Sher shah sur

History

1. First BA History Subject: History Title of the Paper: History of India(From 900 AD to 1707 AD) Second Semester Fifth Unit: SHER SHAH SUR Dr.T.Kaliappan Associate Professor of History Vivekanada College Tiruvedakam West, 625234 28-04-2020

2. SHER SHAH SUR

3. Objectives: To understand the life and military achievements of Sher Shah Sur To critically analyze the Administrative and other reforms of Sher Shah Sur

4. Introduction: The early name of Sher Shah was Farid He was the grandson of Ibrahim Sur and the name of his father was Hassan Khan sur. He was born about 1486 AD Farid and his mother could not enjoy the love of Hasan Khan . Farid went to Jaunpur to serve under Jamal Khan.

5. When father and son were reconciled, Farid was given charge of two parganas of Sasaram and Khawaspur Sher Shah was ambitious from his childhood and desired to establish the Afghan sovereignty in India . He captured Chunargarh after marrying Lad Malika the widow of Taj Khan, the ruler of Chunargar In 1537 Sher Khan captured Bengal by clever tricks.

6. Military Achievements of Sher Shah In 1539, Shar Khan defeated Humayun in the battle of Chausa . In 1540 he defeated Humayun in the battle of Kannauj and became the Emperor of India Battle of Surajgarh (1533) Sher Shah defeated the combined forces of the Lohani chiefs of Bihar and Mohammed Shah of Bengal at Surajgarh . In 1541, he captured Punjab from Kamran

7. The next year, he defeated Kadar Khan and captured Malwa . He killed a number of Rajput soldiers and captured Raisen In 1543 he annexed Multan and Sindh with Sur Empire He defeated Maldeo Rathor , the ruler of Marwar in 1544 through diplomacy He easily conquered Ajmir , Chittor and Kalinjar

8. Suppression of Khaokkars (1542) – Sher Shah suppressed the turbulent khokkars of the northern region of river Indus and Jhelum Sher Shah died on 22 nd May 1545.

9. KALINGER FORT

10. Sher Shah’s administration: Sher Shah ruled only for five years from 1540 to 1545 . The King Sher Shah introduced the centralized system of administration in which all powers lied with King . King appointed a large number of officers, workers and bureaucrats for smooth running of administration . The King acted as a benevolent despot. Sher shah had a number of ministers to assist him in his administrative work.

11. The council of ministers : Diwan-i-Wizarat : The officer-in-charge of finance and he looked after the income and expenditure of the empire. As he as the chief of the ministers, he also supervised the work of other ministers. Diwan-i-Ariz : He was the in charge of Ariz-i-Momalik (Defense Minister) who looked after the recruitment, organization, training, discipline and payment of the army. Diwan-i-Rasalat : The officer-in-charge of foreign affairs and made diplomatic correspondence with foreign countries.   Diwan-i-Insha : He dealt with the internal correspondence of the empire. The Royal proclamation and dispatches were also prepared and sent by him to local affairs.

12. Other Significant departments Diwan-i-Qaza – Judiciary department – the Chief Qazi was in charge of this department . b) Diwan-i-Barid – Incharge of Intelligence department – He also looked after the postal work c) Diwan-i-Saman – The head of this department was known as Barid-i-Mumalik and who looked after the royal household.

13. Provincial Administration: The entire kingdom was divided in to provinces. Some provinces were very large and others small . The word “ Iqta ” used for a province – the head of the province called the Hakim, Faujdar or Amin . Each of them maintained a contingent not exceeding 500 soldiers. Sarkars : A province was divided in to a number of Sarkars (Districts). In all there were 47 districts. There were 2 chief officers in every district . Shiqdar – was a military officer. The other officer was called Munsif . He was primarily a Judicial officer who looked after justice in the district.

14. Parganas : Each Sarkar was divided in to small units called the Pargans and each Parganas was further subdivided in to a number of villages. The administration of the Pargana was looked after by one Amin ( Munsif ), one Shiqdar (Military officer) One Fotehdar (Treasurer) One Karkun (Clerk). Villages: Villages was the lowest unit of administration of Sher shah. A village was the smallest self-sufficient Unit administered by village panchayat . The chief function of this panchayat was to settle the disputes of village.

15. Sources of income: Land Revenue Taxes on the transportation of raw and finished products The royal mint Confiscation of the unclaimed property Tributes from the Rajas, Nawabs and Jagirdars Gifts from foreign travelers

16. Salt tax Jaizya on the Hindus One-fifth of the Kham (booty) Generally land revenue was one third of the produce, but could be paid both in cash and kind. Land revenue fixed on the basis of production – good, average and bad.

17. Spy system: Darogha-i-Dak Chauki was the in charge of Spy system Sher Shah organized a high class espionage system. He appointed highly qualified for secret service.

18. Network Roads: Grand Trunk Road Sher Shah constructed a net work of roads connecting important parts of his empire Grand Trunk Road starting from Sonargaon in Eastern Bengal passing through Agra, Delhi and Lahore and terminating at Peshawar, covering a distance of about 3000 km SHER SHAH GRAND TRUNK ROAD

19. BRIDGE built by Sher Shah

20. other roads: Agra to Jodhpur Agra to Burhanpur Lahore to Multan He planted trees on both sides of the roads built Sarais and Guest houses with different arrangements for the stay of Hindus and Muslims . The Sarais also worked as post offices.

21. Currency : Sher Shah issued fine coins of gold, silver and copper of uniform standard. SHER SHAHS GOLD COINS TANGA -SHER SHAH

22. SILVER RUPEE OF SHER SHAH COPPER COIN’S OF SHER SHAH

23. Beautiful buildings: Sher shah built the following buildings. Mausoleum of Sher Shah at Sasaram in Bihar

24. Fort of Rohtasgarh on the banks of the river Jhelum

25. Purana Qila at New Delhi

26. Mosque in the Purana Qila

27. BATH HOUSE PURNA QUILA

28. ROHTAS FORT PAKISTAN

29. MOSQUE BUILT BY SHER S HAH

30. BRIDGE built by Sher Shah

31. Promotion of Education: Sher shah gave liberal patronage to education. He issued scholarship and stipends to the learned and the needy. For the education of the Muslims, a Maktab was attached to every Mosque for imparting elementary education and teaching Arabic and Persia. Madrasas were set up for higher education. Endowments and grants were given to educational institutions.

32. MADARSA BUILT BY MAHAM ANGA

33. Conclusion/Estimate: Sher Shah was a great organizer and an efficient commander. Besides a Statesman, ruler and Commander, Sher Shah was a lover of education and learning. He also contributed to the development of architecture during his reign. Though a devout Muslim, he never oppressed his Hindu subjects. Sher Shah was a successful commander, a shrewd politician and an efficient ruler and can be safely ranked among the best administrators of India