Make an assessment of Sher Shah's administration.

 

Sher Shah saw to it that Humayun left Hindustan and had him followed up to Lahore by his men. In the meantime he himself fought winning battles with the Baluch nobles and built a fort on the frontier which he named as Rohtasgarh.. Probably he wanted to secure the frontier and also to see that the Mughals did not make a try to re-enter Hindustan along that line.

In 1541 there was a revolt in Bengal raised by the governor Khizir Khan. This was put down. But Sher Shah completely hauled up the administrative set up in Bengal by introducing a new system altogether. The whole province was divided into sarkars and parganas, each pargana was placed under an official called shiqdar. The shiqdars of each district was directly appointed by Sher Shah himself. Above the shiqdars an officer was appointed called the Amir-i- Bangala who was directly responsible to Sher Shah for all matters. This experiment in Bengal served as the basis for his large scale administrative structure that he later built over his empire.

 

Military successes and Annexations

Malwa was conquered in 1542. Gujarat was made a part of the empire. Mandu, Ujjain and Ranthambor were brought under control. In 1543 the fort of Raisin was taken. Same year Sind and Multan were annexed. Mewar and Marwar were subjugated. However none of these Rajput states were annexed directly. The rulers were left in their respective thrones as long as they accepted the overlord ship of Sher Shah. His last expedition was towards Kalinjar which was successfully taken. However at the moment of victory a chance cannon ball hit Sher Shah and he fell on the battle field. This happened in May 1545.  

The Reforms of the Administration

Sher Shah was a military genius. After defeating Humayun he set to expand his empire. At the same time he extended to the rest of his empire, the administrative experiments that he had successfully carried out in Sasaram and later in Bengal. These projects establish Sher Shah as a brilliant innovating administrator of medieval times and an inspiring anticipator of Akbar.

 

Sher Shah’s Revenue System

Sher Shah’s first attempts at administrative work were undertaken in Sasaram in 1518. The extensive jaigir had a mixed population of Hindu peasants and Cheroes and Savars two very ancient forest tribes. There were Ahirs or the pastoral people of Rajput origin and some well placed influential Rajputs who were encouraged by Sher Shah to settle in the region as a countercheck to the powerful Afghan clans. In 1518 when Farid had yet to go a long way to becoming Sher Shah, the jaigir of Sasaram was a place of rough-hewn settlers. Revenue was collected by the chaudhuris and muqaddams (the Hindu rais and ranas, who were incorporated into the revenue system by Alauddin Khalji as regular revenue collectors and given posts with Persian names), vestiges from the days of Alauddin Khalji. The decline of the Sultanate and its withdrawal from such distant areas emboldened these men to make their posts hereditary. As intermediaries they cheated both the ryot or the peasant and the jaigirdar. Farid sought to change and improve the situation and make way for progress. Abbas Sarwani gives an elaborate account of how Sher Shah by means of a combined policy of displaying forthright power tampered with compromise, completely radicalised the state of affairs.

He separately met each group—the ryots, the amils and the muqaddam and chaudhuris, the turbulent Afghan chiefs and the Hindu chieftains. Each group was made to understand the purpose of the jaigirdar— a) establish law and order, b) regular collection of revenue, c)ensure protection to the ryots and d) general improvement of land and cultivation.

Farid considered the peasants as asset of the land, the interests of the ryots as sheet anchor of his administrative reforms. This policy with which he began his career continued in his later days and remained so when he became the Sultan Sher Shah.

 

The ryot was assured of security and non-eviction as long as they paid their dues. The dues were settled after zarib or survey, measurement and assessment of land condition and crops grown. The rate was fixed only after due care is taken of the ryot’s possessions and the actual hasil (actual produce and the actual collection) at the time of harvest. There were other local officers like the qanungo, the shiqdar and the amin connected with the land measurement, assessment and fixation of rates. All these were to be put down on record. The ryot was to be given two documents. The patta (This assured the ryot his right to continue cultivation in the land) and the Kabuliyat( the agreement on the part of the ryot to pay the revenue rate fixed in accordance to his approval). Farid, later as Sher Shah insisted that these documents were written in the local languages.

The ryot were to receive loans and advances to buy implements and seed grains. It was declared that the rate could be reduced at times of distress and natural calamities and enhanced at times of prosperity.

The Hindu village notables like the patwari, chaudhuri and the muqaddam were duly recognized. At the same time these officers were to take cognizance of the authority of Sher Shah and also of their respective responsibilities.

The powerful Afghan and Rajput settlers were also to take note of the jaigirdar;’s authority. They were not eliminated but allowed to stay on certain conditions. The chieftains were asked to collect revenue from their areas and pay a due share to the exchequer of the jagirdar. They were to also maintain peace and order in their areas. According to Qanungo this was the beginning of the Zamindari system which was to become an integral part of the Mughal agrarian system.

