Term Paper/Essay/Project

MANSABDARI SYSTEM UNDER MUGHALS: AN

ANALYSIS
Legal History II
Winter Semester 16

Submitted By Yash Maheshwari

2nd Year, 214045
WBNUJS

ABSTRACT
Through this project, the author essentially aims to find what mansabdari system meant and what
was the importance of mansabdari system in the mughal era. Moreover, the author has tried to
comparatively analyze mansabdari system and its effects in the reign of each and every Mughal
ruler. The author has used secondary sources of reference for the purpose of this project and the
methodology used in this project is generally comparative and descriptive. The tool of
comparison has been adopted wherever necessary and an attempt has been made to understand
and resolve the problem involved therein.

INTRODUCTION
The Mughals ruled India from 1526 AD, when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi at the Battle of
Panipat, till 1707 AD when the Emperor Aurangzeb died and thereafter nominally till the Indian
Rebellion of 1857.
When Babur invaded India to establish his kingdom his army consisted of tribes and clans that
followed him from Kabul, some joined him later, after the Battle of Panipat, he awarded the
leaders of these tribes and clans in accordance to their performance in the battle and many of
them who had joined Babur for the booty, chose to return to their homes.

Babur and Humayun ruled over territory that was not too far flung. After the tribes and the clans
that had joined Babur for booty returned after the Battle of Panipat, their place was taken by
foreign adventurers, Uzbeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks etc who thronged to the court with
contingents of troops. Since the Mughals were foreigners there were no hereditary nobles related
to the rulers or ancient families to depend upon, the court consisted of adventurers from different
nations, the ruler raised them to dignity or degraded them; up to the early rule of Akbar the
Mughal armies consisted of contingents commanded by these adventurers.
Akbar, Baburs grandson, who ruled from 1556 to 1605, organized the mansabdari system in
the 19th year of his rule. The system classified the functionaries of the kingdom as fighters,
ashab-us-saif, (masters of the sword); clerks ashab-ul-qalam (masters of the pen);
theologians, ashab-ul-amamah. The mansab denoted a rank of office, it had its obligations,
precedence and grade of pay; it was for life but it was not hereditary, heirs could not demand
continuity of office.1
The status of the ashab-us-saif (military) and ashab-ul-qalam (clerical and administrative),
was denoted by military rank, originally 66 grades but later only 33 grades existed. Every official
of the empire above the rank of a sepoy or a servant held an army rank, the lowest was the
commander of twenty; the highest the commander of seven thousand.

1 For an overview, see John F. Richards, The New Cambridge History of India, vol. 1, no. 5: The

Mughal Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995, reprint 2004), 5878.
3

RANKING OF THE MANSABDARS

Mansabs were ranked as of 7,000, 6,000, 5,000, intervals of 500 between 5,000 and 1,000,
intervals of 100 between 1,000 and 200, intervals of 50 between 200 and 100, finally intervals of
20 between 100 and 20.
Mansabs were of three classes, 7,000 to 3,000 - Amir-i-Azam the greater nobles; 2,500 to 500 Amir, noble; 400 to 20 - Mansabdar office holder. Commanders of higher ranks were of three
classes according to the proportion of horsemen, first class if the whole command was of horse,
second class if the horse element was more than half and third class if less than half.
Compensation per annum started at rupees 350,000 with intervals of 50,000 between mansabs of
7,000 and 5,000; rupees 250,000 with intervals of 25,000 between mansabs of 5,000 and 1,000;
the mansab of 20 received 1,000.
The armies of the Moghal times consisted of bands without military training and discipline; there
was no loyalty owed to the ruler or the state; band leaders could be bought; half hearted support
during battle, treachery and desertion were therefore negotiable. The two opposing armies would
camp on the battlefield and for several days negotiations would be conducted to entice
commanders to change sides before the battle, to refuse to act at a critical moment or to desert
with their commands during a battle. The British successfully exploited this mercenary
soldiering, in its worst form, when they fought the princes who had seized bits and pieces of the
Moghal Empire.2
Insulated by the mountains and the seas, the Moghals developed a military system which, though
locally successful, did not improve on the weapons, organization and tactics, failed miserably
when it clashed with the European military system of the period. Instituted by the Mughal
emperor Akbar, mansabdari was a system common to both the military and the Civil department.
Basically the Mansabdari system was borrowed from Persia. 3 It was prevalent during the reign
2 Rosalind O Hanlon, Manliness and Imperial Service in Mughal North India, Journal of the

Economic and Social History of the Orient 42(1) (1999): 4793.

3 Ibid.
4

of Babur and Humayun. Akbar made some important changes to the system and made it more
efficient. Mansabdar was referred to as the official, rank, or the dignity.

