SHER SHAH SURI --A KING WITHOUT A PARALLEL

                      SHERSHAH
                       [1486--1545]
NO GOVERNMENT HAS SHOWN SO MUCH WISDOM AS  THIS PATHAN
                                         --------------- KEENE

Farid Khan was one of the eight sons of Mian Hassan Khan Sur who worked for the lodi sultans during the sultanate regime in Delhi. He belonged to the  Pasthun sur tribe (prominent tribe of Afghanistan). The lodi sultans were impressed by Farid Khan's grandfather, Ibrahim Khan Sur's valour and took his help in conquering Jaunpur. Thus the Surs moved into Indian plains.For their services the sur dynasty were given the Jagir of Sasaram in Bihar under the control of Jaunpur. (Now Jounpoor in present day uttar pradesh; NH 56 passes through it) 

Farid Khan had a step mother whose intrigues compelled him to leave his father's protection.He served Jamal Khan the governor of Jaunpur. Despite his father's requests and the governors persuasions Farid stayed back and became well versed with persian literature. During the same time he learnt the administrative as well as the war strategies. Soon he became well posted in persian literature. For a time he was reconciled with his father who allowed him to return to Sasaram and  administer the jagir. He did his work so well that his grand mother grew jealous of his popularity and he was compelled to leave again.

In 1522 Farid took service under Bahar Khan  Lohani the ruler of Bihar. Legend says that Farid Khan single handedly killed a tiger for which his master called him Sher Khan and appointed him as the tutor of his minor son. But the intrigues of his enemies compelled him to leave Bihar. He joined the new invader of India, Babar the moghul. His abilities were appreciated by Babar who restored to him his ancestral Jagir, sasaram. In the mean 

while the ruler of Bihar died. Assuming the guardian ship of the son of ruler of Bihar, Jalal Khan,Sher khan left the Moghuls. No sooner he became the defacto ruler of Bihar. Jalal Khan unable to digest Sher khans rise requested the king of Bengal to oust Sher Khan. A war followed and Sher Khan inflicted  crushing defeat on the combined armies. He became the new king of Bihar.

From Sher Khans journey continued without any hiccups. He conquered  Bengal and forced its ruler to his submission. Later he conquered Gaur, Chunar, and defeated the Mughal emperor  Humayun(son of Babar) at Chausa. Humayun escaped narrowly(1539) .The Entire Mughal empire was now under his control. Humayun tried to regain but suffered a crushing defeat in the hands of SherKhan.(1540).  Assuming the title Sher Shah, he ascended the throne of Delhi.

Sher Shah ruled Delhi for a period of five years. All those years he was continuously at war with loyal states of Humayun, Rajputs, as well as his own jealous Afghans. The Rajputs showed tremendous courage and tormented Shershah for a long while. 

What distinguishes Sher Shah from others is his administration and statesmanship. He was the first Indian ruler to design a road map for the entire country.(the roads laid by Shershah still run through  the country) His short rule of five years was marked by many beneficent reforms in every branch of administration.He provided the next gen rulers a thorough land revenue system. For the first time he introduced a regular postal service in India. In  short he laid the foundations for Modern India.

Great as a conqueror Sher Shah was greater still as a ruler. Sher Shah had set up such a fine administration that the great Mughal king Akbar retained most of it, and Sher Shah's administrative set up was largely how the Mughal empire's administration remained for a long time. 

Sher Shah 's land revenue policy is an important landmark in the agrarian history of India. It  was based on sound principles and so it supplied an excellent model to future rulers. He instituted reforms in the land revenue system, to make the system more in tune with the needs of the people. He conducted careful surveys and evolved the system of the state dealing directly with the cultivators. The states demands were fixed at one fourth or one third the total produce, which could be paid in either cash or kind. He appointed various officials to oversee revenue assessment and collection, and ensured that the system worked efficiently with prompt revenue collection. He took special care to protect the cultivators and did not permit any injury to their lands. He allowed remissions of rent in proper cases. Tenants had certain rights and liabilities and these were clearly explained to him when he signed a deed of agreement with the state(pattas and kabuliyats). He instructed the Revenue officers to be lenient at the time of assessment but to be strict in the matter of collection.(anybody listening).

