CHAPTER 23 - The Afghan

Summary

Close to the Trunk Road in Sasaram, Bihar, in the middle of a rectangular artificial lake, a massive octagonal threetiered mausoleum rises out of the water. The original blue, red and yellow decorations and the dome have turned grey. Despite its dull exterior, it is the most impressive architecture built by the Afghans that still exists in reasonable splendour. The remarkable man buried in this mausoleum built the Grand Trunk Road. He was born in Sasaram as Fareed Khan, the son of a minor Afghan chief and died as Sher Shah Suri, the Emperor of North India.

At the end of the fifteenth century, Muslims had ruled the major part of North India for about three hundred years. During that time rule was enforced by brute force with little regard for the welfare of the Hindu peasants and artisans who created the wealth of the nation. There was little incentive for the cultivators to produce surpluses and villagers had to arm themselves as best as they could to protect themselves against marauding bands of officials and bandits, there being little difference between the two. Some rulers, like the Tughluks, made the peasants themselves a source of revenue and rounded up large numbers of them for sale in the slave markets of the Islamic world.

Unlike his predecessors, Sher Shah Suri created an administration that provided some protection for the cultivators and artisans. To better control the region and stimulate trade, he built the Grand Trunk Road connecting his capital Agra to his home town of Sasaram. The Grand Trunk Road would eventually extend from Kabul to Calcutta.

Sher Shah Suri was a Pushtun speaking tribesman from the Suri tribe who originate from the Ghor region of Afghanistan. In medieval India, these Pushtun speaking tribesmen were called Afghans. As neighbours, Afghans and Indians influenced each other's destiny. When Imperial Indian power was strong, during the period of the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, Indian influence and control extended beyond the Indus and crossed the Khyber Pass to Kabul and Balkh. At other times, Afghans entered India as part of invading armies that were attracted by the promise of plunder.