The Mansabdari System of Mughal Empire: A Critical Analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2023.v08.n12.005Keywords:
Jagir, Mansabdari, Mughal, Sawar, System, ZatAbstract
The Mansabdari system was primarily a mechanism to institutionalize the Mughal administration with great emphasis on the military organization through numerical method. The efficiency of the system was based on the continuous maintenance of the required number of contingent with the assigned source of income namely jagir. Thus, the very nature of the system necessitated the accurate assessment of the revenue of each and every jagir, so that the allotment of certain jagirs could be made in accordance with the military contingents to be maintained by the Mansab holders. This is the core and crucial point which triggered all kinds of problem in the system. Therefore, the problems of the system range from the land measurement, revenue assessment, and pay schedule to the decline in the obligations and finally keeping fictitious relevance of the system with several modifications without breaking away with that.
References
Notwithstanding the finality and unquestionable authenticity of any interpretation in the historical discourses, this debate is now, more or less settled through thorough research of all the available historical accounts by Sheereen Mosvi.
Moreland, W. H. “Rank in the Mugul State Service.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, October, 1936, pp. 641-665
It should be remembered that conceptual and theoretical understanding has nothing to do with the lesser availability of material resources. Moreland’s generalization of the same pattern of military organization across the Asia, even the entire medieval world cannot be justified. However, there is a need to be more polite in criticism, as Irfan Habib does, because the ‘discipline’ has been increasingly evolving with the use of multi-disciplinary approach.
It is established that the decimal system of Mongols was imitated by the Delhi Sultans and later on followed by the great Mughals.
Mosvi, Sheereen. “The Evolution of the Mansab System under Akbar until 1596-97.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), Volume- 113, Issue- 02, April 1981, pp. 173-185
Mutamad khan has described this ‘innovation’ at some length. Abul Fazal and Badayuni also delineated this evolution in a great detailed and elaborate manner. See for the relevant paragraphs, Mosvi’s article “The Evolution of the Mansab System under Akbar until 1596-97.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), Volume- 113, Issue- 02, April 1981, pp. 173-185
The use of final ‘Ya’ in the words ‘Sadi and Hazari’ has been fantastically interpreted by Mosvi, which is an obvious testimony of her great command over Persian literary variables.
Mosvi, Sheereen. “The Evolution of the Mansab System under Akbar until 1596-97.” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland (New Series), Volume- 113, Issue- 02, April 1981, pp. 173-185
Ibid.
In the case of Jahangir, it is clearer that he introduced this change to strengthen his power through empowering the other favourite nobles in and outside the court militarily.
See for further information and the detailed table of Mansabdars granted this rank under Shahjahan’s reign, M. Athar Ali’s The Mughal Nobility under Aurangzeb, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1966, p. 42
Ibid.
For detailed information about ‘Month-Scale’ see Irfan Habib’s The Agrarian System of Mughal India 1526-1757, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1999, pp. 298-316
Habib, Irfan. “The Mansab System 1595-1637.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Patiala Session, (1967)
It should be kept in mind that a number of medieval historians including Irfan Habib have interpreted this state of decreasing power in terms of structural problems which was very much inherent in the agrarian system.
See for the detailed information regarding the nobles granted the conditional ranks, M. Athar Ali’s ‘The Nobility under Aurangzeb’, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1966, pp. 41-42
M. Athar Ali has reasoned this development by two other possibilities, one being the du- aspa sih-aspa rank and the second the scarcity of reliable and more competent military commanders as it is reflected in Aurangzeb’s regret of inefficient persons in Dilkusha. See M. Athar Ali’s ‘The Nobility under Aurangzeb', Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1966.
Ibid.
Chandra, Satish, Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals, Har-Anand Publications, New Delhi, 2007, p. 355
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