The story
On May 17, 1540 Sher Shah, an Afghan commander from Bihar, defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun at Kannauj on the Ganges. Humayun, who had ruled for only ten years, fled west to Sindh and then to Persia. Sher Shah took the title of sultan and ruled from Delhi, founding the Sur dynasty.
Babur had won Delhi in 1526 but left a thin, unfinished state. Humayun lost ground to Sher Shah, who had built a strong base in Bihar and Bengal and beaten Humayun first at Chausa in 1539. Sher Shah's five years of rule were short but productive. He restored and extended the Grand Trunk Road, the great highway from Bengal to the northwest, built rest houses along it, issued a standard silver coin called the rupiya, and set up a survey of land and a fixed system of revenue. When he died in 1545 at the siege of Kalinjar, the Surs fell into civil war. Humayun returned from Persia in 1555 with Safavid help, recaptured Delhi, and died a year later. His son Akbar then built on many of Sher Shah's administrative methods.
Why it mattered
- Mughal rule was interrupted for 15 years, forcing Humayun into exile in Safavid Persia.
- Humayun's years in Persia brought Persian painters and scholars to the Mughal court, shaping Mughal art.
- Sher Shah's revenue system, standard coin and roads were taken up by Akbar and became the base of Mughal administration.
- The word rupee comes from Sher Shah's rupiya, and the Grand Trunk Road is still a major highway.
Sources
- Sur dynasty Britannica
- India: Humayun Britannica
- Mughal painting Britannica
Drafted by AI (Claude) from the sources above and checked against them by AI; no historian has reviewed this page. Spot a mistake? Suggest a correction. How pages are made
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