HUMAYUN and sher

shah suri
(1526-1530)
By Dr Vipan Goyal
 Introduction to Humayun
• When Babur left the throne to his eldest, lovable son
Humayun, it was not a bed of roses. When he ascended
the throne, he was a young man of 23 years, but not
without experience.
• He was one of the commanders of his father and
governed the frontier province of Badakshan,(now
Afghanistan) beyond Hindukush.
• Humayun was the eldest son of Babur and Mahan
Sultana.
• He was lacking wisdom, discretion, and strong
determination and diligence . Thus, as a king he was a
failure.
• Humayun means “fortune” but he remained the most
unfortunate ruler of the Mughal Empire.
 Humayun
• Humayun divided the empire among his brothers but this proved to be a
great blunder on his part.
• Kamran (mother Gulrukh Begum ) was given Kabul and Kandahar.
Humayun had given him Multan and Punjab too.
• Sambhal and Alwar were given to Askari (mother Gulrukh Begum ) and
Hindal (mother Dildaar begum) respectively.
• Cousin brother Suleman Mirza got the area of Badakshan.
• Humayun built Dinpanah at Delhi as his second capital.
• His younger brother Kamranwas ruler of Kabul, who annexed Punjab, but
it was Humayun’s brotherly affection that he tolerated this usurpation.
 Humayun
• Two other brothers were also dangerous who engaged in worthless
treacheries against their magnanimous brother.
• There were three major problems for Humayun
 In North west, it was his brother Kamran
 In east it were the Afghans
 In south it was Bahadur Shah the king of Gujarat and Malwa.
 Humayun
• The Rajputs were also sitting at a striking distance from Agra.
• Six months after his succession, Humayun besieged the fortress
of Kalinjar in Bundelkhand, gained a decisive victory over Afghans
at Douhraha and drove out Sultan Mahmood Lodhi from Jaunpur, and
even defeated Bahadur Shah of Gujarat. His victories, however, were
short-lived due to the weakness of his character.
• Humayun captured Gujarat from Bahadur Shah and appointed Askari as its
governor
• But soon Bahadur Shah recovered Gujarat from Askari who fled from
there.
 Humayun
• In the east, Sher Khan became powerful. Humayun marched against him
and in the Battle of Chausa, held in 1539, Sher Khan destroyed the Mughal
army and Humayun escaped from there. Here Humayun was saved by
Nizam, a water carrier (saqqa)
• Humayun reached Agra to negotiate with his brothers.
• In 1540, in the Battle of Bilgram or Ganges also known as Battle of
Kannauj, Humayun was forced to fight with Sher Khan alone and after
losing his kingdom, Humayun became an exile for the next fifteen years.
 Humayun
• During his wanderings in deserts of Sindh, Humayun married Hamida
Banu Begum, daughter of Sheikh Ali Amber Jaini, who had been
a preceptor of Humayun’s brother Hindal.
• On November 23, 1542, Humayun’s wife gave birth to Akbar.
• Amarkot’s Hindu chief RanaPrasad promised Humayun to help him to
conquer Thatta/ Pakistani province of Sindh.
• Humayun first fled to Sind which was under Shah Hussain Arghuna.
• Thus, he left India and lived under the generosity of Shah Tahmashp of
Persia.
 Humayun
• Shah of Persia agreed to help Humayun and lend him a force of 14,000
men on a condition to confirm to Shia creed, to have the Shah’s name
proclaimed in his Khutba and to give away Kandhar to him on his success.
• In 1545, with Persian help, Humayun captured Kandhar and Kabul but
refused to cede Kandhar to Persia.
• Later, he defeated his brothers Kamran and Askari.
• He had the chance to return in 1555. Sher Shah Suri, the victor of Battle of
Kannauj, died in 1545.
 Humayun
• Sher shah was succedded by his son Islam Shah who ruled upto 1553.
• He was succedded by Adil Shah Suri. He was very fond of pleasures and
left the affairs of his government in the hands of Hemu, his minister.
• His authority was challenged by Ibrahim Shah Suri and Sikander shah suri.
• There was large number of bloody battles among the various rivals. The
net result of all this was that Sur empire was broken up.