ZAT AND SAWAR

The Mansabdars were differentiated by the Zat and the Sawar Rank. The Zat referred to the
number of troops maintained by the mansabdar and the Sawar referred to the number of horses
maintained by the mansabdar. It was dependent on whether the king ordered the mansabdar to
maintain more horses than his rank.
Appointment, promotion, suspension or dismissal of mansabdars rested entirely with the
emperor. No portion of a mansabdar's property was hereditary, a mansabdar's children had to
begin life anew. A mansabdar did not always begin at the lowest grade. The emperor, if satisfied,
could and did grant higher or even the highest grade to any person. There was no distinction
between civil and military departments. Both civil and military officers held mansabs and were
liable to be transferred from one branch of the administration to another. Each mansabdar was
expected to maintain prescribed number of horses, elephants, equipment, etc., according to his
rank and dignity. These rules, though initially strictly enforced, were later slackened.4
Senior mansabdars were awarded a jagir (personal fief) rather than a salary. Rates of
remuneration, which included both the mansabdar's salary and so much per sowar, were matched
by jagirs affording a similar aggregate yield. If their specified yield came to more, the surplus
was due to the imperial treasury; if the jagirdar5 extracted more than the specified yield, he kept
it. Any other info.. can link into any other

MANSABDARI SYSTEM UNDER AKBAR

4 John F. Richards, Norms of Comportment among Imperial Mughal Officers, Power,

Administration, and Finance in Mughal India (Brookefield: Ashgate, 1993), 26367.

5 A jagir was a small territory granted by the ruler to an army chieftain in fairly short terms

usually of three years.

5

Akbar organized the nobility and his army by means of the Mansabdari system. Every officer
was assigned a rank valued in terms of a certain number of mounted soldiers. The ranks normally
given to top officers and nobles were valued from 10 to 5000 later raised to 7000.The ranks were
divided into two: zat and sawar. Zat means personal where by the status and salary of the
individual was fixed. Out of this salary in addition to meeting his own personal expenses, he had
to maintain a stipulated quota of horses, elephants, camels, mules and carts.
The other rank indicated the number of cavalrymen (sawar) a mansabdar was required to
maintain. For every sawar, a mansabdar was paid at a rate of Rs 240 per annum over and above
his salary. A person was required to maintain as many sawars as his zat rank was placed in the
first category of that rank; if he maintained less than half then in the third category. Thus there
were three categories in every rank. No one could have a higher quota of sawars than his zat
rank. The mansab was not hereditary.
The sawar rank was distinguished by two special features: For every 10 cavalrymen the
mansabdar had to maintain 20 horses and a provision was made that the contingents of the nobles
should be mixed ones that is drawn from all the groups- Mughal, Pathan, Hindustani and
Rajput6.This was intended to weaken the spirit of tribal and ethnic exclusiveness. The
mansabdars were assigned a jagir in lieu of cash payment. Although modifications in the system
were made from time to time this remained the basic structure as long as the Empire held
together. The number of mansabdars rose from 2069 at the time of Jahangirs accession in 1605
to 8000 in 1637 during Shah Jahans reign and to 11,546 during the latter half

CHANGES IN MANSABDARI SYSTEM

6 A Rajput is a member of one of the patrilineal clans of central, northern India and in some

parts of Pakistan.
6

Jahangir and Shah Jahan introduced new systems into the original mansabdari system of Akbar.
While the system introduced by Jahangir was called du-aspah sih-aspah, the one brought out by
Shah

Jahan

was

the

month-ratio

or

month-scale

system.

(i) Du-aspah sih-aspah system: The term du-aspah sihaspah literally means trooper with two or
three horses. Under this system, selected nobles could be allowed to maintain a large quota of
soldiers, without making any change in their Jat rank. It implied that a mansabdar or noble
holding du-aspah sih-aspah rank had to maintain double the quota of troopers indicated by his
sawar rank. They were paid accordingly.
(ii) Month-ratio or Month-scale system: It was a new scaling device under which the salaries of
mansabdars were put on a month scale: ten months, eight months, six months or even less. The
obligations of the mansabdars for maintaining a quota of sawars were brought down accordingly.
The month-scale system was applied to both jagirs and those who were paid in cash.
The mansabdari system was not without defects. As the soldiers were recruited and paid by the
mansabdars, their loyalty and attachment were to their immediate master rather than to the
emperor. This gap between the emperor and the bulk of his army was a source of serious danger
to the government.7

7 Richards, Mughal Empire, 77. For a critique of this structural view, see Farhat Hasan, State

and Locality in Mughal India: Power Relations in Western India, 15721730 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Pres, 2004), 35.
7

CONCLUSION
Babur and Humayun ruled over territory that was not too far flung. After the tribes and the clans
that had joined Babur for booty returned after the Battle of Panipat, their place was taken by
foreign adventurers, Uzbeks, Persians, Arabs, Turks etc who thronged to the court with
contingents of troops. Since the Mughals were foreigners there were no hereditary nobles related
to the rulers or ancient families to depend upon, the court consisted of adventurers from different
nations, the ruler raised them to dignity or degraded them; up to the early rule of Akbar the
Mughal armies consisted of contingents commanded by these adventurers.

Akbar organized the nobility and his army by means of the Mansabdari system. Every officer
was assigned a rank valued in terms of a certain number of mounted soldiers. The ranks normally
given to top officers and nobles were valued from 10 to 5000 later raised to 7000.The ranks were
divided into two: zat and sawar. Zat means personal where by the status and salary of the
individual was fixed. Out of this salary in addition to meeting his own personal expenses, he had
to maintain a stipulated quota of horses, elephants, camels, mules and carts.
Thus mansabdari system proved to be very useful for the mughal empire which was followed till
centuries.