Sher Shah Suri

Diwan - i -Wizarat was in charge of income and expenditure. Diwan - i - Wizarat , the most important officer after Sultan in the hierarchy of the administrative system of the Delhi Sultanate , was headed by Wazir. He look after the financial organization of the State , give advice to the Sultan and on some occasions to lead military expeditions at the behest of the Sultan.

The coins of Sher Shah Suri bore his name in Devanagari script. Sher Shah Suri issued coins in silver and copper and eliminated the billon from the series of Indian coins. In the Silver coins of Sher Shah, there was the trace of 'Kalima' and the name of four khalifas on obverse side of the coin. On the obverse side of the coin contained his name and a pious wish: " Khald Allah mulk".

Sher Shah Suri followed the main principles of Alauddin Khilji's military system. He created no new ministry and his administrative divisions and sub- divisions were borrowed from the past , and also the titles of his officer. His military reforms were those of Alauddin Khilji and even his revenue administration was not really new and original.

Sher Shah was the architect of a brilliant administrative system. He was a person of extra ordinary skill and ability in civil administration also. His father Hasan Shah was a Jagirdar of Sasaram. Sher Shah was born in 1472 AD and completed his formal education at Jaunpur. Because of his career as a small jagirdar, he ascended the throne of Delhi in 1540 AD after driving away Humayun , the Mughal emperor.

Sher Shah Suri built the Purana Qila at Delhi. Purana Qila is a fort situated on the Delhi Mathura Road. It was constructed on the historical site of Indraprastha by Sher Shah Suri. Sher Shah strengthened the citadel of Dinpanah and renamed it as Shergarh. The wall of Purana Qila are some 0.33 meters in thickness and are terminated at each corner by massive bastions.

Diwan - i - Ariz was in charge of recruitments , organization of army. Headed by Arz - i- Mumalik who was in charge of the administration of military affairs that included maintaining royal contingent recruiting the soldiers , ensuring the discipline and fitness of the army, inspecting the troops maintained by Iqta- holders , examining the horses and branding them with the royal insignia.

Sher Shah has been called the Fore - runner of Akbar. Sher Shah was the great Emperor of the Medieval Era. His wroks and successes of Sher Shah were so great that these became ideal for the forthcoming Rulers. Akbar adopted many works / reforms of the Sher Shah as it is or by some modifications. Therefore Sher Shah can be called as the fore runner of Akbar.

The period of rule of Sher Shah was 1540 - 1545. He fought many battles with him , intially capturing Gaur in Bengal and finally getting the throne of Delhi after the battle of Kannauj in 1540 and he died at in an accidental explosion of gunpowder in 1545.

The Battle of Chausa took place in between Mughal Emperor Humayun and Sher Shah Suri on June 26, 1539. Humayun was defeated in Chausa battle by Sher Shah Suri. 

The empire of Sher Shah was divided into Sarkars.  The first five year of Sher Shah's administration were used in setting up a new template for civil administration in India. He divided the entire kingdom in 47 divisions and called them " Sarkars". These Sarkars were divided into Parganas. Every Pargana was under a Shikqdar , who looked into the law and order of his Pargana.

Sher Shah was killed due to an explosion in 1545.  Sher Shah Suri was killed in a freak accident during the siege of Kalinjar fort on 13 May 1545. He was succeeded by hisson , Jalal Khan who took the title of Islam Shah Suri.

Humayun was completely defeated by Sher Shah Suri in the battle of Kannauj. In May 1540 , the armies met once again opposite Kannauj and the Mughal Empire was put to an end for a while. At Kannauj , the Afghans were able to scatter the Mughals army, which mere by panic, fled in confusion. Humayun again escaped from the battle field and from that day, for next 15 years he lived like a wanderer.

Kalinjar fort was the last expedition of Shershah. Sher Shah Suri marched against the kalinjar fort and captured it. soon after the capture , Sher Shah Suri died on 22nd May 1545. The fort of Kalinjar is in the Buldelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh.Immediatley after the conclusion of the successful campaign in Rajasthan, Sher Shah marched on Kalinjar.

Diwan - i - Insha was the minister of royal proclamation. The minister in charge of this department had to draft royal proclamations and dispatches. His duty was also to communicate with governors and other local executive officers. Government record, too, were in his charge.

There were two important officials at the sarkar level:
(i)
shiqdar-i-shiqadaran to maintain law and order; and
(ii)
munshife-i-munshifan to supervise the revenue collection.

