HISTORY ASSIGNMENT

Name : Manya Jain

Roll. No :- 2022/627
Course: B.A.P
Question : Discuss the main features of the Mansabdari system, was
there any change in the Mansabdari system from Akbar to Shah Jahan’s
reign?
Answer : Mansab is an Arabic word meaning "rank" or "position". In the Mughal
Empire, it was a system of ranking officials based on their military skills and
administrative capabilities.

The Mughal rulers employed the Mansabdari system to establish the rank and
remuneration of Mansabdars, who were esteemed nobles serving in diverse
administrative roles within the Mughal Empire. These Mansabdars were appointed
and dismissed at the discretion of the Mughal Emperor. The mansabdari system
was introduced by Akbar in 1571 AD as the administrative framework for the
Mughal Empire. Mansab is an Arabic word that means rank or position. As a
result, Mansabdar refers to a rank holder or an officer. Mansabdari’s objective was
to establish a system for ranking Mughal government officials and determining
their civil and military duties and remuneration.

The system is believed to have originated in Mongolia. It was brought to India by

Babur and was prevalent during the reign of Humayun as well. The credit for
giving mansabdari system an institutional framework goes to Akbar who made it
the basis of Mughal military organization and civil administration. The mansabdars
formed the ruling group in the Mughal Empire. Almost the whole nobility, the
bureaucracy as well as the military hierarchy, held mansabs. In practice there were
33 grades of mansabsas mentioned by Abul Fazl in his book Akbarnama. During
the early reign of Akbar, the lowest grade was ten and the highest was
5,[Link] the end of the reign it was raised to 7,000. Higher mansabs were
given to princes and Rajput rulers who accepted the suzerainty of the emperor.

Raja Man Singh, the first Mansabdar of 7000 zat was not a minister and still
enjoyed a higher rank than Abul Fazl who was a minister in the court of Emperor.
Bhagwan Das, another Rajput mansabdar with 5000 zat,also enjoyed a privileged
position in the Mansabdari system of the empire.

Features of the Mansabdari system :-

1. The king himself appointed the mansabdars. He could enhance the mansab,
lower down it or remove it.
2. A mansabdar could be asked to perform any civil or military service.
3. There were 33 categories of the Mansabdars. The lowest mansabdar
commanded 10 soldiers and the highest 10,000 soldiers. Only the princes of the
royal family and most important Rajput rulers were given a mansab of 10,000.
4. A mansabdar was paid his salary in cash.
5. The salary due to the soldiers was added to the personal salary of the
mansabdar. Sometimes for paying the salaries to the soldier, a jagir was given to
the mansabdar. But the revenue was realised by officers and necessary
adjustments made.
6. Mansabdari system was not hereditary.
7. In addition to meeting his personal expenses, the mansabdar had to maintain
out of his” salary a stipulated quota of horses, elephants, camels and mules and
carts.
8. A mansabdar holing a rank of 5000 had to maintain 340 horses, 100 elephants,
400 camels, 100 mules and 160 carts.
9. Handsome salaries were paid to a Mansabdar. A mansabdar with a rank of
5,000 got a salary of Rs. 30,000 per month; a mansabdar of 3,000 could get Rs.
17,000 and a mansabdar of 10,000 got rupees 8,200.
10. The horses were classified into six categories and the elephants into five.
11. For every ten cavalry men, the Mansabdar had to maintain twenty horses for
horses had to be provided rest while on march and replacements were necessarily
in times of war.
12. A record of the description (‘huliy’) of each horseman under a mansabdar
and of branding (‘dag’) horses to prevent corruption was kept.

Evolution of the Mansabdari system

There is a great deal of debate regarding the evolution of the
Mansabdari System. Scholars like Moreland and Abdul Aziz held that a
single numerical rank existed before Akbar, the number directly
indicating the size of thecavalry contingent that the rank-
holder was expected to maintain. FromAkbar’s period, there is clear
evidence of a dual ranking system and of the numerical gradation system
which was introduced in his 11th regnal year.

