Islam Shah Suri ruled the Sur Empire from 1545 until his death in 1554, spending much of his reign consolidating the administrative reforms introduced by his father Sher Shah Suri — the man who briefly displaced the Mughal emperor Humayun and rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road. Islam Shah moved the imperial capital from Agra to Gwalior and proved a capable but deeply suspicious ruler, executing large numbers of Afghan nobles he believed were plotting against him. The paisa denomination itself was part of Sher Shah's systematic currency reform, which standardized copper coinage across the subcontinent in a way the Mughals would later inherit wholesale.
Islam Shah Suri ruled the Sur Empire from 1545 until his death in 1554, spending much of his reign consolidating the administrative reforms introduced by his father Sher Shah Suri — the man who briefly displaced the Mughal emperor Humayun and rebuilt the Grand Trunk Road. Islam Shah moved the imperial capital from Agra to Gwalior and proved a capable but deeply suspicious ruler, executing large numbers of Afghan nobles he believed were plotting against him. The paisa denomination itself was part of Sher Shah's systematic currency reform, which standardized copper coinage across the subcontinent in a way the Mughals would later inherit wholesale.