The history of human population is of interest when human beings are aware of the burden they place on the ecosystem. Asia has long contained a major fraction of world population and East and South Asia have accounted for most of that fraction. This book focuses on various aspects of the population of South Asia over the past twenty-five centuries.

Sumit Guha's introduction highlights debates in the population history of Asia. Europe and the Americas. This leads into a chapter on the population of South Asia from 200 BC to 1900 AD. Later chapters focus on specific aspects of the interaction between demography, climate, health, medicine and culture.

A rare document on vaccination is translated for the first time and used to illustrate the interaction of cultural codes and medical techniques. Immensely detailed data on military populations is used to generate important conclusions regarding the efficacy of knowledge and hygiene in improving health. The book also includes a compact survey of the evolution of environmental hygiene in India through the twentieth century.