A History of Agriculture in India v2.c71.s4: Protection of Cultivators

v2.c71.s4.1

Sher Shah had genuine concern for the welfare of the peasantry and safety of their crops. Abbas Khan states, ‘One of the regulations Sher Shah 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. I have heard from Khan-i ’Azam Muzaffar Khan, who said he often accompanied Sher Shah, 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 amirs, with a surveyor, to measure the cultivation so destroyed and give compensation in money to the cultivators. 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”.’