In 1522 Sher Shah joined under the service of Bahar Khan under Lohani  , the ruler of Bihar. His master rewarded him with the title of Sher Khan for his bravery in killing a tiger single - handed. But the intrigues of his enemies compelled him to leave Bihar and he joined the camp of Babur in 1527. After the death of Bahar Khan Lohani , Sher Khan left Mughal service and became the ruler of Bihar.

The empire was divided in to 47 Sarkars during the period of Sher Shah. Sarkars were under the control of  Munsif-in-chief and Shiqdar-in-chief.

For administrative convenience Sher Shah divided his whole empire into
47 divisions called sarkars (Sher Shah did not divide his kingdom into
provinces), and these were again subdivided into smaller administrative
units called parganas.

Sher Shah Suri, also known as Sher Khan,  was the Emperor of India from
1539 to 1545. He established the Sur dynasty by dethroning Humayun, the
Mughal emperor. His original name was Farid Khan. Sher Shah Suri is known as Sher Khan or The Lion King because he one day killed a Sher or tiger single- handed.

The head of the Diwan-i-Wazarat may be called the Wazir. He was the
minister of revenue and finance administration and was, therefore, in
charge of the income and expenditure of the empire. Besides, he
exercised a general supervisory authority over other ministers.

Diwan-i-Ariz-: This department was under the Arz-i-Mumalik who was the army minister.
He was not the commander-in-chief of the army but looked after the
recruitment, organisation, discipline, disbursement of the salaries of
the soldiers and officers and all sorts of supplies to the army.

Diwan-i-Rasalat- The minister in charge of this department may be called foreign
minister. His duty was to be in close touch with ambassadors and envoys
sent to and received from foreign states. He must also have been in
charge of diplomatic correspondence, and sometimes the charity and
endowment department too, was placed under him.

The last expenditure of Shershah Suri was Kalinjar in Bundelkhand where he died at in an accidental explosion of gunpowder in 1545. Though he ruled India for a short period of five years but changes made
by him had the everlasting impact on the lives of people. He is
considered to be the most successful ruler of medieval India.

The Battle of Chausa took place between Mughal Emperor Humayun and Sher Shah Suri on 26 June 1539 in Chausa. Humayun was defeated in Chausa War by Sher Shah Suri.

Sher Shah reconstructed following highways:-

(a) The first which ran from Sonargaon (near Dacca) via Agra, Delhi and Lahore to the Indus,

(b) The second which ran from Agra to Jodhpur and the fort of Chittor,

(c) The third which ran from Agra to Burhanpur, and

(d) The fourth which ran from Lahore to Multan.

In the short span of a 5-year rule (1540-1545), Sher Shah established the foundations of a mounted post or horse courier system,
wherein conveyance of letters was also extended to traders. This is the
first known record of the postal system of a kingdom being used for
non-State purposes, i.e. for trade and business communication. Sher
Shah’s administrative reforms were so well integrated with the postal
system, that it rightly earned the place of the first officially
recorded mounted post  in India.

Sher Shah left the administration of villages in the hands of their
hereditary officers like Chaukidars, Patwaris, etc. The
village-panchayat (assembly) also enjoyed a large measure of
independence in looking after the welfare of the people. All of them
assisted state officials in collecting revenue and maintaining law and
order.

Mir Bakshi was the head of the military and intelligence department. He was not
the Commander-in-Chief but was the paymaster-general. All intelligence
officers {bands) and news-reporters (Waqia-navis) reported to him.

Sher Shah Suri was born in 1486. He was the founder of Suri Empire in north India with his capital In Delhi. An ethnic Pashtun , Sher Shah took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540.

Muhtasib  looked after the moral development of the subjects. He also checked
drinking of liquor, gambling and illicit relations between men and
women.

The Sultan was the highest judicial authority in the state and Sher Shah
held his court every Wednesday in the evening. Next to him was the
chief Qazi who was the head of the department of justice. There were
subordinate Qazis in every district and in all important cities.

Sher Shah Suri took steps to issue a large number of new silver coins
which, subsequently, became known as dam. Both the silver rupee and
copper dam had their halves, quarters, eighths and sixteenths.

Sher Shah built four main highway during his tenure. They were from Sonargaon (near Dacca) via Agra, Delhi and Lahore to the Indus, from Agra to Jodhpur and the fort of Chittor, from Agra to Burhanpur, and from Lahore to Multan. These roads served many purposes, viz., the imperial defence, quick and regular despatch of news, facility of trade and commerce and convenience to the travellers.

The Sadr-us-Sudur was the minister of the department of religion,
religious endowment and charity. It was the duty of the chief Sadr
(Sadr-us-Sudur) to enforce the Islamic rules and regulations and to look
after that the Muslims strictly follow those regulations in their daily
life. He also disbursed money in charity and rewarded the learned
Muslim divines. He also paid the grants of subsistence allowances to
scholars and men of piety.

