Mansabdari system

Also called: Mansabdari · Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 2 "Reshaping India's Political Map"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"

Meaning

The mansabdari system was the Mughal way of ranking officers: every officer got a numerical rank, or mansab, granted by the emperor, and this rank fixed his standing at court, his salary and the number of troops and animals he had to keep for the state. Most mansabdars were paid through a jagir, a piece of land whose revenue they collected in place of a salary.

It matters because it let the Mughals run a huge empire and raise a large army without paying for a permanent central army. It also tied the nobility to the emperor, because ranks were neither hereditary nor permanent [2].

Explanation

Background: why Akbar needed it

• The empire was too large for one man to watch.
• Akbar reorganised the government for control, so the centre knew what was happening, and for efficiency, so work got done fast.

• He needed one system that could rank, pay and discipline all his officers.

• Before this, the nobles were a loose group.

• Akbar used mansabdari to turn a loose group of Muslim noble war-chiefs into a mixed-community bureaucratic service that included Hindus [2].

Main features: how a mansab worked

• Mansab means rank. A mansabdar is the person who holds that rank.
• One number fixed three things at once:
• his personal standing at court
• his salary

• the number of troops he had to keep ready

• Two parts of the rank (standard textbook terms):

• zat: the personal rank, which fixed his status and salary

• sawar: the number of cavalrymen (horsemen) he had to maintain

• The grades:

• Ranks were numerical and granted only by the emperor.

• There were 33 grades, from 10 up to 5,000. For an ordinary subject (not a prince), 5,000 was the highest rank [2].

• What he had to keep: exact numbers of elephants, horses, camels and troops, as his rank required.

• Not hereditary, not permanent:
• A son did not automatically get his father's rank.

• Promotion and demotion depended on the emperor's favour [2].

• One list for every kind of job: mansabdars held both military commands and civil posts, so the same rank list covered a general and a revenue officer [2].

How it ran: pay, inspection and control

• Pay through jagirs:
• Mansabdars were generally paid not in cash but by a jagir.
• For this reason they were also called jagirdars.

• The officer did not own the jagir. He only took its revenue, and jagirs could be transferred from one officer to another.

• Inspections kept it honest:

• Officers had to bring out the men and animals their rank required.

• Without these regular checks, the troops would exist only on paper.

• Who ran it:

• The emperor alone granted and changed ranks.

• The Mir Bakhshi, the central minister for military matters, kept the pay and muster rolls (lists of men present) of officers and troops.

• Built-in checks:

• In a province, the revenue officer and the military officer did not report to the same boss.
• So one officer could not quietly cheat the state.

Results: an "army without an army"

• No permanent central army was needed.
• The troops stayed with the mansabdars, spread across the empire.
• When war came, the emperor called the mansabdars, and an army formed at short notice.

• The state saved the huge cost of paying soldiers in peacetime.

• Loyalty to the throne: ranks came only from the emperor and could be taken away, so nobles depended on his favour [2].

• Limits on sharing power:
• Non-Muslims rarely made up more than one-third of the higher administration, and were often far fewer.

• Among Muslims, officers of foreign origin were favoured over those of Indian origin.

• A weakness for later:

• The system needed enough jagir land to pay every mansabdar.
• As the empire expanded up to Aurangzeb's time, this pressure grew.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: The Mughal Empire (1526–1707). The system was organised under Akbar and continued under his successors up to Aurangzeb.
• Place: Across the empire's twelve subahs (provinces). Each subah copied the centre and had its own diwan, bakhshi, sadr and other officials.
• Key people:
• Akbar, who reorganised the administration
• Abul Fazl, who recorded the system

• Todar Mal, Akbar's finance minister, whose revenue surveys made the state's income predictable and so helped pay for the whole system

• How we know:

• Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari describes the mansabdari system in detail.
• The Ain-i-Akbari is the third and final volume of the Akbarnama [4].
• Its third section covers the judicial and executive wings of the empire, land survey methods and the duties of Todar Mal [3].
• The text survives as a rare book and in published English volumes held in national digital collections [5].

Don't confuse with

• Iqta (Delhi Sultanate): also land revenue given to officers in place of salary, but it belongs to the Sultanate period. Mansabdari is the Mughal system of numbered ranks granted by the emperor.
• Jagir vs mansab: the mansab is the rank, which fixed status, pay and troops. The jagir is the land assignment through which the pay came. A jagirdar collected revenue but did not own the land.
• Zat vs sawar: zat = personal rank and salary. Sawar = number of horsemen to be kept. MCQs often swap these two.
• Mir Bakhshi vs Diwan: the Mir Bakhshi handled military matters, including the pay and muster rolls of mansabdars. The Diwan handled finances: revenue, income and spending.

Prelims Hooks

• Mansabdari is described in the Ain-i-Akbari, written by Abul Fazl. The Ain-i-Akbari is the third volume of the Akbarnama [4].
• Ranks ran in 33 grades from 10 to 5,000. 5,000 was the highest for a non-royal subject [2].
• Mansabs were granted only by the emperor and were not hereditary or permanent [2].
• Mansabdars held both military and civil posts [2].
• They were paid by jagir (land revenue assignment), so they were also called jagirdars. Jagirs were transferable and not owned.
• Trap: mansabdars kept elephants, horses, camels and troops, checked by regular inspections. The Mughals did not depend on a large permanent central army.

Mains Points

• A big army without a big budget.
• Troops were kept by rank-holders, paid through jagirs and gathered when called.
• Strengths: low peacetime cost, and high loyalty, because ranks were emperor-granted and non-hereditary [2].

• Weaknesses: army quality depended on inspections working, and the system needed enough jagir land, a strain that grew as the empire expanded up to Aurangzeb's time.

• From war-chiefs to a state service.

• Akbar turned a loose group of Muslim war-chiefs into a mixed-community service that included Hindus [2].

• Military and civil posts sat on one rank list, which made the nobility a tool of central control.

• Tolerance versus representation.

• Akbar's religious policy was inclusive, but non-Muslims rarely held more than one-third of higher posts.
• Foreign-origin Muslims were preferred over Indian-origin ones.
• This is useful for a balanced answer on Akbar's "liberalism": real in belief, limited in how power was shared.

Related concepts

• Diwan
• Mir Bakhshi
• Mir Saman
• Sadr-us-Sudur
• Qazi-ul-Quzat
• Muhtasib
• Subah
• Sarkar
• Pargana
• Faujdar

Read more

• Administering the empire