                             

Sher Shah's currency reform deserves high praise. He issued a large number of silver coins (dam) and abolished all old and mixed metal currency. His silver rupia after elimination of its inscription .was current till 1835 and formed the basis of the later British Indian currency. The system of tri-metal ism which came to characterize Mughal coinage was introduced by Sher Shah. While the term rupya had previously been used as a generic term for any silver coin, during his rule the term rupiya came to be used as the name for a silver coin of a standard weight of 178 grains, which was the precursor of the modern rupee. Rupee is today used as the national currency in India, Pakistan,Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Mauritius, Maldives, Seychelles, among other countries.Gold coins called the Mohur weighing 169 grains and copper coins (paisa; 40 paisa = 1 dam)  were also minted by his government

  

  

He improved communications by building many high roads which linked up he different parts if his empire. These Roads were lined with trees and wells and rest houses(sarais) were constructed on the road side for the convenience of travellers both Hindu and Muslim. The most famous grand trunk road which ran from  sonargaon (now in Bangladesh)  to the Indus( our NH1). Other important roads include  road from Agra to Multan via Burhanpur and Delhi;  road from Multan to Lahore; and  road from Mandu to Agra. His road vision helped in installing the postal system in India.His multi-front crusade began with building 3000 miles of communication network, complete with milestones, connecting the capital, Agra with outlying areas

In the short span of a 5-year rule (1540-1545), Sher Shah Suri 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 ..The existing dak runner system was revamped, with two horse couriers stationed at every 2 mile-distance for speedy conveyance of official and trade correspondence. A total of 1700 post houses with 3400 postal messengers have been recorded.The sarais(rest houses )and dak chawkis(post-houses) dotting the route were overhauled to serve the needs of Hindus and Muslims alike. Sarais were more in the nature of inns, serving traders, travellers and officers of the government. The dak chawkis served as transitory points for changing post-horses. Often these sarais doubled up as dak chaukis. These sarais were maintained from the land revenue collected by dak employees from the neigbouring areas, and were self-sustaining.A porter , stationed at each of the post houses, attended to the post-horses and oxen of travellers as well as the needs of post-messengers. A watchman-in-charge) looked after each post-house. Additionally, there were two tariqh navis or post-house clerks, who recorded the arrival and departure of the mail carriers. Mails were carried by mewras and messengers, who were essentially of tribal origin or belonged to the lower castes

Sher Shah also re-organized tariffs and duties to facilitate the development of commerce.. He promoted the cause of trade and commerce by reducing the number of the customs duty collection points to just two. Goods produced in Bengal or imported from outside had to pay customs at Sikrigali, at the border of Bengal and Bihar, while goods from West and Central Asia paid customs duty at the Indus. He promoted the cause of trade and commerce by abolishing many vexatious internal customs. Abolishment of taxes that were a barrier to free trade, brought about development of trade. Introduction of the Rupayya or rupee coin in place of “Tanka” and “Jeetal” and the system of custom duties, gave a fillip to trade and commerce. The consequential increase in business correspondence was facilitated by the large network of roads built during the reign of Sher Shah Suri. The revenue and agricultural reforms of this period will also be of interest to the students of fiscal history

