Mughal Administration

The Mughals kept many features of the administrative system of Shershah and Sultanate. Mughal emperors ruled and built the Mughal Empire on the subcontinent of India, mainly compatible with modern countries like India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. There were multiple features of the Mughal administration such as the rule of aristocracy, revenue administration, and centralised power. The article is going to discuss the structure of Mughal administration as well as the analysis of central administration, provincial administration, and local administration. The political system in the regimen of Mughal emperors was well organised. Akbar started effectively a centralised government during his ruling time. 

Structure of Mughal administration

The emperors were the head of the Mughal administration and the Mughals retained multiple features of the administrative system of Shershah and Sultanate. The Mughal administration was effectively separated into “Subas” and subdivided into “Gram”, “Pargana”, and “Sarkar”. There were almost 15 Subas during the regimen of Akbar and increased to almost 20 under the regime of Aurangzeb. Akbar, who was one of the greatest Mughal emperors, introduced the Mansabdari system. Mansabdari was both military and civil.

In the ruling period of the Mughal administration, there were mainly three methods of the collection of revenue such as Zabti, Rai, and Kankut. The emperor or king was the supreme of state and the chief executive, commander-in-chief, final dispenser, and law-maker of justice. Therefore, Akbar claimed himself to be the “God’s representative on Earth” and “the shadow of God”. 

There were different features of the Mughal administration such as revenue administration, rule of aristocracy, and centralised power. There were different segments under the Mughal administration such as the central administration, local administration, city administration, judicial administration, and land revenue. In the land revenue system of the Mughal Empire, the revenue policies of Sher Shah Sur and Alauddin Khilji shaped the direction.

Raja Todarmal who was the revenue minister in 1581 reorganised the system of land revenue which is well known as bandobast or Zabti. As per the land revenue system of the Mughal administration, the land was classified and measured on the basis of the fertility of soils, such as:

• Banjar
• Chachar
• Parauti
• Polaj 

Central administration and military administration 

The kings or emperors were the central authority of the Mughal administration. The state had mainly four departments and four officers in central administration such as Mir Bakshi; Sadr; diwan; and Mir saman. The diwan was also recognized as the chief minister or Wajir who looked after finance and revenue. Mir Bakshi effectively handled the accounts, military pay as well as related duties. The royal family was in the hands of Khan-I-Samman and he looked after the practices of managing requirements and records of order, stores, and Karkhanas. Sadr was the supreme of religious contributions and donations. 

In the concept of military administration, elephants, horses, horsemen and soldiers needed to be maintained and supplied through the Mansabdars. The classes of soldiers under Mansabdars were ahadis (“gentlemen troopers”) and dakhili (paid by the state for services). There were mainly five units of army in the military administration during the era of Mughal as Cavalry had two varieties of horsemen like Siledar and Bagir, two units of infantry such as Bandukchi and Samshirbaz.

Provincial Administration and Local Administration

The Mughal administration was effectively separated into provinces, called “Suba ” headed through Nazim, Sipahsalar, or Subedar. Each province had an efficient set of officials that represented the activities of states which assisted to improve control in the administration. The structure of the provisional administration was a copy of the central government. Sipah Salaror Nazim was well recognized as “subahdar”, was appointed by the emperor and looked after the responsibilities of citizens and administration. The next provincial authority of provisional administration was the paymaster and Bakshi who looked after the duties of salaries of mansabdars, military establishment. 

In the concept of local administration, at the level of the village, subas were effectively separated into sarkars and subdivided into Parganas. The Faujdar who was the chief executive head of the sarkar focused on maintaining law and executed royal regulations as well as decrees. Amalguzar was the revenue collector and Shiqdar managed the law and general administration of pargana with the help of Patadar, Bitikchis, and Amin. 

Conclusion 

Based on the above discussion it can be concluded that, as there is a division of the Mughal Empire such as Gram, Pargana, and sarkar, it was effectively easy to control. . The article has discussed the structure of Mughal administration as well as the analysis of central administration, provincial administration, and local administration. The main features of the Mughal administration were the rule of aristocracy, centralised power, revenue administration, and benevolent despot.