Humayun was the second Mughal ruler of India who succeeded Babur to become the Mughal Emperor. He ruled over territory in what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of northern India and Bangladesh from 1530–1540 and again from 1555–56. In 1540, he was defeated by Sher Shah Suri who went on to establish the Suri dynasty.

The original name of Sher Shah was Farid Khan. He started the Suri dynasty in 1540 by defeating Humayun. He was one of the greatest administrators of medieval India. He was also widely known as a just ruler as he never differentiated between the rich and the poor.

Sher Shah was known as 'Sultan of fair justice'. He started the Suri dynasty in 1540 by defeating Humayun. He was a just ruler who dispensed justice without any discrimination between the rich and the poor, high or low. He was also one of the greatest administrators of medieval Indian. 

Sher Shah Suri implemented significant economic reforms to boost trade. By abolishing internal duties and consolidating taxes at the point of import and sale, he simplified the commercial process and reduced corruption.

Sher Shah Suri died in 1545 during the siege of the Kalanjar fort due to an accidental explosion of gunpowder. His body was later interred in the mausoleum he had commissioned at Sasaram.

The Grand Trunk Road, or Sarak-I-Azam, was a major infrastructure project of Sher Shah Suri. It connected the Indus region in the northwest to Sonargaon in the Bengal region.

Sher Shah Suri was born with the name Farid Khan. He earned the title Sher Khan after killing a tiger, which later evolved into Sher Shah upon his ascension to the throne.

Sher Shah Suri defeated the Mughal Emperor Humayun in two major battles: the Battle of Chausa in 1539 and the Battle of Kannauj in 1540. Chausa is the correct location listed among the options.

The administration under Sher Shah was divided into units called Sarkars. The chief official in charge of a Sarkar was the Shikdar-i-Shikdaran, often referred to as the Shikdar.

The mausoleum of Sher Shah Suri is a famous architectural landmark located in Sasaram, Bihar. It is known for its Indo-Islamic style and its position in the middle of an artificial lake.

Sher Shah was the first Muslim ruler who got the whole of the land measured After land measurement, the productivity of land was estimated to fix the revenue demand per unit of measured area. Sher Shah divided the land into three categories - good, middling and bad as per their productivity. After measuring land in Bighas then half of it was fixed as the land tax

In 1543, Sher Shah Suri with a huge force of 80,000 cavalry set out against Maldeo Rathore. Maldeo Rathore with an army of 50,000 cavalry advanced to face Sher Shah's army. Instead of marching to the enemy's capital Sher Shah halted in the village of Sammel in the pargana of Jaitaran, ninety kilometers east of Jodhpur. After one month, Sher Shah's position became critical owing to the difficulties of food supplies for his huge army. To resolve this situation, Sher Shah resorted to a cunning ploy. One evening, he dropped forged letters near the Maldeo's camp in such a way that they were sure to be intercepted. These letters indicated, falsely, that some of Maldeo's army commanders were promising assistance to Sher Shah. This caused great consternation to Maldeo, who immediately (and wrongly) suspected his commanders of disloyalty. Maldeo left for Jodhpur with his own men, abandoning his commanders to their fate.After that Maldeo's innocent generals Jaita and Kunpa fought with the just 20,000 men against an enemy force of 80,000 men. In the ensuing battle of Sammel (also known as battle of Giri Sumel), Sher Shah emerged victorious, but several of his generals lost their lives and his army suffered heavy losses. Sher Shah is said to have commented that "for a few grains of bajra (millet, which is the main crop of barren Marwar) I almost lost my entire kingdom."

The 4 major roads were laid by Sher Shah to connect all the four corners of his kingdom. four important roads were as follows ; (1 ) Grand trunk road from SW1 argaon to Peshawar; ( 2 ) road from Agra to Multan via Burhanpur and Delhi; (3) road from Multan to Agra; (4) road from Mandu to Agra. The roads built by Sher Shah are called 'the arteries of the empire'.

Sher Shah Suri was succeeded by his son, Jalal Khan, who took the title of Islam Shah Suri. Humayun defeated Islam Shah in 1555 and ended the Suri dynasty.

Sher Shah's last campaign was against Kalinjar; it was a strong fort and the key to Bundelkhand. During the siege, a gun burst severely injured Sher Shah. He died in 1545 after he heard that the fort had been captured.

Sher Shah Suri's land revenue system, which involved the measurement of land and classification of crops, was highly efficient. It served as the foundation for the later revenue reforms implemented by Akbar's finance minister, Raja Todar Mal.