Tag: foundation of mughal empire

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.