Sher Shah Suri’s reforms devised a practical approach to administration, whence the system of provinces was replaced with Sarkars, Parganas and villages. This was adopted by the subsequent Mughal and British colonial administration. The empire was divided into 47 provinces, called Sarkars (19 in Bengal). Each Sarkar was further divided into smaller districts called Parganas. Each Sarkar was managed by two officers, the Shiqdar-i-Shiqdaram (Military Chief) and the Munsif-i-Munsifan,(Chief of Justice), who oversaw the work of Pargana officers, namely the Shiqdar (administrative officer), Amin (revenue officer), Munsif (judicial officer), Patwari (keeper of land revenue records), Chowdhury (landholder, next to zamindar rank) Muqaddam (village headman), Qarqun (accountant), Mushrif (holder of trust) and Khazaanchi (treasurer). While the Fautedar maintained property records in both, Persian and Hindi, the Qanoongo in each Sarkar supervised the same.The officers were transferred every two or three years to prevent misuse of office, which was an innovation in that epoch of time. It maybe noted that the postal system was still not open to general public, though one comes across references to malpractices involving covert transmission of messages, besides transactions involving land. This is probably the reason that the practice of transferring officers was adopted.

Though military intelligence continued the use of spying as a tool, military matters were however isolated from political and social issues of the empire. The same sarais that served as post-houses, also served as centres of local intelligence gathering.He maintained personal contact with soldiers.  

He maintained a strict vigil with effective net work of spies. He checked all sorts of corruption.  He dealt out even handed justice to the high and low and with him there was  no pleading of privilege and peerage. 

Shershah followed an enlightened policy of toleration. He employed Hindus in important offices of the state. One of  his best generals was a Hindu named Bramajit Kaur. 

Thus Shershah suri establishes himself above all the medieval rulers. In fact he served India in a great deal by a great vision. In fact with limited resources and of course limited TIME he built what he visualized.  Its his wisdom that served the country in lots of ways. Almost all rulers survived with his wisdom. Even the great English administrators ran through his chronicles to get the land details and used his road map to drain India. 

No doubt, so many of you may have never heard of this great man. But look at his administration. When ever you hear rupee remember its Shershah who coined the word. Whenever you travel on highways of North India remember its the vision of this great man.The Indian posts owe a lot to him. He was the first Muslim ruler who understood secularism to core. He was the first and last ruler to date who understood farmer and his rights.His able administration in books today has lot of solutions to most of the problems we face today.

 Its believed Akbar deputed Abbas Khan Sarwani,  a waqia-navis to write Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi (history of Sher Shah) dating 1580 CE, is a historical work  detailing the rule of emperor Shershah Suri. The work was commissioned by emperor Akbar to provide detailed documentation about Sher Shah's administration. The following is a letter written by a loyal officer expressing sadness over the destruction of empire to  Jahangir. 

Specially Sher Khan was not an angel (malak) but a king (malik). In six years he gave such stability to the structure (of the empire) that its foundations still survive. He had made India flourish in such a way that the king of  Persia and Turan appreciate it, and have a desire to look at it. Hazrat Arsh Ashiyani (Akbar the great) followed his administrative manual (zawabit) for fifty years and did not discontinue them. In the same India due to able administration of the well wishers of the court, nothing is left except rabble and jungles...

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                                            Mirza Aziz Koka, son of Ataga Khan, in a letter to Emperor Jahangirr

We have a habit of honouring people on birthdays alone. We also have a habit of remembering  the great kings in story books gifted to children. No academic brain in this country tries to bring in the the greater innovations our past rulers have attempted to save people from misery. This is not an attempt to glorify a ruler. This is an attempt to put forward what we should teach children. This is an attempt to tell how administration can be meaningful.

Today we have resources. A great technology to assist us. Lots of intellectuals in every bend and corner. We have a better administrative system(shershah is an autocrat). Yet our rulers fail to achieve at least 1% of what Shershah achieved in a time span of five years.