Moreland viewed the evolution of the Mansabdari system as a

process that saw cyclical phases of degeneration, disorg
a n i s a t i o n , reorganisation and rejuvenation.
The roots of the Mansabdari system were t r a c e d t o C h e n g e z K h a n
w h o o r g a n i s e d t h e D e c i m a l s y s t e m o f m i l i t a r y organisation also
known as the Tuman [Link] was prevalent in the Mughal period and marked
the first phase of organisation. The second phase, from post Timur to the
early years of Akbar’s reign was the period of degeneration and disorganisation.
There was a system of gradation of officers but it was not n u m e r i c a l
land titles such as baig, amir were given.
T h e n e x t p h a s e o f reorganisation during Akbar’s period saw the
introduction of the system of numerical gradation and the sawar rank.
The fourth period was of degeneration due to the incompetence
of Jahangir. The last phase which covered Shahjahan’s period saw the
introduction of many new reforms like the du-aspa-sih-aspa rank and the
month’s scale reforms.

T h e M a n s a b d a r i s y s t e m i n t h e 1 7 th century following the

death of Akbar witnessed a number of new innovations .

Du-aspa Sih-aspa:-
 The reign of Jahangir witnessed a remarkable change with the introduction of the
“du-aspa sih-aspa” rank. Du aspa means doubling of the rank while
sihaspa means tripling of the rank, but mostly cases of du aspa were seen.
In his10th regnal year, Jahangir gave Mahabat Khan the du-aspa sih-aspa
rank as amark of special distinction, which is the earliest known incident of such a
rank being conferred upon any noble. Although this tradition started during
the reign of Jahangir, it was only under Shahjahan and Aurangzeb that this
rank was awarded on a large-scale. The du-aspa sih-aspa rank was
theoretically apart of the sawar rank and not zat as the salary of the
mansabdar was basedon zat rank. The remaining part of the sawar rank that
was left after du-aspasih-aspa was given was called barawurdi.

Month Scale or Ratios

Shahjahan’s reign saw the introduction of the month-scale or
r a t i o s i n recognition of the fact that the mansabdar was not getting his
salary. The mansabdar was given his salary by the grant of territorial
assignments or jagirs. It was attempted to ensure that the jama or assessment
was as close as possible to the hasil or actual collection.

However, in most cases there was a w i d e d i s c r e p a n c y b e t w e e n t h e

j a m a a n d t h e h a s i l b e c a u s e o f w h i c h t h e mansabdars accrued an
amount that was less than their actual income.

Rule of 1/3rd, ¼ t h 1/5th:-

Lahori suggests that this rule was introduced in Shahjahan’s period in order to cut
down the military obligation of a mansabdar as the mansabdars
couldn’t maintain a full contingent. The Rule of 1/3rd, 1/4th and 1/5th
was based on how capable the official was of personally supervising the
contingents and on his geographical position. If a mansabdar holds a jagir in the
same subah, in which he holds his mansab then he was expected to maintain
1/3 rd of his sawar. If the mansabdar’s jagir was located outside the subah in
which he was posted, he was expected to maintain 1/4th
of the prescribed contingent.
Increase in the Number of Mansabdars:-
There was a sheer increase in the number of mansabdars in the Mughal state
after the death of Akbar. Satish Chandra has tried to explain this by arguing
that the initial years of Jahangir were marked by a lot of insecurity.
He didn’t t r u s t a n u m b e r o f t h e n o b l e s f r o m A k b a r ’ s t i m e a n d t h i s
a l o n g w i t h t h e rebellion by Shahjahan had compelled him to create a
nobility that would be loyal to him and thus he increased the ranks of his
favoured nobles.

Conclusion
The Mansabdari system was not simply a military organisation system
but also an administrative system. However, it was a system which
generated institutional despotism. The working of this system ensured the
subjugation of the nobles to the state. It was not a system dependent on
the ruler but worked independent of him as the institution itself restricted
the political, military and fiscal obligations of the mansabdar.

The rank was a check on his power and he could not expand beyond his
prescribed rank. Therefore it led to the subordination of the mansabdar to the
institution, state and the king.

The Mansabdari system also played an important role in the pract

i c e o f rallying the nobles around the king. Honour arose from contribution
to the state and therefore rank was not based on caste, creed, religion
or race. A composite nobility is created through sulh-i-kul and wahadat-ul-
wajud as a result of systems such as the Mansabdari system, where
force was not the b a s i s o f s u b j u g a t i o n o f
t h e n o b i l i t y b u t i t w a s t h r o u g h i n s t i t u t i o n a l a n d ideological means.
There was also some kind of permanence and stability in this system due to
the institutionalisation of state power. The nobility which now became an
integral part of the Mughal administration was transformed from being semi
autonomous imperial of officials to of officials of the state.