ANALYSIS OF POLICIES AND ADMINISTION OF

SHER SHAH SURI

HISTORY RESEARCH PAPER FOR THE INTERNAL CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT (ICA)

SEMESTER 1

Submitted by: Vidhisha Agrawal

Course: B.A.L.L.B (hons.) 2021-26

SAP ID: 81012100265
ROLL NO: B 223
Submitted to: Professor Riddhi Joshi

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 DECLARATION

I make a statement that the research work is originally done by me and the content in it is not
given anywhere. The references of used content is mentioned and given appreciation. I state that
research paper is made by me and the work done is my own except where it is mentioned in the
text itself, and the work done in this paper is not been submitted by any other degree holder or
any university.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would sincerely like to thank our Dean, Saurabh Sir, and our professor for the subject of History.
Riddhi ma’am, for giving the opportunity to work on this research paper and helping with out with
the same.
Making this research paper has truly been an enlightening experience, apart from giving me an
occasion to be creative as much as I can. This project has given me tremendous insight into the
workings of the world of research and given a great opportunity of putting forth my view, thus
showing what is expected of me as a researcher, making it extremely helpful for the

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 INDEX
SR NO TITLE PAGE NO
1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
2. INTRODUCTION 5
• THEME
• IMPORTANCE OF THEME 5
• OBJECTIVE
• HYPOTHESIS
• LIMITATION
• RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 6
• RESEARCH QUESTION
• LITERATURE REVIEW
3. 6
MAIN BODY
• A GLIMPSE OF FARID
6
• POLICIES AND ADMINISTRATION 7
OF SHER SHAH SURI

4. CONCLUSION 10
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY 10

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 INTRODUCTION
Sher Shah Suri one of the important ruler during Mughal period as he took away the thrown from
Humayun for several years. During his young age he went to Jaunpur due to family issues and
gained knowledge regarding administration. Around (1511A.D) he went back to his family and
manage the parganas for several years till his father took back from him due to the promise.
After that he worked under many kings and served them and then he served Babur and several
other kings and then he being uncrowned king of Bihar and building his own empire. And
bringing out many administrative polices like revenue system, building sarais working on roads
for better connectivity and trade and commerce.

THEME
Sher Shah Suri was one of the most prominent Afghan leader who was known for
his way of working i.e. his policies and ways of implementing them.
IMPORTANCE OF THEME
Though he was very prominent leader but his policies and administration are not
known by many of us.
OBJECTIVE:
To learn or be aware about the policies he implemented and some of his inventions that is the
Dam (Silver coin) because his policies and ways were very famous and efficient therefore Akbar
was also using his policies during his kingship period.

HYPOTHESIS
The policies which Sher Shah followed was harsh to the people. He was
considered traitor because he use to join different kings to learn or become
powerful and once he was done with it he use to leave the kingdom or he use to
betray them.
LIMITATIONS
Though he Is a popular personality but there is not a much work regarding him so the sources
are limited.

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The sources referred for the research papers are Secondary sources. Books, websites Articles
and etc. The content written is referred from various places and then framed together and
written down.

RESEARCH QUESTION
• To know about Farid (Sher Shah Suri)?
• What is Dam?
• His contribution to the agriculture field?
• His military policies?

LITERATURE REVIEW
The paper talks about Sher Shah Suri and his childhood struggle, how he migrated to Jaunpur to
learn and attain knowledge. After few years he went back and took over his father’s paragana
and implementing certain rules. After that he went back to jaunpur and worked under many
kings and learnt skills from them and then he was crowned as the king of Bihar. He did what so
ever possible to built his army more powerful.

A glimpse of Farid

Sher Shah Suri original name was Farid. Farid went to Jaunpur to the presence of Jamal Khan
probably at the age of 15 due the family issue between him and his father Hassan Sur. The year of
discretion was (1501 A.D). As he was fond of reading virtues of ancient kings, historians are
unanimous in testimony to Farid’s literary acquisition. This knowledge diverted him for the usual
path of the military career, as there is no other warrior in the history of India, who without being a
soldier in early life became the founder of an empire. Nizamuddin Ferishta and MS. Makhzan says
that Farid had attained first hand knowledge of revenue, the distress of cultivators even before he
took up the management of his father’s parganas. Probably the literary education of Farid and the
peculiar bent of his genius attracted him to peaceful but profitable employment in the revenue
department. And because of his intelligence Jamal Khan drafted him to the civil service. Farid was
named as Sher Khan by Bahar Khan because of his excellent encounter of a tiger.

