Administration: The Mughal Empire | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Mughal
 Administration
Sources of Information

• The Ain-i-Akbari of Abul Fazl is a mine of information but it “does not give us much help in drawing a correct and detailed picture of the administrative machinery” (Sarkar)
• Some information is given by the Dastur-ul-Amals or official handbooks which were prepared in the time of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.
• The so-called “Manual of Duties of Officers” found by Sir Jadunath Sarkar from Patna also gives useful information.
• “The iqbal-Namah Jahangiri by Mutamad Khan, the Padshah-namah of Abdul Hamid Lahori, the Tazuki-Jahangiri, the Tabaqat-i-Akbari of 

Nizam-ud-Din and Muntakhabut-Tawarikh of Badauni also give useful information.

• The writings of foreigners like Sir Thomas Roe, Bernier, Hawkins, Manucci, Terry, etc., also throw welcome light on certain aspects of Mughal Administration. 
• The contemporary factory records of the English Company are useful in many ways.

Nature of Mughal 
 Administration

• The Mughal administration presented a combination of Indian and extra-Indian elements, or more correctly, it was the Perso-Arabic system in Indian setting”.
• The Mughal empire was a centralised disposition based on military power. 
• He determined the rank of every mansabdar and allotted jagirs for the maintenance of the mansabdars.
• The bifurcation of authority in the provinces—the division of power between the subahdar and the diwan—was based on the system prevailing under the Arab rulers in Egypt.
• The revenue system was a resultant of two forces-the time honoured Hindu practice and the abstract Arabian theory.
• The mansabdari system was of Central Asian origin.
• In the days of Babur and Humayun there was a Prime Minister, known as Vakil, who was entrusted with large powers in civil and military affairs.
• The office of the Vakil seems to have come into prominence when Akbar was a minor and Bairam Khan acted on his behalf as Deputy.
• The minister who looked after the administration of the army was called mir bakshi.
• The salary bill of all mansabdars had to be calculated and passed by his office.
• The Khan-i-saman held independent charge of the household department and the Karkhanas.
• The Sadr-us-sudur was the chief justice of the empire.
• The Muhataib was primarily an acclesiastical officer whose duty was to regulate the lives of the people.
• The diwan-i-tan looked after matters relating to the Jagirs.
• The mir-i-mal was the officer in charge of 

the privy purse and the mir-tuzuk was the master of ceremonies.

Provincial administration

• Akbar divided the empire into twelve provinces. 
• After the conquests of Bijapur and Golconda (1686-87) and the fall of Sambhaji (1689), the empire was divided into twenty-one subahs (One in Afghanistan, fourteen in North India and six in South India)
• Initially each subah had one governor who was officially called sipah salar.
• In later times, the designation was changed to nazim but usually known as subahdar.
• In 1586 Akbar made an important change; the governing authority in every subah was bifurcated and the office of provincial diwan was created.
• The faujdars were the chief assistants of the subahdar in the discharge of his executive functions and in the maintenance of peace.
• The Kotwal was the chief of the city police.
• The bakshi was the paymaster of the provincial army.
• The provincial bayutat was the keeper of government property and official trustee.
• The mir bahr looked after bridges required for military use, port duties, customs, boat and ferry taxes etc.

Fiscal System

• The major heads of imperial revenue were land revenue, customs duties, mint, inheritance, tribute paid by feudatory princes, presents, monopolies and indeminities.
• Of these the most important was land revenue.
• A considerable revenue was derived from customs and inland transit duties.
• The  duties on foreign imports were levied at all ports.
• The administrative officer of a port was called Shah bandar.
• Coins were made of gold, silver and copper.
• There was a regular department of the State called bait-ul-mal where the property of all nobles and officers of the state had to be kept in deposing after their death.

Army

• The emperor was the head of the army and its commander-in-chief.
• The troops available for purposes of war and internal defence were divided into four categories:

(i) Forces of the tributary chiefs;
 (ii) The mansabdari contingents;
 (iii) Dakhili troops, directly managed by the state and paid from the imperial treasury; and
 (iv) The Ahadis, the gen-Hemen troopers.

• The department which maintained sea and river flotillas was under mir-i-bahri
• The mansabdari system introduced by Akbar was a unique feature of the administrative system of the Mughal empire.
• The mansabdars belonged both to the civil 

and military departments.

• The mansabdars holding ranks below 500 Zat were called mansabdars. Those more than 500 but below 2,500 amirs and those holding ranks of 2500 and above were called amir-i-umda.
• The mansab was not hereditary and it automatically lapsed after the death or dismissal of the mansabdars.
• The reign of Jahangir saw an important innovation in the mansabdari system, namely the introduction of the du-aspah sihaspah rank.
• The above term implied that a mansabdar had to maintain and was paid for double the quota of troopers indicated by his sawar rank.
• A mansabdar holding a zat rank of 3,000 and 3,000 du-aspah sih-aspah would be required to maintain 6,000 troopers.
• Under Shah Jahan there were new scales of pay, monthly rations and new regulations prescribing the sizes of contingents under various sawar ranks.
• For the purpose of assigning jagirs the revenue department had to maintain a register indicating the assessed income (Jawa) of various areas, calculated at the rate of 40 damas to a rupee. This document was called jawa-dami or assesed income of an area based on damas.
• Khanazadas were the sons and decendents of mansabdars.
• Mansabdari ranks were also awarded to scholars, religious divines, men of letters etc.

The Zamindars

• The Zamindar was not the owner of the land and peasants could not be dispossessed of land as long as they paid land revenue.
• They were a powerful class and were to be found all over the Mughal empire under different names, such as deshmukhs, patils, nayaks etc.
• Zamindari was divisible among legal heirs and could also be freely bought and sold.