Sher Shah Suri

1. Background and rise to sovereignty

Sher Shah emerged from the competitive world of Afghan chiefs in eastern India after the decline of the Lodi Sultanate. Born Farid Khan, he was the son of Hasan Khan, an Afghan jagirdar associated with Sasaram. His birth year is disputed and should not be treated as a settled examination fact. Experience in managing his family’s estates helped him understand agricultural production, local power relations and revenue collection.

Farid entered the service of Bahar Khan Lohani, an Afghan ruler of Bihar. According to the traditional account, he received the title Sher Khan after killing a tiger. He gradually consolidated his position in Bihar by combining administrative ability, military service, strategic marriages and rivalry with other Afghan nobles. Chunar, a formidable fortress overlooking the Ganga route, became an important base of his power.

The weakness of Mughal authority after Babur’s death and Humayun’s competing commitments created opportunities for Sher Khan. His campaigns in Bengal strengthened his resources, while Humayun’s eastern expedition left the Mughal army vulnerable. At Chausa, near present-day Buxar, Sher Khan defeated Humayun on 26 June 1539. He assumed royal authority as Sher Shah. Victory at Kannauj or Bilgram on 17 May 1540 drove Humayun out of northern India and established Sur rule at Delhi.

• Chausa: 1539; first decisive defeat of Humayun by Sher Khan.
• Kannauj/Bilgram: 1540; displacement of Mughal rule and establishment of the Sur Empire.

2. Territorial expansion, kingship and administration

Sher Shah’s empire centred on the Indo-Gangetic plain, extending from Bengal towards Punjab, with further expansion into central India and Rajasthan. He asserted control over Malwa and Raisen and fought the forces of Maldev Rathor of Marwar at Sammel, near Giri-Sumel, in 1544. Afghan success there did not mean permanent control over every Rajput territory. His final campaign was against Kalinjar in Bundelkhand.

His kingship stressed the ruler’s personal supervision, discipline among officials and protection of cultivation and commerce. Afghan political traditions gave nobles substantial influence, but Sher Shah sought to curb their independence. His state was therefore more centralising than a loose confederation of Afghan chiefs, although its institutions were neither uniform nor equally effective throughout the empire.

The principal territorial units included sarkars and parganas. At the pargana level, the shiqdar was associated with policing and executive duties, while the amin or munsif handled assessment and revenue-related functions. A treasurer and record-keepers supported administration; local officials such as the patwari remained important. Assigning different responsibilities to different officers provided a measure of mutual supervision.

Sher Shah maintained a strong army and is associated with the branding of horses, called dagh, and descriptive rolls of soldiers, called chehra. These checks were intended to prevent fraudulent musters and substitution of inferior horses. They were not entirely new: comparable practices existed under Alauddin Khalji. Sher Shah did not establish Akbar’s mansabdari system, and descriptions of his administration should not project later Mughal institutions backwards.

3. Land revenue and the agrarian economy

Land revenue was the chief fiscal foundation of Sher Shah’s state. He sought a more regular assessment through measurement of cultivated land and consideration of its productive capacity. Standard accounts describe classification into good, middling and inferior land, with average produce informing assessment. The state demand is generally described as about one-third of average produce, payable in cash or kind.

The patta specified the cultivator’s holding and assessed demand, while the qabuliat recorded the cultivator’s acceptance of the obligation. These documents aimed to clarify what the state could claim and reduce arbitrary collection. Cash payments required conversion of produce estimates through prevailing prices or assessment schedules. Measurement and record-keeping thus linked agrarian administration to the expanding monetary economy.

Sher Shah is credited with concern for cultivators, including instructions against damage by marching troops and assistance in distress. Such prescriptions should not be mistaken for proof that oppression disappeared. Measurement expenses, collection charges and officials’ conduct could still burden peasants. Moreover, measurement-based assessment was not implemented everywhere; local arrangements and intermediary interests persisted.

His reforms were significant precedents rather than a complete blueprint for Akbar’s system. Later Mughal administrators refined measurement, rates and documentation. Akbar’s dahsala assessment, based on ten-year averages and associated with the reforms of the 1580s, belongs to a later phase. Sher Shah’s revenue arrangements must therefore be distinguished from both Mughal dahsala and the colonial Permanent Settlement.

4. Currency, roads, sarais and trade

Sher Shah standardised a silver coin known as the rupiya, conventionally described as weighing about 178 grains, or approximately 11.5 grams. Gold and copper coins also circulated. His importance lies in providing a durable monetary standard, not in introducing coinage to India. The silver rupee continued under the Mughals and became a major element of the subcontinent’s monetary history.

He repaired and extended major highways, notably the eastern-western route linking Bengal with the north-west. The corridor is commonly described as running from Sonargaon towards the Indus; much of it later became known as the Grand Trunk Road. Other routes connected Agra with Burhanpur, Agra with Jodhpur and Chittor, and Lahore with Multan. Many stretches followed older routes, so describing the entire network as a wholly new construction is misleading.

Sarais offered accommodation, water and support for travellers and merchants. They also functioned as stages for the relay of official communications through mounted messengers. Accounts describe separate facilities for Hindu and Muslim travellers. Roadside amenities, security measures and attempts to reduce unnecessary transit exactions helped trade, while the same infrastructure accelerated troop movements, revenue transmission and intelligence reaching the court.

5. Architecture, death and historical assessment

Sher Shah’s mausoleum at Sasaram is a major example of sixteenth-century Indo-Islamic architecture. Its octagonal structure rises on a platform within an artificial lake, creating a striking monumental setting. It belongs to the architectural transition between the Lodi and mature Mughal periods. The Qila-i-Kuhna Mosque in Delhi’s Purana Qila, built in 1541, is another important monument associated with his reign.

Sher Shah died on 22 May 1545 after an accidental gunpowder explosion during the siege of Kalinjar. His son Islam Shah succeeded him and ruled until 1554. Subsequent succession conflicts fragmented Sur authority, enabling Humayun to recover Delhi in 1555. Thus, Sher Shah’s five-year reign and the fifteen-year interruption of Mughal rule are different chronological spans.

The Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi of Abbas Khan Sarwani, compiled during Akbar’s reign, is a major narrative source. Its celebration of Sher Shah’s achievements requires critical reading. His enduring importance lies in the vigorous adaptation of earlier practices into a more supervised fiscal-military state. He was neither the inventor of every reform attributed to him nor merely a temporary interruption in Mughal history.

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