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 Sher Shah Suri
ttps://www.knowhistory.live/2021/06/sher-shah-suri-most-
powerful-and.html

Policies and administration of Sher Shah Suri

Though he only ruled for 5 years be he has major contribution his for most priority was to make
law and order throughout the empire. He paid major attention on making roads safe and took
serious measures against robbers and dacoits, and he hardly believed that the safety of roads can
only be assured if zaminders were under control because who holds the hand in the parganas and
some of the muqaddams who gathers rent there practice zulm upon the rayats and to prevent that
he decided that he shall first dissuade them by firm advice, but if they disagree, I shall make such
an example by punishing them that others would take warning from them. Like he took strict action
against Fath Khan Jat who had been ruining the entire track of Lakhi jungle and had been the
reason of confusion from Lahore to Delhi because of his violent behavior.
Sher Shah laid emphasis on roads to ease the military movement and betterment of communication
for trade and commerce. It also ensured control over countryside. He also restored road from Indus
River to situated in the west to Sonargaon in Bengal, and constructed a road from Agra to jodhpur
and Chittor, which will act like a link to the sea port of Gujarat, and also a road leading to Multan
from Lahore ans a road from Agra to Burhanpur leading to the sea port of Gujarat. And for the
comfort of the travellers he build sarias on the highways at a distance of 4 miles or 2 karohs. There
were different arrangements for Hindus and Muslims and the cooks appointed were either brahman
or Muslim. There were raw food supplies available due to different caste restriction. It is also
considered that the visitors to the sarai were provided foods and drinks on the basis of their ranks
they hold. A guard or shahna was appointed to look after the material of the visitors. There were
1700 sarias. Many of the sarai became mandis where farmers use to come and sell their goods and
it became the way of development for handicrafts and authentic material of the towns. It was also
use for the post service that is dak chowkis for which two horses were kept at each sarai, because
of which it was convenient to get a news within 300 km in a day.

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Sher Shah also used other ways for trade and commerce too and they are introduction of dam.
Dam being a tiny copper coin introduced or launched by Sher Shah Suri during his rule between
1540-1545A.D. along with ‘Mohur’ the gold coin and ‘Rupiya’ the silver coin. Later, the Mughal
emperors standardized the coin to consolidate the monetary system across India. A rupee was
divided into 40 dams. He also took steps to standardize weights and measurements.

Dam (Indian coin introduced by Sher Shah Suri)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dam_(Indian_coin)

In his empire custom duty on goods were paid twice i.e., at time of entry of goods and during the
sell.
Muqqadums (headmen of the village) were appointed for the safety reasons and zamindars related
topics and for catching the culprits if there is any theft in the territory. Sher Shah paid major
attention on agriculture because he considered and looked upon agriculture as the only source of
wealth, and labour of the peasantry as the most productive kind of human effort. Therefore, without
improving the lot of peasantry it was impossible to make the condition of parganas flourishing.
For this reason he gathered all the three classes i.e. the soilders, muqaddams, patwaries and cultivators
to meet him. Thus having gathered the oppressors and the oppressed together. And addresses that no one
should put any disturbance upon agriculture by committing Turk-like tyranny and cruelty upon the
cultivators. And if any of such things comes to him then they’ll be punished harshly. As he wishes that
within his administration, all people whether high or low, may prosper, and there should be no oppression
or violence.
The most precious contribution of Sher Shah is that off revenue system, he was able to pull it off because
he had acquired knowledge by being in charge of his father’s jagir. And by being uncrowned ruler of bihar
for around 10 years. Sher Shah wanted that the assessment of land-revenue should not be based on
cropsharing or estimation. Nor should the village head-men and zamindars be allowed to pass their
burden on to the shoulders of the weaker sections. Hence, as a ruler, he insisted upon the system
of measurement (zabt ). The system of measurement of the rooted area was very old and considered
the tradition away introduced by Alauddin Khilji but the measurement system adopted by Sher
Shah was different. Sher Shah divided the land in three different categories that is good, bad and
middling, on the production basis. 1/3rd of the production was considered as a share of state. Then
he asked the peasants to make a choice as to whether they should pay rent in cash or kind. As he meant to

