Originally Posted by arshia22

Here is my re attempt. Please guide me. I'm worried about Indo Pak very much!

Introduction:

Sher Shah Suri was in fact the nemesis of Akbar’s father: Humayun. Both rulers laid out a sensational era through their various policies and measures, and in many ways Sher Shah’s governmental and administrative policies set the stage for Akbar who also built upon the same measures during his time, even though the premises of adopting the measures were rather different in their reasons.

Division of Empire:Sher Shah divided the empire in to 47 provinces which were called Sarkars, and were further sub divided into Parganas. The supervision of these Sarkars and Parganas was done by qualified personnel known as shiqdar, munsif, judge, military officer, treasurer and accountants. Simultaneously, there also existed a Panchayat for every village to allow settling of local disputes.

In the same way, Akbar adopted this policy of division of the empire and demarcated the empire in to 15 Subahs under the supervision of a Nazim, who was assisted by other subordinates such as an Amil, Faujdar, Patwari etc. As a Sarkar was sub divided into Parganas; a Subah was subdivided into a Sarkar and then a Pargana. Primarily, the division of the empire in this way allowed efficient running of the system, with allocated personnel to oversee the workings and concerns of a particular area. This demonstrates that the tactic employed by Sher Shah with reference to division of the empire was adopted by Akbar as well who realised the convenience of the measure.

Taxation System:

Sher Shah is known for the abolishment of taxes, duties and customs which he considered as restraints to trade. While such measures had their basis in the fact that Sher Shah envisioned a smooth flow of trade in the empire, Akbar implemented the same policy of cancelling out taxes, notably jizya and pilgrimage tax, but with a reason which is perhaps attributed to some other cause. It is believed that Akbar lifted the imposition of such taxes and fines so as to consolidate the empire in a more homogeneous form.
Therefore, where Sher Shah abolished the fines on the basis of trade; Akbar undertook the same measure but with a better reasoning.

Administrative Measures:

Army and administrative systems under Sher Shah and Akbar also bear striking resemblances. Shah established his military force under a faujdar, followed the system of branding, appointed chief Qazis and other ancillary officers.
On the other hand, Akbar took the same position in a more different way. As Edwards & Garrett comment on Akbar being a “a wise administrator”, his skilfulness is shown by the fact that he divided the army into specific factions, arranged the administrative functions of into different departments such as Wazir, Mir Saman, Qazi-ul-Quzzat, Sadr-us-Sadr for the efficient working of the system. The similarities in the type of actions taken by both these extraordinary rulers are noteworthy as it can be seen that as Sher Shah lined up the army into factions and allocated specific functions to different officers; Akbar also carried out the same experiment. Indeed, no wonder both these rulers enjoy their eras being called the epochs of Mughal times.

Religious Policy:

Of the most important policy that Akbar seems to have adopted from Sher Shah is the involving his attitude towards religious minorities. Dr. Qanungo brilliantly puts forth “Sher Shah stands as the ideal of new India- the India of Hindus and Musalmans united in heart and spirit”. Sher Shah was careful that the non-Muslims must be approached with a conciliatory policy rather than a provocative stance. He extended toleration towards Hindus and alike by giving them grants and aids for their purposes such as institutions. Additionally, he also organized public kitchens knows as “langars” for the poor, irrespective of caste and creed. In this regard, The New Britanica 1986 recalls “For the first time during Islamic conquest, the relationship between the people and ruler was systemized, with little oppression or corruption”.
Similarly, Akbar carried forward with the same soft attitude towards other religions. He later ultimately gave to his new found religion called Din-i-Ilahi; that too preached universal love and brotherhood and called for the abolition of caste system. In other words, Akbar took Sher Shah’s policy one step further. While his main reasons are still contested today, in that the real cause of Din I Ilahi stands either as an abomination of Islamic principles, or more devised cleverly as a “an order at once political, philosophical and religious”.

Hence, we might conclude that where Sher Shah only exercised mediocre religious conciliation towards non-Muslims, Akbar was able to implement and execute a socio-religious order in the form of Din I Ilahi which later came to be known as “Akbar’s great idea for the union of all India under one head” according to Col. Malleson.

Analysis:

The policies and measures of Sher Shah and Akbar may be accounted for as being quite similar. Both rulers’ policies bear strikingly resemblances indeed. However, there exists a difference as to the reason and the extent to which they were principally employed. As one observes, Sher Shah’s rule was indeed historic in the sense that his rule can be truly regarded as the precursor to Akbar’s subsequent rule. V.A Smith remarks “If Sher Shah had been spared, the Great Mughals would not have appeared on the stage of the history”. This highlights that Sher Shah’s rule is the starting point where core policies relating to the administration of the Empire were essentially formulated, and that later rulers, Akbar included, deemed them fit for application.

Conclusion:

Sher Shah may be rightly regarded as the fore runner of Akbar with reference to the policies each implemented. This can be attributed to the fact that such measures allowed a smooth and efficient flow of the system, bearing advantages along the way. However, while Sher Shah provided the necessary impetuses; it was Akbar’s skill and execution skills that indeed place him a rank above Sher Shah in the line of Kings.

Originally Posted by arshia22

I think I understand your approach now. I will try to follow it in my answers. Will post some answer scripts and I will highly appreciate your response on them!

Originally Posted by drfaisal985

do u have recent papers of indo pak history and articles related that..?