Sher shah

Farid Khan ibn Hassan was born in the Bihar city of Sasaram in the Pashtun feudal family Sur . His father Hassan Khan was one of the Amirs of the Delhi Sultan Ibrahim Shah II Lodi and held a jagir , which included Sasaram , Khaspur and Tand . Sher Khan successfully managed his father's jagir for some time. Then his stepbrothers took possession of the jagir and Farid Khan left Sasaram , having fallen for the service of Bahar Khan Lohani, the Afghan ruler of Bihar , who awarded him the title of Sher Khan for loyalty and courage, which means “lion lord”.

After the victory of Babur at Panipat, Sher Khan entered his service and soon regained his father's jagir . After the death of Bahar Khan Lohani in 1529, Sher Khan becomes the guardian of his young son and heir, Jalal Khan, thereby concentrating power over Bihar in his hands. Taking advantage of the dynastic crisis that followed the death of Babur in 1530 , Sher Shah began to play his own political game. In the year of the death of Babur, Sher Khan seized the Chunar fortress, which contained the treasury of the ousted Lodi dynasty (about 900,000 rupees), however, already in 1531 the new Padishas Humayun besieged Chunar and forced Sher Khan to capitulate.

Opposition to the power of Sher Khan grew in Bihar itself: in 1533, the leaders of the Lohani tribe entered into an alliance against him with the Bengal Sultan Mahmud Shah, to whom the minor ruler of Bihar, Jalal Khan Lohani, soon fled. In 1534, Sher Khan defeated the coalition Bengal-Lohan forces at Surajgarh on the banks of the Kiul River . As a result of this victory, Sher Khan Suri becomes virtually independent ruler of Bihar and part of Bengal . Under his banners, Afghan tribes gather, dissatisfied with the power of the Mughal dynasty . Mahmud Shah of Bengal gave him part of the territory of his sultanate and paid a large sum of money. In April 1538, Sher Khan captured the city of Gaur, the capital of Bengal. Mahmud Shah fled to the Great Mughal Humayun , who soon led an impressive army and invaded Bengal and captured Gaur. Sher Khan Suri retreated to Rohtas , his Bihar stronghold. Nine months later, Humayun left Bengal.

After the defeats at Chaus ( June 27, 1539 ) and near Canauj ( spring 1540 ), Humayun left Delhi and fled to Kandahar , and then to the court of the Safavid Shah. All Bengal and Jaunpur got to the Sher Khan, after which in December 1539 he was crowned a sultan under the name of Sher Shah.

To pacify the Gavar, Sher Shah erected the impregnable fortress of Rohtas . By 1542, Gwalior , Malwa , Ujjain , Sindh and Punjab submitted to the Sher Shah. In 1544, the Sher Shah, at the head of the 80,000th army, invaded Rajputana , conquered Ajmir , Jodhpur and Chitor . When he connected the Delhi Sultanate and a number of Rajput principalities under his scepter, for the first time in history they became vassals of the Muslim ruler of Delhi. However, Sher Shah died from the explosion of his own ammunition in 1545 during the siege of Kalanjar fortress.

Its magnificent mausoleum in Sasaram now reminds of the magnificence of the court of Sher Shah. In 2006, the Prime Minister of Pakistan opened a museum in Rohtas dedicated to the life and work of Sher Shah.

Sher Shah was not only a talented commander, but also a capable administrator. Sher Shah pursued a wise policy of religious tolerance towards Hinduism and widely attracted Indians for military, administrative and other services for the benefit of his empire. As a result of several major reforms, he created a management and taxation system, which, being adopted by Humayun's son Akbar , formed the basis of the Mughal empire . With him, for the first time, the coinage of a full rupee began .

Sher Shah’s tax reform was led by his talented adviser, Ahmad Khan Tagi. In order to streamline taxation and improve tax collection, Sher Shah appointed four special officials - an amine , a shikdar and two karkuns - to each district of the empire ( pagan) . Karkuna keep tax records in two languages: in Farsi and Hindi , which made taxation understandable not only to the Turkic elite of the state, but also to lower-level Indian officials. Several pagans formed the region, headed by shikdar-i shikdaran , who had administrative and judicial powers. The amount of tax should now be calculated based on the size of the cultivated land: the jarib was taken as a unit of taxation, and such a taxation system was called the jariban . The tax was paid at the request of the taxpayer in cash or products. Information about the amount and form of tax payment was entered into special documents - kabuliat ( Farsi “agreement”) or patta ( Hindi “document”). Officials were instructed to take into account the damage caused to the crop by natural and other factors when collecting tax. Responsible for the direct collection of tax were village headmen, who were also responsible for ensuring public order and the search for offenders.

The tax reform established moderate taxes and limited the arbitrariness of officials in relation to taxpayers, which was in the interests of the state. Sher Shah himself claimed:

Among the other activities of Sher Shah aimed at strengthening the central authority, the restoration of the practice of branding horses for servicemen and military leaders, the widespread construction of roads and caravanserais (about 1700 caravanserais along trade routes and other roads ^[2] ) deserve mention. The development of trade was also greatly facilitated by the release of a large number of full - bodied silver rupees and the abolition of tolls.

• History of the East. T. III. East at the turn of the Middle Ages and modern times. XVI — XVIII centuries (the main editorial board chaired by R.B. Rybakov). - Moscow: Publishing company "Eastern Literature" RAS, 2000. - S. 151-154. - 696 p. - (Scientific publication). - ISBN 5-02-018102-1 .
• Mirza Muhammad Khaidar Ta'rihi Rashidi. Book Two. Ch. 111-113, 116.
• Ryzhov K.V. All monarchs of the world: Muslim East. XV-XX centuries .: Reference. - M .: Veche, 2004. - 544 p., S. 435-437 (unavailable link from 06/14/2016 [1180 days])