Role of Mansabdari and Jagirdari System During Mughal Empire

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.

We also notice an evolution in the beginning and the growth of this institution. 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.

They are:

(1) Jagirs, which were given in lieu of pay known as Jagir Tankha,

(2) Jagirs given to an individual on certain conditions called Mashrut Jagirs,

(3) Jagirs with no involvement of obligations of service and were independent of rank known as Inam Jagirs, and

(4) Jagirs, assigned to Zamindars in their home lands called Watan Jagirs.

Of these varieties, Tankha Jagirs were transferable for every three or four years. Watan Jagirs were hered­itary Jagirs and non-transferable. Yet, all these types of Jagirs were liable for conversion. Thus, the Jagirdars were allowed to collect only the stipulated amount fixed by the king.

The Jagirdar collected the revenue through his own officials like Karkun, Amir and Fotedar. The imperial bureaucracy kept a vigilant watch over the Jagirdars. The Diwan of the Suba saw to it that the Jagirdars never harassed the peasants for excess payment. From the 20th year of the reign of Akbar, an Amir was posted in the Subha to see that the Jagirdars strictly implemented the royal orders.

In times of difficulty, the Jagirdar took the help of faujdar for the collection of revenue. During the later period of Aurangzeb’s reign, there arose a crisis in Jagirdari system and this in turn led to a crisis in the Mughal Empire.

We also come across the term Zamindars besides Mansabdars and Jagirdars in the official Mughal records. In the Mughal period, the term was used in a very wide sense. It meant the petty land holders in the villages and descendants of old ruling families and the Rajputs and other auton­omous chiefs who exercised administrative authority in their areas. They also maintained armed forces and forts depending on their status.

The Zamindars were the local elite or rural aristocracy who exercised authority in their areas. The Mansabdari and the Jagirdari were the two main institutions created by Akbar to consolidate and expand his empire which embraced both civil and military sectors of adminis­tration. Thus the Mansabdars, Jagirdars and Zamindars were a part of the Mughal nobility which acted as a prop of the Mughal administrative structure created by Akbar and nurtured by his successors.

It is of great interest to note as observed by J.F. Richards, “the structure created by Akbar and his adminis­tration survived with surprisingly little change until the early years of the 18th century. Imposed and backed by the overwhelming Mughal power, this structure included beneath the tough defense of rural life and reshaped the economy, culture and society of Mughal India”.