around the country scrambled to put in place measures to control the contagion. The Epidemic Diseases Act and its Regulations came into being in early 1897 (some sections of this were invoked in early March by the Chief Minister to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak).

To manage the fight against plague, the Mysore government appointed V P Madhava Rao to the newly created post of Plague Commissioner. Anti-plague measures hinged on two principles now very familiar to us – quarantines and segregation of contacts. Regulations made it mandatory for people to report any plague death to the authorities. City officials were given powers to vacate, forcibly if required, any infected houses and demolish them if necessary. Police and medical officers could “remove or cause to be removed” for 10 days (thought to be the incubation period) anyone infected with or suspected of being infected with plague.

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If COVID-19 first spread everywhere with airline passengers, the 1898 plague spread through the railways. To contain the infection, passengers were inspected at Harihar, Kadur, Yeshwantpur, Kengeri, Bangalore Cantonment, Mysuru and other stations around the State. Railway staff checked passengers’ temperature and asked: “Did you get suddenly ill? Did you feel fever come on with shivering?” They examined people under their armpits for the buboes of bubonic plague. Any people found infected were sent to health camps. Their contacts were sent to segregation camps or were escorted home and then monitored for ten days. Compartments were kept locked so that infected people couldn’t skip inspections.

Segregation and health camps were built all over the State. In Bengaluru, there were camps in Basavanagudi, Yediyur, Magadi Road and elsewhere.

Health camps

Sonali Dhanpal, a doctoral student at Newcastle University researching plague-related architecture, explains that these establishments comprised temporary structures like sheds but were quite large. She describes one such health camp near the South Camp plague hospital in the Bangalore Civil and Military Station. “The camp was separated from the hospital by a barbed-wire fence. A sentry manned the entrance. There were separate wards for males and females, servants’ quarters, hospital kitchens and convalescent huts. These were arranged around a central dispensary and a nurse’s night duty room.” Dhanpal adds that some castes had separate wards, kitchens and latrines; another area was cordoned off for ‘purdah women’.

The regulations that the government enforced proved very unpopular. People protested attempts to isolate infected persons. They resented the cancellation of jatres and other large religious gatherings. Some resisted attempts to remove corpses because it violated caste taboos and impinged on cultural rituals and practices. Others refused to inform authorities about deaths so that they could avoid segregation. So great was the fear of both infection and segregation that corpses were abandoned in wells, drains, dustbins, latrines and streets. Plague riots broke out often.

Because plague was thought to be caused by dampness, poor ventilation and crowded conditions, some congested and infected areas were demolished and new, spacious residential layouts were established in both Mysuru and Bengaluru.

The bacterial cause of plague and its mode of transmission was established by science in 1897-98. Soon after, Waldemar Haffkine, working in Mumbai, developed a vaccine against plague. But early inoculation drives aroused much suspicion. Ignorance and fear spawned bizarre rumours including that the vaccine would convert people to another religion!

From the early 1900s, the government altered its strategy, prioritising health education and preventive measures like vaccination and improved sanitation. Flyers were distributed explaining the dangers of plague and the importance of quarantines and segregations. The administration encouraged ‘deratisation’, disinfection, and inoculations. In lieu of compulsory segregation, officials allowed strict segregation at home – self-isolation as we call it now. To minimise disruptions especially in rural areas, government provided materials so that people could build their own segregation sheds in cases of infection.

This switch in strategy from forcible impositions to working with the people proved successful. Plague lingered until about 1925, but it wreaked far less havoc than before.

(The writer is the convenor of INTACH Bengaluru Chapter)