The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 4.1
Táríkh-i Sher Sháhí of 'Abbás Khán Sarwání (extracts) 4.1
- Language
- English
4.1.1
On certain matters regarding Sher Shah, on which he was busied day and night, and which he enjoined to his sons, chiefs, and nobles, and which he caused to be recorded. When fortune gave into the hands of Sher Shah the bridle of power, and the kingdom of Hind fell under his dominion, he made certain laws, both from his own ideas, and by extracting them from the works of the learned, for securing relief from tyranny, and for the repression of crime and villany; for maintaining the prosperity of his realms, the safety of the highways, and the comfort of merchants and troops. He acted upon these laws, and it was proved by experience that they became the means of procuring tranquillity for the classes above mentioned. Sher Shah often said, "It behoves kings to inscribe the page of their history with the characters of religion, that their servants and subjects may love religion; for kings are partakers in every act of devotion and worship which proceeds from the priests and the people. Crime and violence prevent the development of prosperity. It behoves kings to be grateful for the favour that the Lord has made his people subject to them, and therefore not to disobey the commandments of God." Sher Shah attended to every business concerning the administration of the kingdom and the revenues, whether great or small, in his own person. Nor did he permit his temporal affairs to be unmixed with devotion; day and night he was employed in both works.
4.1.2
He had his dependents in waiting to awake him when two-thirds of the night were passed; and bathing himself every night he employed himself in prayer and supplication until the fourth watch. After that he heard the accounts of the various officers, and the ministers made their reports of the work to be done in their respective departments, and the orders which Sher Shah gave they recorded for their future guidance, that there might be no necessity for inquiry in future. When the morning had well broken, he again performed his ablutions, and with a great assembly went through his obligatory devotions, and afterwards read the Musta'ab-i 'ashr, and other prayers. After that his chiefs and soldiers came to pay their respects, and the "heralds" (nakibs) called out each man by name, and said: — "Such and such a one, the son of such a one, pays his respects." One full hour after sunrise, that is to say about the first hour of the day, he performed the Namaz-i ishrak. After this, he inquired of his chiefs and soldiers if any of them had no jagir, that he might assign them one before entering on a campaign; and said that if any asked for a jagir while engaged in a campaign, he should be punished.
4.1.3
After that he asked if there were any who were oppressed or evil treated, that he might right them, for Sher Sháh was adorned with the jewel of justice, and he oftentimes remarked, "Justice is the most excellent of religious rites, and it is approved alike by the kings of infidels and of the faithful." * * * So he employed himself in personally discharging the administration of the kingdom, and divided both day and night into portions for each separate business, and suffered no sloth or idleness to find its way to him. "For," said he, "it behoves the great to be always active, and they should not consider, on account of the greatness of their own dignity and loftiness of their own rank, the affairs and business of the kingdom small or petty, and should place no undue reliance on their ministers. * * * The corruption of ministers of contemporary princes was the means of my acquiring the worldly kingdom I possess. A king should not have corrupt vakíls or wazírs: for a receiver of bribes is dependent on the giver of bribes; and one who is dependent is unfit for the office of wazír, for he is an interested personage; and to an interested person loyalty and truth in the administration of the kingdom are lost."
4.1.4
When the young shoot of Sher Sháh's prosperity came into bearing, he always ascertained the exact truth regarding the oppressed, and the suitors for justice; and he never favoured the oppressors, although they might be his near relations, his dear sons, his renowned nobles, or of his own tribe; and he never showed any delay or lenity in punishing oppressors. * * * Among the rules which Sher Sháh promulgated, and which were not before known in the world, is the branding of horses; and he said he ordered it on this account, that the rights of the chiefs and their soldiers might be distinct, and that the chiefs might not be able to defraud the soldiers of their rights; and that every one should maintain soldiers according to his rank (mansab), and should not vary his numbers. "For," said he, "in the time of Sultán Ibráhím, and afterwards, I observed that many base nobles were guilty of fraud and falsehood, who, at the time when their monthly salary was assigned to them, had a number of soldiers; but when they had got possession of their jágírs, they dismissed the greater number of their men without payment, and only kept a few men for indispensable duties, and did not even pay them in full. Nor did they regard the injury to their master's interests, or the ingratitude of their own conduct; and when their lord ordered a review or assembly of their forces, they brought strange men and horses, and mustered them, but the money they put into their own treasuries.
4.1.5
In time of war they would be defeated from paucity of numbers, but they kept the money, and when their master's affairs became critical and disordered, they, equipping themselves with this very money, took service elsewhere; so from the ruin of their master's fortunes they suffered no loss. When I had the good fortune to gain power, I was on my guard against the deceit and fraud of both chiefs and soldiers, and ordered the horses to be branded, in order to block up the road against these tricks and frauds; so that the chiefs could not entertain strangers to fill up their ranks." Sher Sháh's custom was this, that he would not pay their salary unless the horses were branded, and he carried it to such an extent that he would not give anything to the sweepers and women servants about the palace without a brand, and they wrote out descriptive rolls of the men and horses and brought them before him, and he himself compared the rolls when he fixed the monthly salaries, and then he had the horses branded in his presence.
4.1.6
After the Namáz-i ishrák, he went through various business : he paid each man separately, mustered his old troops, and spoke to the newly-enlisted men himself, and questioned the Afghans in their native tongue. If any one answered him accurately in the Afghan tongue, he said to him, "Draw a bow," and if he drew it well, he would give him a salary higher than the rest, and said, "I reckon the Afghán tongue as a friend." And in the same place he inspected the treasure which arrived from all parts of the kingdom, and gave audience to his nobles or their vakíls, or to zamíndárs, or to the envoys of the kings of other countries, who came to his victorious camp ; or he heard the reports which came from the nobles who were his 'ámils, and gave answers to them according to his own judgment, and the munshís wrote them. When two hours and a half of the day were over, he rose up and eat his breakfast with his 'ulamá and holy men, and after breakfast he returned and was engaged as before described till mid-day. At mid-day he performed the kailúla (which is a supererogatory act of devotion), and took a short repose. After his rest he performed the afternoon devotions in company with a large assembly of men, and afterwards employed himself in reading the Holy Word. After that he spent his time in the business described above ; and whether at home or abroad, there was no violation of these rules.
4.1.7
The rules for the collection of revenue from the people, and for the prosperity of the kingdom, were after this wise : There was appointed in every pargana, one amír, one God-fearing shikkdár, one treasurer, one kárkun to write Hindí, and one to write Persian ; and he ordered his governors to measure the land every harvest, to collect the revenue according to the measurement, and in proportion to the produce, giving one share to the cultivator, and half a share to the mukaddam; and fixing the assessment with regard to the kind of grain, in order that the mukaddams, and chaudharis, and 'dmils should not oppress the cultivators, who are the support of the prosperity of the kingdom. Before his time it was not the custom to measure the land, but there was a kdnungo in every pargana, from whom was ascertained the present, past, and probable future state of the pargana. In every sarkdr he appointed a chief shikkddr and a chief munsif, that they might watch the conduct both of the 'dmils and the people; that the 'dmils should not oppress or injure the people, or embezzle the king's revenue; and if any quarrel arose among the king's 'dmils regarding the boundaries of the parganas, they were to settle it, that no confusion might find its way amongst the king's affairs.
4.1.8
If the people, from any lawlessness or rebellious spirit, created a disturbance regarding the collection of the revenue, they were so to eradicate and destroy them with punishment and chastisement that their wickedness and rebellion should not spread to others.