Tag: history

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.