Afghan family that ruled in northern India from 1540 to 1556. Its founder, Sher Shah Sur, was descended from an Afghan adventurer recruited by Sultan Bahlul Lodi of Delhi during his long contest with the Sharqi sultans of Jaunpur. The Shah's personal name was Farid, the title of Sher ("Tiger") being conferred when he killed a tiger as a young man. After Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, defeated the Lodis, Sher Shah Sur obtained control of the Afghan kingdoms of Bihar and Bengal and defeated the Mughal emperor Humayun at Chausa (1539) and Kanauj (1540). Sher Shah ruled the whole of North India for five years, annexing Malwa and defeating the Rajputs. He reorganized the administration, laying foundations on which the Mughal emperor Akbar later built. He was killed by a cannon ball while besieging the fortress of Kalinjar in central India.

Sher Shah's son, Islam or Salim Shah, was a man of ability and maintained Afghan rule despite dissensions. On his death (1553), the Sur dynasty broke up among rival claimants. Sikandar Sur was defeated in June 1555 by Humayun, who occupied Delhi in July. When Muhammad 'Adil Shah's Hindu general Hemu threw off his allegiance only to be defeated by the Mughals at Panipat (1556), the Sur dynasty ended. The Surs' reign was a brief interlude in Mughal rule, brightened only by the brilliance of Sher Shah. They were the last Afghan rulers of northern India.