The entire land revenue system was divided into a vertical arrangement, from the lowest unit to the highest—the Deh (village-- revenue to be collected by the patwari or the village headman)--- Mauza (cluster of villages --revenue to be collected by chaudhuris and muqaddams) --- Mahal (parganas—by amils )---Dewani ( to be sent to the Dewan’s Kutchari at Sarkar level )

 

The facts about the revenue arrangements that Farid set up in his father’s jaigir at Sasaram and which was adopted in a grand scale for his empire when he became the Sultan are known in a scattered manner from Abbas Sarwani’s Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi and Niamutullah’s Makhzan-i-Afghani. These had been authenticated and detailed by Abul fazl in Ain-i-Akbari (Qanungo).

The Administration set up

Like his revenue system which was first experimented in Sasaram, the administrative arrangement of the Sur Empire was tried out successfully in Bengal. It was later put into effect in other parts of the Empire.

After putting down the rebellion of Khizir Khan, Sher (He was still fighting Humayun at the time) hauled the entire government of the region and sought to establish a centralised set-up. The entire region was divided into sarkars (this division was introduced earlier by Sikandar Lodi. The sarkar was sub-divided into parganas; pargana --- mahal ---.deh—such were the administrative divisions) the sarkar was to be looked after by the chief shiqdar who was to look after the law and order and protection of the sarkar. The charge of the dewani or the treasury was given to the munshiff. At the pargana level the amil looked after the administrative affairs.

This set up which he had in Bengal was extended to his expanding empire. In Bengal or Bangala there were 19 sarkars. Apart from these he would have the rest of his empire divided into 47 sarkars; (there were altogether 66 sarkars). The shiqdar-i-shiqdaran and the munshiff-i-munshiffan were the two officers parallely appointed, one looking after the administration and defence of the sarkar the other was in charge of the dewani department which included the treasury and the finances. Both were selected by Sher himself and they were independent of each other. The purpose was to maintain a power balance in the provinces. The sarkar of the Sur regime became the suba in the Mughal times following the same administrative arrangement.

The Bengal experiment served as model for the other sarkars. In Bengal Sher had undertaken to subjugate the local chiefs and control the river ways. He built bridges and set up chowkies to collect dues from merchants at regular intervals on the river banks, landing places as also at bridge ends. Sher’s construction of long roads and highways with sarais or rest houses at regular intervals and shady trees in row on both sides is a proverbial statement in Indian history. The one that he built from Sonargaon in eastern Bengal covering the entire Gangetic region, Punjab and right up to Peshawar was on the same route as the one built by Chandragupta Maurya. The roads were maintained properly for the movement of army, as well for the travelling merchants .Sher Shah introduced dak or postal system. The sarais served as places for change of horses for the post. He encouraged trade and commerce knowing that commerce like agriculture was necessary for the economic stability of the empire.

Sher Shah introduced a new silver currency called rupiya containing 178 grains of silver and a copper currency called dam having 330 grains of copper which remained in circulation even during the Mughal period.

Estimate

In many ways Sher Shah depicted the image of a suave, sophisticated diplomat. His military prowess was equally matched by his sense of the right moment. He knew when to ally and with whom. In his long political career he changed sides as it suited him. He was in Babar’s camp twice. He had no scruples though in opposing his son. Towards the final part of his military career he fought to ruin Humayun’s possibilities as the emperor of Hindustan. It seemed at a point his sole political aim. Yet at the same time he absorbed himself in experimenting administrative changes in Bengal. He could change his objectives as when suited his policy.

Sultan Sher Shah followed a liberal and tolerant policy and believed in collaborating with the non-Muslims. This was a legacy from the Sultanate. Even though it was for a short period, Sher Shah’s reign ushered in a sense of stability and order. Sher Shah was a great organiser. The long years of experience, trials and successes that shaped his personality also perhaps lent a kind of durability to the state that he built up. Had he not died so suddenly, had he lived longer, there perhaps would have been a longer Afghan rule in Hindustan delaying the Mughal regime, perhaps even denying such a possibility.

End of the Sur Dynasty

Sher Shah died in 1545. He was succeeded by his son Islam Shah (1545-55). Islam Shah was educated, experienced and well trained in his father’s school.  Islam Shah carried out his father’s policy in a well organised manner and was able to maintain his father’s empire.

The Sur Empire broke up after his death. He was succeeded by his minor son who was killed by Islam’s brother-in-law who ascended the throne taking the name of Muhammad Adil Shah. Adil Shah was soon overthrown and soon there were several contenders. Ibrahim Sur took Delhi but in turn was defeated by Sikandar Sur who occupied Delhi and Agra. It was at this point in time Humayun made a bid to come back. The Sur Empire was broken and was faction ridden. Humayun struck at the right moment.