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make a direct settlement with rayat. Multan was considered out if it under special circumstances, state share
being 1/4th. Farid took kabuliyats signed by rayats and fixed the rate of payments. Fields were
measured every year. He did not made changes in the government pargana being the lowest consist
of numerous villages, with a muqqadam looking after law-and-order throughout the area while
patwari was looking after the account. Pargana were under shiqdar looking after law and order and
administration, while munsif or amil were responsible for measuring the land for land revenue.
There was a khazandar who was responsible for keeping the collected money.
There were a lot of discussion about Sher Shah had system of provincial organization or not, and
recent research says that during the Sultanat there were no organization but at times number of
shiqs grouped together known as vilayet.
Sher Shah Suri introduced the branding system that is dagh of the horses descriptive-rolls (chehra)
which had fallen into disuse, which were imposed strictly. It is said that he himself use to interview
the soldiers and their salaries were priorly decided. The horses were branded in his presence. He
had the personal army consisting of 150000 cavalry, 25,000 bowen and infantry men, including
matchlock-men and bowmen, a park of artillery and 5,000 war elephants. In addition, there were
nobles, some of whom were commanders of 20,000 sawars, or 10,000 or 5,000 sawars. Afghan
nobles must have been recruited on tribal basis. To convince the Afghans to join the army they
were given what so ever they wanted. It has been noticed that the nobles and the soldiers both
were paid on the basis or by means of land assignments or iqtas. The people with authority were
kept under strict rules so that they cannot keep anything upto themselves from the iqtas reserved
or collected for the soldiers. Thus, the question of Sher Shah wanting to do away with the iqta or
jagir system does not arise. During the battles Sher Shah use to pretend powerless to face him in
the fight and therefore he should march to expel him from there. And suddenly one day he use
arranged his troops secretly and fell upon the army to win the battles.
However hard an individual work but it was not easy to manage the huge territory of Hindustan
all alone. There was a income sector and a sector of ariz which was responsible to look after the
army. And a sadr who looked after the income free allocation for religious purposes. There were
all the traditional departments but the authority provided was not enough and the central rule
played the major rule which turned out to be harmful as once Sher Shah was removed.
During his time he also gave great emphasis on Justice, He used to say, " Justice is the most
excellent of religious rites, and is approved alike by the king of infidels and of the faithful." Also
that " None of the devotions and prayers can be equated with justice and here all the sections of
infidels and Islam are one on the point." " Justice implied making no distinction between men of
his own tribe and near relations and others in awarding punishment, and to prevent oppression by
those in power, i.e. the high grandees and others to " avert the sighs of the injured and the
oppressed." It is difficult to say how effective he was in practice in this sphere, despite the presence
of a large number of spies who reported on everything. Qazis were appointed throughout the
kingdom to dispense justice though we know little about their working. Panchayats and caste
bodies must have continued to provide civil law to the Hindus, while zamindars and shiqdars were
also involved in providing criminal justice (SHER SHAH).

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His honor as a great designer is because of the majestic mosoleum built for him Sahsaram which
is considered to depict his strength, harmony and stability. He also created a city on the banks of
Jamuna consisting of old fort with battlefield and a mosque within it. This creation of him shows
his knowledge of art and architecture.

CONCLUSION
The above analysis says that the polices adopted by Sher Shah very not harsh but those who doesn’t
follow it were being punishment given to them was harsh, but the policies made by him were
beneficial for the normal people because the Zamindars use to trouble them so in a way the policies
made by him were helpful for the people. The second hypothesis says that he use to betray the
kings which is true as per the analysis the way Sher Shah use to leave the respective kings during
or between the war but it was done by him to become powerful and conquer. So the assumed
hypothesis is partly correct and partly incorrect.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
(n.d.). Retrieved DECEMBER 25 , 2021 , from WIKIPEDIA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sher_Shah_Suri

Chandra, S. (2020 ). History of Medieval India . Orient Blackswan private limiited . Retrieved december
25 , 2021

habib, I. (2021). Medieval India 1 (Vol. 34). Oxford university press. Retrieved december 25 , 2021

Iftikhar, R. (n.d.). Communication and Surveillance in India - Sher Shah Sur’s Regime (1540-1545 A.D).
Pakistan Vision, 17. Retrieved DECEMBER 25 , 2021

MURTHY, H. S. (2021). HISTORY OF INDIA PART 1 (Vol. 19). EASTERN BOOK COMPANY . Retrieved
DECEMBER 25 , 2021

SHER SHAH. (n.d.). Retrieved DECEMBER 25 , 2021 , from

http://14.139.211.59/bitstream/123456789/2369/1/25492.pdf

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