According to the estimate of R.C. Majumdar, the total length of all the roads built by Sher Shah stands at 3,900 miles or 6,240 km. These historians also say that Sher Shah planted trees on both sides of these roads to provide shades for the travelers and, in addition to that, he set up sarais (inns) at an interval of 2 kos along the roads where the travelers could take rest. In these sarais, Sher Shah provided separate accommodation facilities for the Hindus and the Muslims. He also employed Brahmin and Muslim cooks for preparing the meals of the Hindu and Muslim visitors. The reader should keep in his mind that all these things Sher Shah did within 5 years, despite his hectic military activities. It has been mentioned above that the history books also tell that Sher Shah ascended the throne of Delhi on May 17, 1540, by defeating Humayun in a battle near Kannauj and in the same year organised a military campaign to suppress the revolt of the Gakkars in Punjab . He moved east, the next year, to suppress a similar revolt in Bengal in March, 1541 AD. The next year, he moved against the Rajput kings in central India and conquered Malwa. The very next year (i.e. in 1543 AD), he organised a campaign against the Hindu king Puran Mal and took control of the fort at Raisin and then moved against the Rajput king of Marwar. In 1544 he subdued the Rathore king, Maldev and in the subsequent year, he died in an accident in 1545 AD, in Kalinjar. So, the rule of Sher Shah lasted only for five years and out of these five years, he spent nearly one year to gain control over the fort of Kalinjore.[6] During the rest of his reign, he was on hectic movement from east to west and north to south for suppressing revolts or conquering new forts. It should be mentioned here that the period under consideration was a period of political chaos and lawlessness and to restore order, Sher Shah had to fight many battles and that too with partial success. Thus the question naturally arises-Was it possible for Sher Shah (or any other ruler of that time) to build such long roads within such a short span of time? Furthermore, is it possible to make roads, nearly 6,240 Km long, today using modern technology, within a period of 4 or 5 years? The real story is that, Abbas Khan, a court-chronicler of Sher Shah had written some lies to please and glorify his master and our historians took those narrations at their face value, without applying their common sense to estimate the credibility of those blatant lies.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Sep 2014 18:34:50 +0000
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