• In 1555, Humayun defeated the Afghans and recovered the Mughal throne
• Bairam khan, humayun’s most faithful officer helped him in regaining the
Indian reigns.
 Humayun
• After six months, he died in 1556 due to his fall from the staircase of his library
(Sher Mandal, Delhi)
• It is said about him that Humayun tumbled through life and he tumbled out of
it (by the historian Lanepool)
• Humayun was kind and generous, though he was not a good General and
warrior.
• HE earned the title of Insan-i-kamil (Perfect man) for his peaceful personality
and patience.
• He also loved painting and wrote poetry in the Persian language.
• Humayun was portrayed in his biography “Humayunnama” written by his sister
Gulbadan Begum.
 SUR DYNASTY or SUR Interregnum
(1540-1555)
• After Ibrahim Lodi was defeated by Babur in 1526 AD
(first battle of Panipat), the Afghan chiefs who were still
powerful, gathered together under the leadership of Sher
Shah Suri to mark their discontent against the alien rule.
• As a result the Sur Empire of Pashtun origin (the tribal
house of Sur) came to power and ruled a massive
territory of Northern part of South Asia from 1540-1556
AD, with their capital as Delhi.
• The empire’s major strength is in the fact that it
disturbed the hold of the Mughal Empire under
Humayun.
 Sher Shah’s Administration
• Sher Shah was the founder of Sur Dynasty.
• His original name was Farid.
• He was the son of Hasan Khan, a jagirdar of Sasaram in Bihar.
• He was given the title Sher Khan for his bravery by Babar Khan Lohani
(Governor of Bihar)
 Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545)
• Military Achievements of Sher Shah Suri
 1. Encounter on the fort of Chunar and Sher Shah’s diplomatic
surrender.
 2. Battle of Chausa with Humayun and Sher Shah’s victory.
 3. Batttle of Kannauj and Sher Shah’s decisive victory over Humayun.
With the victory at Kannauj, Sher Shah became the ruler of Delhi.
Agra, Sambhal and Gwalior etc., also came under his sway. This victory
ended the rule of the Mughal dynasty for 15 years.
 Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545)
 4. Battle at Surajgarh (1533 AD): He defeated the combined forces of
the Lohani chiefs of Bihar and Mohamud Shah of Bengal at Surajgarh.
With this victory, whole of Bihar came under Sher Shah.
 5. Invasion of Bengal: He plundered Bengal several times and by
capturing Gaur, the capital of Bengal, forced Mohammad Shah to seek
refugee with Humayun.
 6. Conquest of Punjab (1540-42 AD): He immediately conquered
Punjab from Kamran (Brother of Humayun) after his accession to the
throne .
 Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545)
 7. Suppression of Khokhars (1542 AD): He suppressed the turbulent
Khokhars of the northern region of river Indus and Jhelum.
 8. Conquest of Malwa (1542 AD): The ruler of Malwa had not helped
Sher Shah in his struggle with Humayun. Therefore he attacked Malwa
and annexed it to his empire.
 9. Conquest of Raisin: He attacked Raisin – a Rajput principality and
besieged it.
 Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545)
 10. Conquest of Multan and Sind (1543 AD): Sher Shah conquered
and annexed these provinces into his empire.
 11. Conquest of Marwar (1543-1545 AD): He brought Marwar under
his control by forged letters and sowing dissensions in the army of
Maldev, the ruler of Mewar.
 12. Conquest of Kalinjar (1545 AD) and death of Sher Shah: He
launched a fierce attack. He won but lost his life when he was
grievously injured by the blast.
 Sher Shah Sur (1540-1545)
• Sher Shah Sur’s conquests include
Bundelkhand, Malwa, Multan,
Punjab, and Sind.
• His empire occupied the whole of
North India except Assam, Gujarat,
Kashmir, and Nepal.
• Though his rule lasted for only 5
years, he has organized an excellent
administrative system.
 Central Administration
• The Tarikh-i-Sher Shahi (History of Sher Shah), by Abbas Khan Sarwani,
provides detailed citations about Sher Shah's administration.
