Mautam

Mautam is a cyclic ecological phenomenon that occurs every 48 years in Mizoram; a tiny state of 900,000 people squeezed between India's borders with Bangladesh and Burma - and is linked to the flowering of a rare species of bamboo, melocanna baccifera at one time across a wide range, dropping millions of protein-rich seeds that are devoured by the rats, followed invariably by a plague of rats which multiply in response to the temporary windfall of seeds; when the seed supply is exhausted the rats move to crops and granaries; which in turn causes devastating famine.




The last plague, in 1958-59, provoked a rural uprising that saw the indigenous Mizo people launch a violent 20-year rebellion against the federal government.

Stories of the rats still abound in the tribes' oral traditions. "The rats would wipe out three to four hectares of paddy cropland in one night," an elder said. "We would see our crop standing the night before but next day it would all be gone, eaten away by the rats." It has been estimated that around two million rats were killed and collected by the locals, after a bounty of approximately 1 US cent was placed on each. However, even after the increase in the rat population was noted, preparations by the government to avoid a famine were limited.