Sasaram (Hindi: सासाराम, Urdu: ساسارام), sometimes also spelled as Sahasram, is the administrative headquarters of the Rohtas district in the Indian state of Bihar.

It is one of the oldest cities in India^{[citation needed]}, and is famous for production of stone chips and for the local quarrying industry. Languages spoken in this region are Bhojpuri, Hindi, and Urdu; local religions include Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism.

According to legend, Sahastrabahu lived near here during the age of Ramayana, and was later killed by the warrior-sage Parsuram. The name of the city may come from a combination of the names of these two figres. Some historians^[who?] believe that the name comes instead from Nikulakashakabasu, an ancient king, and Parsuram.

Sasaram is the birthplace of the Afghan king Sher Shah Suri, who ruled over Delhi, much of northern India, what is now Pakistan, and eastern Afghanistan for five years, after defeating the Mughal Emperor Humayun. After his death, he was followed as king by his son Islam Shah, then Adil Shah, and finally by the Hindu king Hemu, or Hem Chandra Vikramaditya. Many of Sher Shah Suri's practices were adopted by the Mughals and the British Raj including taxation, administration, and the building of a paved road from Kabul to Bengal.

Sher Shah Suri (1486 – May 22, 1545) (Pashto: فريد خان شیر شاہ سوری - Šīr Šāh Sūrī, Bengali: শের শাহ সুরি), birth name Farid Khan, also known as Sher Khan (The Lion King), was the founder of the Muslim Sur Empire in northern India, with its capital at Delhi. An Afghan (Pathan) by origin, he rebelled against the Mughals and took control of India in 1540 until an accidental death in 1545 when Islam Shah Suri 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, power hungry turned on his true master and overran the state of Bengal and established the Sur Empire. A brilliant strategist, Sher Shah proved himself a gifted administrator as well as an able general. His reorganization of the empire laid the foundations for the later Mughal emperors, notably Akbar the Great, son of Humayun.

During his five year rule from 1540 to 1545, he set up a new template for civic and military administration, issued the first Rupee and re-organised 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 is also famously remembered for killing a fully grown tiger with his bare hands in a jungle of Bihar.