Sadly we only have a great past

SOURCES:

1) LOT OF HISTORY BOOKS

2)WIKIPEDIA

3) INDIAN POSTS

4)GOOGLE IMAGES

5)MY MOTHER WHO FIRST INTRODUCED ME TO SHER SHAH IN 7 TH CLASS;

6) STAMPSOFINDIA.COM 

JAI HIND

Indian History was always contrived -fabricated-or ignored by the world. Except for Gandhi no other leader is discussed across the table around the world. Our Vedas-Upanishads-philosophy are definitely respected throughout the world, but tell me except for a very few, how often we see acknowledgement of the greatness of our knowledge which established the foundational principles of this universe some thousands of years before. Our great yoga rests in the laurels of fit frenzy laurels of Hollywood and Bollywood. And our great intellectuals  like Kautilya, Charaka, Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, Adi sankaracharya ......are never on par with Homer, Voltaire, Archimedes,Euclid, Copernicus....Every time I read the world history i sink in deep mourning after realizing  the way we are thrown out of the chronicles of history. In what way is Adi sankaracharya is less than any prophet? 

You may simply ignore by saying "we know what we are" .  When the western world still basks in the glory of a Jesus or a Pythagoras  we here run our  world through i phones and other materialistic pleasures. When one third of the world is hell bent on killing a man who insulted their prophet through a non sense movie we paint our god on his festival day in our favourite film stars attire. 

History is a collection of accurate facts handed over to the next generation hoping

1) They will come to know how hard their forefathers struggled to accumulate the fortunes the present generations enjoy....THIS MAKES A CLEAR NOTE TO THE NEXT GEN--CONTRIBUTE

2)The next gen learns about the great people who made their region abound with knowledge and wisdom and thus walk in their foot steps in the times of crisis.

3) The nest gen learns about how narrow mindedness and greed led to the devastation of mankind over centuries

4) The next gen  creates able platform for sustainability for the future. 

With this objective in mind and as a social teacher i want to introduce to you great people who you never knew yet contributed to the cause of INDIA.

MY NEXT POST THE MAN WHO YOU NEVER KNEW. BUT HE IS THE ONE WHO LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR MODERN INDIA. 

KEEP READING THIS PAGE. I AM HANDING YOU THE INFO ON THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS COUNTRY HAPPEN

BISMARK

Of all the European leaders Bismarck was a class different. He with his wisdom and courage unified a multi partitioned Germany into a single nation, made it powerful and in  a period of twenty years made it a major player in world affairs. His originality consisted of being neither in the camp of power nor in that of ideology. Like a physicist, Bismarck analyzed the principal elements of each situation and then used them in an overall design. Bismarck dominated because he understood a wider range of factors relevant to international affairs — some normally identified with power, others generally classified as ideals — than any of his contemporaries. Despite being an anti socialist Bismarck introduced old age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance. He is anti socialist but not against the welfare of workers.his social insurance programs were the first in the world and became the model for other countries and the basis of the modern welfare state. 

However he has never achieved all this without pain.The prussian king called Bismarck the ambassador  to assume he position of prime minister to tame the parliament. Bismarck known to  be bully and absolutist seemed the man of the hour for the king who is hell bent to get his policy accepted by the parliament. For four years Bismarck had to struggle against a hostile majority in parliament.  His dream of unifying Germany was never considered. But he stuck to his course heedless of insults and unpopularity. He believed at the end of the day the success of his policy  will ensure prosperity to all. He boldly and single handedly managed the difficult situation at home. He was considered a curse to liberalism. 

Yet he unified Germany.He was the reason for an all round development of Germany. His policy of blood and Iron resulted in increasing militarism in  Europe and there by a world war.

Bismarck Remains my ideal hero. I used to teach German unification with a panache. All my students i hope remember the way i presented Bismarck. Lots of my students changed the blood and Iron meaning from war to hard work, determination.....

This blood and iron speech was given by Bismarck after the parliament vigorously refused to pass the military bill of king Wilhelm I in 1862. Bismark appeared before the budget committee and declared

" The position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power ... Prussia must concentrate its strength and hold it for the favourable moment, which has already come and gone several times. Since the treaties of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill-designed for a healthy body politic. Not through speeches and majority decisions will the great questions of the day be decided - that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849 - but by iron and blood.