Medieval and Islamic History

Battle of Buxar ended with the signing of Treaty of Allahabad in 1765 by Shah Alam II and Robert Clive of East India Company. It gave diwani rights or the right to collect taxes of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa to the East India Company. Tax exempt status was also restored to the company.

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.

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.

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.

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-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 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.

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.