Indian historical tradition isn’t very good at recording epidemics, but the veneration of epidemic goddesses preserves the folk memory of diseases in South Asia Terrifier of spirits who prey onpregnant women, Destroyer of smallpox and myriad diseases, A mother to her devotees, With limbs that cool like white sandalwood, I reverently praise the supreme yakshini, Mother of many children. —A stotra (hymn) to Hariti by Bhavaratna.
Translated by Miranda Shaw Between the second and sixth centuries, a series of pandemics destabilized the Roman empire. The first of these was the Antonine Plague, between 165-180 AD, and the second was the Plague of Justinian, between 541-542 AD.