Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545)

Sher Shah Suri (1540-1545)

Humayun was defeated by Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri and the Battle of Chausa (near Buxar in Bihar) in 1539. Following this defeat, he was driven into exile in Persia. He regained his kingdom in 1555 after the end of rule of Suri Dynasty.

Sher Shah was a great expansionist and wanted to expand his kingdom. In 1544, he invaded the fort of Kalinjar, which was ruled by Kirti Singh and laid a siege of the fort. During this siege, one of the cannons accidentally went off killing him on 26th of May 1535. His dead body was taken to Sasaram, where he had already built a mausoleum for himself, and was buried. Successors of Sher Shah were weak. The Suri dynasty's rule ended in 1545.

Sher Shah Administration: His administration was very sound. His central machinery of administration was based on the admission of Sultant period.

1. Administrative units : For administrative convenience, Sher Shah divided his kingdom into 47 divisions called Sarkars.
2. Central Administration :Sher Shah divided the government under several departments, each under the charge of a minister, who was assisted by other high officers. The Finance Minister was called Wazir . He personally supervised all the departments.
3. Justice : Civil cases of pargana was heard by Amir and criminal cases by a Qazi . Sher Shah introduced the principle of local responsibility for the local crimes.
4. Land revenue : Sher Shah had fixed the land revenue after getting the whole of the land measured through the agency of Raja Todar Mal. He got an accurate survey of all the agricultural land and fixed a definite revenue for each unit of land.
5. Military reforms :Sher Shah effected many military reforms in order to save the country from foreign invasions and internal revolt. With the object of organising the Army, Sher Shah begin to pay the soldiers their salary in cash; maintained their respective roles; brandised the horses etc.
6. Roads and Trade :Sher Shah made many roads to encourage trade, to provide comfort and convenience to the travellers, to facilitate the movement of troops from one place to another and to carry out the Administration systematically and properly. Of these four are the important roads:
1. Grand Trunk Road, whch lays between Sunargaon in the East Bengal and Attock in the Nort-West boundary of India.
2. a road from Agra to Burhanpur in the Deccan
3. a road between Aga and Jodhpur and Chittor in Rajputana
4. a road between Lahore and Multan. On either sides of road, shady trees were planted.
7. Coins : Sher Shah also reformed coins and/many kinds of coins of pure gold and silver.