The History of Shēr Shāh (Tārīkh-i Shērshāhī) 4.3
Táríkh-i Sher Sháhí of 'Abbás Khán Sarwání (extracts) 4.3
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4.3.1
The former capital city of Dehlí was at a distance from the Jumna, and Sher Sháh destroyed and rebuilt it by the bank of the Jumna, and ordered two forts to be built in that city, with the strength of a mountain, and loftier in height; the smaller fort for the governor's residence; the other, the wall round the entire city, to protect it; and in the governor's fort he built a Jámi' masjid of stone, in the ornamenting of which much gold, lapis lazuli, and other precious articles were expended. But the fortifications round the city were not completed when Sher Sháh died. He destroyed also the old city of Kanauj, the former capital of the Kings of India, and built a fort of burnt brick there; and on the spot where he had gained his victory he built a city, and called it Sher Súr. I can find no satisfactory reason for the destruction of the old city, and the act was very unpopular. Another fort, that of Bohnkundal, he also built, and ordered another fort to be built in these hills, and called it "Sher Koh." He said, "If my life lasts long enough, I will build a fort in every sarkár, on a suitable spot, which may in times of trouble become a refuge for the oppressed and a check to the contumacious; and I am making all the earthen-work saráis of brick, that they also may serve for the protection and safety of the highway."
4.3.2
For the protection of the roads from thieves and highway robbers, he made regulations as follows: He strictly impressed on his 'ámils and governors, that if a theft or robbery occurred within their limits, and the perpetrators were not discovered, then they should arrest the mukaddams of the surrounding villages, and compel them to make it good; but if the mukaddams produced the offenders, or pointed out their haunts, the mukaddams of the village where the offenders were sheltered were compelled to give to those of the village where the crime occurred the amount of restitution they had paid; the thieves and highway robbers themselves were punished with the penalties laid down in the holy law. And if murders should occur, and the murderers were not discovered, the 'ámils were enjoined to seize the mukaddams, as detailed above, and imprison them, and give them a period within which to declare the murderers. If they produced the murderer, or pointed out where he lived, they were to let the mukaddam go, and to put the murderer to death; but if the mukaddams of a village where the murder had occurred could not do this, they were themselves put to death; for it has been generally ascertained that theft and highway robberies can only take place by the connivance of these head-men.
4.3.3
And if in some rare case a theft or highway robbery does occur within the limits of a village without the cognizance of the mukaddam, he will shortly make inquiry that he may ascertain the circumstances of it; for mukaddams and cultivators are alike thieves, and they bear to each other the intimate relations of kinsmen: hence either the mukaddams are implicated in thefts and highway robberies, or can ascertain who perpetrated them. If a mukaddam harbours thieves and robbers unknown to the governor, it is fit he should be punished, or even be put to death, that it may be a warning to others to abstain from similar acts.
4.3.4
In the days of Sher Sháh and of Islám Sháh, the mukaddams used to protect the limits of their own villages, lest any thief or robber, or enemy of their enemies, might injure a traveller, and so be the means of their destruction and death. And he directed his governors and 'ámils to compel the people to treat merchants and travellers well in every way, and not to injure them at all; and if a merchant should die by the way, not to stretch out the hand of oppression and violence on his goods as if they were unowned; for Shaikh Nizámí (may God be merciful to him!) has said: "If a merchant die in your country, it is perfidy to lay hands on his property." Throughout his whole kingdom Sher Sháh only levied customs on merchandize in two places, viz.: when it came from Bengal, customs were levied at Gharhí (Sikri-gali); when it came from the direction of Khurásán, the customs were levied on the borders of the kingdom; and again, a second duty was levied at the place of sale. No one dared to levy other customs, either on the road or at the ferries, in town or village. Sher Sháh, moreover, forbad his officials to purchase anything in the bázárs except at the usual bázár rates and prices. One of the regulations Sher Sháh made was this: That his victorious standards should cause no injury to the cultivation of the people; and when he marched he personally examined into the state of the cultivation, and stationed horsemen round it to prevent people from trespassing on any one's field.
4.3.5
I have heard from Khán-i 'azam Muzaffar Khán, who said he often accompanied Sher Sháh, that he used to look out right and left, and (which God forbid!) if he saw any man injuring a field, he would cut off his ears with his own hand, and hanging the corn (which he had plucked off) round his neck, would have him to be paraded through the camp. And if from the narrowness of the road any cultivation was unavoidably destroyed, he would send amírs, with a surveyor, to measure the cultivation so destroyed, and give compensation in money to the cultivators. If unavoidably the tents of his soldiery were pitched near cultivation, the soldiers themselves watched it, lest any one else should injure it, and they should be blamed and be punished by Sher Sháh, who showed no favour or partiality in the dispensation of justice. If he entered an enemy's country, he did not enslave or plunder the peasantry of that country, nor destroy their cultivation. "For," said he, "the cultivators are blameless, they submit to those in power; and if I oppress them they will abandon their villages, and the country will be ruined and deserted, and it will be a long time before it again becomes prosperous." Sher Sháh very often invaded an enemy's country; but on account of his justice the people remained, and brought supplies to his army, and he became known by the fame of his generosity and benevolence; and he was all day long occupied in scattering gold like the sun, in shedding pearls like a cloud;
4.3.6
and this was the reason that the Afgháns collected round him, and that the kingdom of Hindústán fell to him. And if any want befell his victorious army, he did not suffer one soldier or any poor helpless person to be in despair or utterly unprovided for, but gave them something for their subsistence. Every day he enlisted men, to give them a subsistence. His kitchen was very extensive, for several thousand horsemen and private followers, who in the Afghán tongue are called "Fiahi," fed there; and there was a general order, that if any soldier or religious personage, or any cultivator, should be in need of food, he should feed at the king's kitchen, and should not be allowed to famish. And places for the dispensing of food to the poor and destitute, and to all necessitous persons, were established in the camp, that they might feed every one as above described. The daily cost of these meals, and of these places for the distribution of food, was 500 gold pieces (ashrafis). It became known to him that the imáms and religious persons had, since the time of Sultán Ibráhim, by bribing the 'ámils, got into their possession more land than they were entitled to hold; he therefore resumed their holdings, and investigating the cases himself, gave to each his right, and did not entirely deprive any man of his possessions. He then gave them money for their road expenses, and dismissed them.
4.3.7
Destitute people, who were unable to provide for their own subsistence, like the blind, the old, the weak in body, widows, and the sick, etc., to such he gave stipends from the treasury of the town in which they were resident, and giving them the expenses of their journey sent them away. And on account of the fraudulent practices of the religious personages (imáms), he made this arrangement: he did not give the farmáns directing the assignments to the religious personages themselves, but ordered the munshís to prepare the farmáns relating to one pargana, and to bring them to him. Sher Sháh then put them all into a letter and put his seal on it, and gave it to a trustworthy man of his own, and said to him, "Carry these farmáns to such and such a pargana." When the farmáns came to the shikkdár, he first made over to the holy personages their stipends, and then gave the farmdns into their possession. Sher Shdh often said, "It is incumbent upon kings to give grants to imams; for the prosperity and populousness of the cities of Hind are dependent on the imams and holy men; and the teachers and travellers, and the necessitous, who cannot come to the king, they will praise him, being supported by those who have grants; and the convenience of travellers and the poor is thereby secured, as well as the extension of learning, of skill, and religion;
4.3.8
for whoever wishes that God Almighty should make him great, should cherish 'Ulamd and pious persons, that he may obtain honour in this world and felicity in the next."