Page 39 - SST Class 07
P. 39

by Islam Shah who was a weak ruler and was
                                                                    defeated by Humayun in 1555.


                                                                        Quiz Time

                                                                     Fill in the blanks :
                                                                     1. Babur fought with ________   at Panipat in 1526.
                                                                     2. Humayun defeated ________    in 1532.

                                                                     3. Sher Shah Suri died in ________ .
                               Grand Trunk Road
                                                                     4. Grand Trunk Road was built by ________ .
            Sher   Shah   Suri   was   at  the   head   of   his
            administration and had all powers. He ruled with                               AKBAR
            the help of ministers and officials. His important      This is beyond any doubt to say that Akbar was
                                      ,
            officers included shiqdar munsif     and qazi . His
                                                                    one of the greatest rulers that India has ever
            empire was divided into provinces, further divided
                                                                    produced. At the death of Humayun in 1556,
            into sarkars  (regions). Each sarkar had a few
            parganas  (districts) made of many villages. The        Akbar was only thirteen years old. He was too
                                                                    young to understand the affairs of the state, so
            head of a village was called muqaddam         . The
                                                                    Bairam       Khan       was
            kotwal  was responsible for the maintenance of
            law and order in the district.                          appointed his regent. It
                                                                    was under his regency that
                 Info Bits
                 Info Bits                                          Akbar defeated Hemu, a
                                                                    descendent of Sher Shah
                                                                    Suri, at the second battle of
            Sher Shah Suri had unique laws to prevent crimes.       Panipat in 1556, and thus
            If a robbery was committed, the concerned               he occupied Delhi and
            headman of the village was made to compensate           Agra.                                 Akbar
            the victim, so the headmen were very cautious
            against any crimes.                                     A few years later, Akbar took the reign in his
                                                                    hands.   He    conquered    Gwalior,   Ajmer    and
             Revenue Administration
                                                                    Jaunpur. He annexed Malwa in 1561. But he did
            In order to maintain direct contact with the            not believe in only force. He offered a hand of
            people, Sher Shah Suri collected land revenue           friendship to the Rajputs. He forged marriage
            through his officers. He got the cultivable land        alliances with them and allowed them to rule their
            measured in order to determine the amount of            territories peacefully only if they acknowledged
            revenue correctly. He also visited his people in        Mughal authority. He himself married a Rajput
            disguise. He ensured that the peasants were not         princess of Amber, Jodhabai  . He also offered high
            troubled unnecessarily.                                 posts to the Rajputs in his administration; for
                                                                    example, Raja Man Singh, Raja Todar Mal etc.
             Military Administration
                                                                    The Rajput kingdoms that made peace with him
            Sher Shah Suri knew that it was important to keep       included Amber, Kalinjar, Bikaner, Jaisalmer etc.
            soldiers satisfied. He paid their salary in cash and
            in time. He prepared their descriptive rolls. The       However, some Rajputs did not accept his
                                                                    authority, so he fought with them and brought
            horses were branded (dagh). In his military
            administration, he was influenced by the policies       them under his authority. He conquered Chittor
            of Ala-ud-din Khalji.                                   and Ranthambore in 1568. He fought with Rana
                                                                    Pratap in the famous battle of Haldighati  in 1576.
            Sher Shah Suri died in 1545. He was succeeded           It was one of the bloodiest battle in history. More

                                                                                           The Mughal Emperors
                                                                                                                 39
   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44