Sher Shah Suri was born in 1486 Sasaram, Rohtas district, Bihar in India and was the founder of the Sur Empire in North India, with its capital at Delhi. An ethnic Pashtun, Sher Shah took control of the Mughal Empire in 1540. After his accidental death in 1545, his son Islam Shah became his successor. He first served as a private before rising to become a commander in the Mughal army under Babur and then as the governor of Bihar. In 1537, when Babur's son Humayun was elsewhere on an expedition, Sher Khan overran the state of Bengal and established the Sur dynasty. A brilliant strategist, Sher Shah proved himself as a gifted administrator as well as a capable general. His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, son of Humayun.

 

During his five-year rule from 1540 to 1545, he set up a new civic and military administration, issued the first Rupiya and reorganised the postal system of India. He further developed Humayun's Dina-panah city and named it Shergarh and revived the historical city of Pataliputra as Patna which had been in decline since the 7th century CE. He extended the Grand Trunk Road from Chittagong in the frontiers of the province of Bengal in near eastern India to Kabul in Afghanistan in the far northwest of the country.