The Mansabdari system had been introduced by Akbar and was considered to be a great feature in the Mughal administration. In this system, each officer of the Mughal Empire has been given the rank of ‘mansab’. It is considered to be a grading system where the ranks, military responsibilities and salary have been given according to the rank of the system. The ranks were in the form of “zat” and “sawar” and zat had fixed the salary and personal status of a person. This study deals with theMansabdari system and the founder of it.     

Mansabdari system

  • The Mansabdari system appears as a system of central Asia and the view of the institution came into India with Babur. It can be seen that in the time of Babur the Mansabdars term was not introduced and instead “Wajahdar” has been used. 
  • It was first introduced by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in the year 1571 and it was installed in the form of military and civil administration. 
  • The officers who joined the Mughal Administration were famous as the Mansabdars. They can be transferred from one section to another section of the administration.   

Administrative officers

  • The administrative officers have been given rank or position and the hierarchy of the Mansabdars has been mentioned in different ways. There is “Amir of Amirs” and they were the Mansabdars who were given the rank above 5000. The given title is also known as the “Amir-al-Umara” in this field. 
  • “Amir-al-Kabir” or “Great Amir” was the Mansabdars whose ranks were above 1000. Another rank was “Amir” and they were the administrative officers who rank as 1000 or under 1000. 
  • All the Mansabdars seem to hold their ranks and maintain their duties according to the rank of the system. A certain amount of money they got or the fees can be in the form of land also. 

Salary of Mansabdars

  • The salary of the Mansabdars had been given with the ranks of the officer. It can be said that the position decides the salary and administrative responsibility of the officers. Different kinds of ranks are there in the Mansabdari system and according to this, the salary has been given. 
  • There were also various kinds of methods of payments of the Mansabdars. The Mansabdars who received the payments through the land were also known as the jagirdars. It has also been seen that the jagirdars have been given the right to collect revenue from a piece of land. 
  • The Mansabdars who got payment through cash were also known as “naqdi” and it also saw that the post of the Mansabdars was not ‘hereditary’.   

Fall of the Mansabdari system

  • There are several reasons for the fall of the Mansabdari system and one of them is that the number of Mansabdars increases with time. It can be seen that during the reign of Akbar the number of Mansabdars was 1800 and it has increased to 14,500 during the reign of Aurangzeb.
  • Akbar has the ability to maintain the system and during the reign of Akbar, the system worked perfectly. The revenues were collected by the Mansabdars from the jaegers and it was transferred to the emperor and was enough to pay the salary of the officers. After the death of Akbar, the system collapsed totally in the reign of the last ruler Aurangzeb.  
  • In the reign of Aurangzeb, the revenue that was collected by the Mansabdars was not enough for paying the salary of the Mansabdars and the system collapsed. In the reign of Akbar, the number of Mansabdars was 29 with the rank of 5000 zat but by the reign of Aurangzeb the number of Mansabdars was increased to 79 and this is the reason for the fall of the system. Therefore it can be said that the increase of the number of the Mansabdars during the reign of Aurangzeb led to the jagirdars and crisis which led to the collapse of the Mansabdari system.   

Conclusion

The main attraction of the present study is the Mansabdari system and which was introduced by the famous Mughal emperor Akbar. In this system salary and military responsibilities have been given on the basis of rank. The system runs properly during the reign of Akbar and revenue has been collected by the Mansabdars. The system collapsed during the reign of Aurangzeb as the number of Mansabdars increased. The study gets its justification through the implication of FAQs here and it is an important factor of this study. Therefore the idea can be drawn that the Mansabdari system is an important part of the Mughal Empire introduced by the great king Akbar.