Sarkar
Also called: Sarkar and pargana · Topic: The Mughal Empire: Babur to Aurangzeb · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Peasants, Zamindars and the State"
Meaning
A sarkar was a district-level unit of Mughal administration and revenue. The empire was divided into subahs (provinces). Each subah was divided into sarkars, and each sarkar was divided further into parganas, also called mahals. In the Ain-i-Akbari, Abul Fazl set out data for each sarkar in tables showing its area, revenue and zamindars.
Example
Under Akbar, the empire was organised into twelve subahs. Each subah was split into sarkars, and a faujdar in each sarkar kept order while revenue officials collected the land tax.
Don't confuse with
- Subah: a subah was the larger province. A sarkar was a district inside it.
- Pargana: a pargana was a smaller unit inside a sarkar.