The mansab and jagir systems under the Mughals in India did not develop

suddenly; they evolved steadily through the rime. These institutions were
borrowed in some form from Western Asia and modified to suit the needs of the
time in India. The mansabdars were an integral part of the Mughal bureaucracy
and formed, as Percival Spear says, 'an elite within elite'. They were appointed
in all government departments except the judiciary. They held the important
offices of wazir, bakshi, faujdar and the subadar, etc.

Mansabdari system:

Akbar was the architect of the Mansabdari system, an institution of political and economic
significance that played a critical role in the consolidation and disintegration of the Mughal
Empire.

The word Mansab means a place, a position, an honour and a rank, which happened to be an
integral part of the elaborate Mughal bureaucracy.

Percival Spear rightly points out that this Mansabdari system was elite within an elite.

The Mansabdars were appointed to all civil and military posts except that of judiciary, and
the positions like wazir, bakshi, faujdar and Subedar were held by the Mansabdars. The
Mansabdar appears to be a central Asian institution. There is a view that this institution came
to India with Babur. During Babur’s time, instead of the term of Mansabdar, the term
Wajahdar was used. There is a definite difference between these two terms of Mansabdari
and Wajahdari system. Under the regime of Akbar, Mansabdari system became the basis of
military and civil administration. It is also believed that Akbar followed the principles of
Changiz Khan in fixing up the grades of Mansabdars.

Abul Fazl states that Akbar provided 66 grades of Mansabdars ranging from commanders of
10 horsemen to 10,000 horsemen but he gives a list of 33 grades of Mansabdars. Thus, the
term ‘Mansab’ decided the status of the holder in the graded official hierarchy, it also fixed
the pay of the holder or the Mansabdar and it also made it obligatory to maintain a specified
number of contingent with horses and necessary equipment.

In the beginning and up to 1595-96, personal pay and the size of the contingent was
represented by single rank of jat but from 1595-96, both the Jat and sawar ranks began to
decide the position and status of the Mansabdar. While Jat decided the Mansabdar’s personal
pay or Talabkhasa and his rank in the official hierarchy and sawar fixed the horses and
horsemen to be maintained by the Mansabdar and the amount he received to maintain his
contingent.

Regarding the meaning and nature of sawar there is no unanimity of opinion. William Irvine,
Abdul Aziz and Athar Ali offered different versions. Again in the year 1595-96, the
Mansabdars were divided into three classes, first, second and the third. First class was in
equal number to Jat and sawar, second class Jat and half or more than half of sawar and third
class Jat and less than half of sawar. There was no fixing of the number of Mansabdars.

While in 1595-96, Akbar maintained 1,803 Mansabdars, by the end of the reign of
Aurangzeb, their number rose to 14,499. The emperor can raise the rank of the Mansabdar by
increasing the number allotted to a Mansabdar. We also come to know that those who had
500 or less than 500 were called Mansabdars. Those who had more than 500 and below 2,500
were called Amirs and those above 2,500 were called Amir-i-Umda or Amir-i-Azam or
Amir-l-Aam or Amrahs. Further, those Mansabdars, who were paid in cash, were called
Naqdi and those paid through Jagirs were called Jagirdars. No mansabdar could hold on to
the said Jagir for a long term and they were liable for transfer.

The Mansab’s post or honour or dignity was not hereditary and it lapsed after the death or
dismissal of the Mansabdar and the property returned to the state after that. While the basic
features of this system introduced by Akbar continued, new features were added during his
successors’ regimes. One such feature was the introduction of the use of conditional rank or
Mashrut which means an increase of sawar rank for a short period.

The reign of Jahangir saw an important innovation of the introduction of the Du-aspah She-
aspah which means if a Mansabdar held a mansab of 4,000 Jal/4,000 sawar and he was
eligible to 4,000 + 4,000 = 8,000 or both, the pay and obligation of the Mansabdar were
doubled. Under Shahjahan, new regulations prescribing the size of the contingent under
various sawar ranks were introduced.

The increase of number of Mansabdars during the reign of Aurangzeb led to the Jagirdari and
agrarian crisis which led to the collapse of the Mansabdari system. Though in theory, the
Mansabdari position was open to all, in practice, the Mughals gave importance to heredity
factor and as such Khanzads or house-born and Zamindars were given preference along with
Turanis, Iranis, Afghans, Rajputs and Marathas and the Deccanis by Aurangzeb in particular
for military reasons.

Jagirdari System:

Assignment of a piece of land to an individual for the purpose of collection of revenue in lieu
of cash salary is an age-old practice in India. In the Delhi Sultanate period such assignments
were called Iqtas and the holders Iqtadars. The Mughal emperors also implemented this
system and the areas assigned were called Jagirs and their holders, Jagirdars. It is to be
remembered in this connection that it is not land that was assigned but the right to collect
revenue or income from the piece of land.

The framework of the Mughal Jagirdari system began during the reign of Akbar and in course
of time it underwent modifications. Babur and Humayun continued the collection of revenue
from the assigned territories through Wajahdars by fixing ‘wajah’. In the time of Akbar, the
territory was broadly divided as Khalisa and Jagir.

The revenue of Khalisa territory was collected and deposited in the imperial treasury.
Depending on the rank the Jagirdar was assigned the collection of revenue in lieu of salary in
cash. The maximum area of the territory was assigned to Mansabdars on the basis of their
rank. The estimated revenue from the territory was called ‘jama ojamadari’ as it was
calculated in ‘dam’.

Dam is a small copper coin. Generally, the jama included land revenue, in-land transit duties,
port customs and other taxes too. This is also known as ‘sair jihat’ and ‘hasil’ or the amount
of revenue actually collected. There were various types of Jagirs or revenue assignments.
Mansabdari and jagirdari were the two main institutions of the Mughal Empire, which
embraced both civil and military sectors of administration. The system was developed to
create a cenfralised adminism?ive system as well as creating a large force. Mansabdars
and their large forces were used to expand the empire and administer it effectively. The
main features of mansab system were as follows:
-
Mansabdars held dual ranks zat and sawar, the former indicated the status of
the officer in the administrative hierarchy, and which also determined the personal
pay. The latter denoted the contingent they were expected to maintain.
Mansabdars were divided into 3 classes on ,thebasis of the ratio between their zat
and sawar ranks.
a The salaries and obligation of maintaining troops were governed by a definite set of
rules which underwent changes from time to time.
For revenue purposes all the land was divided into two -the jagir and khalisa. The
land revenue collected from the khalisa went to the royal treasury while that fiom the
jagir to mansabdars.
Mansabdars were paid through the assignment of jagirs. The jagir system as an
institution was used to appropriate the surplus horn the peasantry. At the same time it
was used for distributing the revenue resqqces among the ruling classes. Of the four
types of jagirs given to assignees, the watan jagir was a very,effective way of
absorbing Indian chieftains in the Mughal ruling class.