MUGHAL ADMINISTRATION:
DIWANI KUL:
·
The chief diwan (diwani kul) was made
responsible for revenue and finances.
·
His primary duty was to supervise the imperial treasury and check all accounts.
·
He personally inspected all
transactions and payments in aIl departments.
·
He maintained direct contact with the
provincial diwans and their functioning was put under his vigil.
·
The mustaufi was the auditor, and the mushrif was the chief accountant.
·
The khazanadar looked after the
Imperial treasury.
MIR BAKHSHI:
·
The mir'arz of Delhi Sultante changed its
nomenclature to mir bakhshi under the Mughals.
·
All orders of appointments of
mansabdars and their salary papers were
endorsed and passed by him.
·
He pexsonally supervised the branding
of the horses (dagh) and checked the muster-roll (chehra) of the soldiers.
·
On the basis of his verification, the amount
of the salary was certified.
·
Only then the-diwan made entry in his
records and placed it before the king.
·
Mir bakhshi placed all m'atters pertaining to the military depment before the Emperor.
MIR SAMAN:
·
The mir saman was the officer in charge
of the royal karkhanas.
·
He was also known as khan saman.
·
He was the chief executive officer responsible
for the purchase of all kinds of articles and their storage for the royal household.
·
Another important duty was to supervise
the manufacture of different articles, be it weapons of war or articles of luxury.
SADR-US SUDUR:
·
The sadr-us sudur was the head of the
ecclesiastical department.
·
His chief duty was to protect
the laws of the shari' at.
·
He was also connected with the
distribution of charities
- both cash
(wazifa) and land grants (suyurghal, in'am, madad-I ma'ash).
QAZI-UL QUZZAT:
·
The chief qazi was known as qazi-ul
quzzat.
·
He was the head of the judiciary.
·
We have already mentioned that prior to
Aurangzeb's reign his powers were combined in sadr-us sudur.
·
His principal duty was to administer the
shariat law both in civil and criminal cases.
DAROGHA-I DAK AND THE SECRET SERVICES:
·
Developing a communication network was
very essential to govern a vast Empire.
·
A separate department was assigned this important task.
·
The imperial postal system was established for sending instructions to the far-flung areas
of the Empire.
·
The same channel was used for receiving
information.
·
At every suba headquarters, darogha-i
dak was
appointed for this purpose.
·
His duty was to pass on letters through the postal runners (mewras) to the court.
·
For this purpose, a number of dak chowkis were maintained throughout the Empire where
runners were stationed who carried the post to the next chowki Horses and boats were also used to help in
speedy delivery.
KOTWAL:
·
For urban centres, the imperial court appointed
kotwals whose primary duty was to safeguard the life and property of townsmen.
·
He may be compared to the present day police
officer in the towns and cities.
·
The kotwal was also to maintain a register for keeping
records of people coming and going out of the town.
·
Every outsider had to take a permit
from him before entering or leaving the town. The kotwal was to ensure
that no illicit liquor was manufactured in his area.
·
He also acted as superintendent of weights and
measures used by the merchants and shopkeepers.
QIL'ADAR:
·
The Mughal Empire had a large number of
qilas (forts) situated various parts of the
·
country.
·
Many of these were located at
strategically important places.
·
Each fortress was like a mini township
with a large garrison.
·
Each fort was placed under an officer
called qil'adar.
MUTASADDI:
·
The governor of the ports was called
mutasaddi, who was directly
·
appointed by the Emperor.
·
Sometimes the office of the mutasaddi
was auctioned and given to the highest bidder.
·
The mutasaddi collected taxes on merchandise and maintained a
custom-house.
MANSAB SYSTEM:
·
The word mansab means a place or
position and therefore it means a rank in the mansab system under the Mughals.
·
During Babur's time, the term mansabdar
was not used instead, another term wajhdar
was employed.
·
The latter differed in some ways from
the mansab system that evolved
under the Mughals after Babur.
·
Akbar gave mansabs to both military and
civil officers on the basis of their merit or service to the
state.
·
To fix the grades of officers and
classify his soldiers, he was broadly inspired by the principles adopted by
Chingiz Khan.
·
The latter's army had been
organised on decimal system.
·
The lowest unit was of ten horsemen,
then came one hundred, one thousand and so on.
·
Abul Fazl states that Akbar had
established 66 grades
of mansabdars ranging from commanders of 10 horsemen to 10,000 horsemen,
although only 33 grades have been mentioned
by him.
Mansab
denoted three things:
i)
It determined the status of its holder (the mansabdar) in the official
hierarchy.
ii) It
fixed the pay of the holder.
iii)
It also laid upon the holder the obligation of maintaining a specified number
of
contingent
with horses and equipment.
THE DUAL RANKS: ZAT
AND SAWAR:
·
The first number (zat) determined the
mansabdar's personal pay (talab-khassa) and his rank in
the organisation.
·
The second number (sawar) fixed the
number of horses and horsemen to be maintained by the mansabdar and, accordingly,
the amount he would
·
receive for his contingent (tabinan).
JAGIR SYSTEM:
·
Revenue assignments were made by the
Delhi Sultans which were termed iqta
and its holder iqtadar.
·
The system was developed to appropriate
the surplus from the peasantry and distribute it among the nobles, This
also included the administration of the area by
the assignee.
·
The Mughal Emperors, too, did the same.
These assignments were given in lieu of cash salaries.
·
The areas assigned were generally
called jagir, and its holders jagirdar.
·
Sometimes terms like 'iqta/iqt'adar'
and tuyul/tuyuldar were also used, but very sparingly.
·
It must be made clear that it was not land that
was assigned, but the income/revenue from the land/area was given to the
jagirdars.
·
This system developed over a period of
time and underwent many changes before stabilising. However, the basic framework
was developed during Akbar's reign.
·
The jagirdar was allowed to collect
only authorised revenue in accordance
with the Imperial regulations.
BARAWURDI:
·
under Akbar the advance paid to
mansabdars for maintenance of troops was called barawardi.
·
From the reign of Jahangir onwards it
was used for regular payment
·
given to nobles for the maintenance of
troops.
KHURAK-DAWAB: fodder
allowance for animals.
For more details : Vetrii IAS Academy
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