• As a skilled and proficient administrator, Sher Shah divided the empire into
provinces, but held the central authority of administration with him and he
exercised the power for the benefit of the people.
1. Each administrative branch was in Sher Shah's personal supervision.
2. He held all the threads of policy and civil and military command in his
hands.
3. His ministers had no authority to initiate any policy or propose a change
in ways of transactions and administrative setups.
 Central Administration
• They were however in charge of the routine work of administration on a
daily basis.
• The king was aided by four important ministers.
 Diwan –i- Wizarat or Wazir – in charge of Revenue and Finance
 Diwan-i-Ariz – in charge of Army
 Diwan-i-Rasalat – Foreign Minister
 Diwan-i-Insha – Minister for Communications
• Sher Shah’s empire was divided into forty-seven Sarkars
 Central Administration
• Each Sarkars was further divided into various Parganas and in charge of
various officers.
 Shiqdar – Military Officer
 Amin – Land Revenue
 Fotedar – Treasurer
 Karkuns – Accountants
 The Amirs- to hear the Civil Cases,
 The Qazis or Mir-i-adals- heard the criminal cases
 Muqqadams- to chase and arrest the culprits.
 Central Administration
• The Sarkar (higher administrative units), had officers like Shiqdar-I-
Shiqdaran and a Munsif-I-Munsifan who supervised the work of the
paragana officers.
• Rotation of officers across Empire was planned to keep a check on their
performance. The rotation would occur every 2-3 years.
• Iqtas – various administrative units
• Under Sher Shah, the land revenue administration was well organized.
• The land survey was sensibly done.
• All cultivable lands were classified into three classes – good, middle and
bad and claimed one third of the produce.
 Central Administration
• Land was measured by Sikandari Gaz.
• He had established a famine relief fund which was maintained by
collecting two and half seers per bigha from the peasants.
• Standardization of the coins of gold, silver, and copper, was done which
also introduced standard weights and measures. Tolls were collected
twice; once at the time of entry to the country and at the time of sales.
• The state’s share was one-third of the average production and it was paid
in cash or crop.
• Sher Shah introduced new silver coin Rupaya and copper coin called
“Daam” and they were in circulation till 1835.
 Central Administration
• Police were competently restructured and crime was less during his
regime.
• Sher Shah personally supervised the recruitment of soldiers and paid them
directly borrowed many ideas like the branding of horses (daag) and
keeping a roll of soldiers (chehra) from Alauddin Khalji
• He also introduced a postal service.
• Sher Shah had also developed the communications by laying four
important highways.
 Sonargaon to Sind
 Agra to Burhampur
 Central Administration
 Jodhpur to Chittor
 Lahore to Multan
 The longest of the roads, was called the Sadak-e-Azam or the
"Badshahi Sadak" (which the british renamed as "Grand Trunk Road")
and exists till date. (from Indus river to Sonargaon in Bengal)
 The roads built by Sher shah are called arteries of the empire.
• Sher Shah remained a pious Muslim and generally tolerant towards
other religions.
• He also employed Hindus in important offices.
 Sur Architecture
• Monuments built during the reign of Sher Shah include:
 1. Rohtas Fort (UNESCO World Heritage Site, Pakistan)
 2. Several structures in the Rohtasgarh Fort in Bihar
 3. Masjid in Patna in honor and rememberance of his reign- Sher Shah
Suri Masjid
 4. A new city of Bhera was built in Pakistan in 1545 AD which
incorporated the ''Grand Sher shah Suri Masjid".
 5. A mosque at Purana Quila Delhi (on the bank of river Yamuna)
called the Qila-i-Kuhna mosque was built in 1541 AD.
 Sur Architecture
 6. Humayun citadel whose construction began in the 1533 AD, and
was extended, along with the building of Sher Mandal, (octagonal
structure within the Purana Qila complex), which Humayun used as a
library.
• He also built a Mausoleum at Sasaram, which is considered as one of the
masterpieces of Indian architecture.
• The famous Hindi work Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi was written
during his reign.
• In 1545, Sher Shah died during campaigning against Kalinjar Fort and his
successors ruled till 1555 later which Humayun reconquered India.
Thank You