Mughal Administration

Akbar introduced major changes in administration Akbar’s theory of state

Features Mughals imported certain foreign elements into their administrative system Perso-Arabic system in the Indian setting. Based on the military system: Mansabs Centralized despotism Blend of religion and politics existed Paper administration: growth of official records Aim: police duties and revenue collection System of public corporations Administration of justice largely left to local administration Villages and small towns enjoyed ‘parochial’ self-government rather than local autonomy. They had no political freedom

Personnel Administration All civil servants were enrolled in the army as mansabdars Although no military obligation was always incumbant on the mansabdar Principle of hierarchy and job classification can be seen Recruitment: entirely in king’s hand Transfer: king had the final say Pay: Each grade had a pay out of which one had to also maintain a troop. Jagir system was also prevelant. Despite job classification an officer could be at any time entrusted with a new duty; all offices were inter-changeable Doctrine of escheat: jagir and mansab were not hereditary. The property escheated to the crown on the death of the mansabdar/jagirdar. <later made hereditary>

Personnel Administration Worked on the maxim: ‘career open to talent’ Appointment: rested with the emperor Qualification: no hard and fast rule No rules of promotion

Provincial Administration Provincial admin was a miniature of the central admin Divided the empire into 15 subahs Incharge: subedar Number of Subahs increased later Subedar concentrated in his hands the civil and military powers of the province Subedar’s court was the highest court of appeal in the subah He was transferred every 3-4 years Subedar and Diwan had almost similar status in a subah. This led to conflicts and violation of the principle of unity of command Sadar, ulema, qazi, fauzdar etc Provincial Bakshi was incharge of the military establishment Kotwal was incharge of police in big towns The central govt maintained a regulating chain of communication between itself and the provincial governments.

Local Administration Subah divided into sarkars. Sarkars divided into Paraganas. Paraganas into villages. District governed by a shiqdar or a faujdar Amalguzar: head of revenue administration (aka Krori) Revenue collectors were under orders not to oppress the cultivators while collecting the state demands Other officers Bitikchi: record keeper of land revenue Khazandar: treasury officer Sarkar divided into paraganas (tehsils) Tehsils had a batch of subordinate officers Shiqdar, amil, fotdar and qanungo Each tehsil had about 12 villages Villages were the lowest units of administration Mughals gave legal sanction to the panchayats Patwari and Chaukidar

Law and Order Administration The king and PM primarily responsible for maintaining peace Provincial level: Faujdar. Below him kotwal. Villages neglected

Judicial Administration Emperor was the fountainhead of justice and highest appeal lay to him Sadr-i-Sudur decided important civil cases especially of a religious character Chief Qazi (Qazi-ul-Quzat) was the highest judicial officer Main judicial funcationaries Mufti: expounded the law Qzai: investigated the evidence Miradi: delivered the judgement Miradi acted as a counterpoise to the Qazi’s influence

No definite codes of law existed Quran and Hadis were major sources of law Officers were expected to know Hindu customs while dealing with cases concerning them Qazi’s court had civil and criminal jurisdication Criminal law is uniform irrespective of the religion

Revenue Administration It adhered to the old practices, procedures and traditions of the country Revenue Dept under Wazir/Diwan Diwans also at the provincial level Krori at local level to collect revenue Mughal state was essentially a revenue collecting state. Bitikchi Land records and deeds First time?

Mansabdari System No division between civil and military functions of the state The mansabdari system determined the rank, pay-scale and the position of the imperial officer in the royal court in respect of other government officers

Evaluation of the Mansabdari System Merits A systematic and progressive system to reorganise the army within the fold of despotic monarchy First such system in India Improvement over the system of tribal chieftainship and feudalism Offices were not hereditary Every mansabdar was held personally responsible to the monarch This eliminated all chances of dis-affection and revolts by the military officers

Demerits This system did not give birth to a national army About 2/3rd of the mansabdars were either foreigners or the immediate descendents of the foreign immigrants Non-regimentation of the army Hesitation on the part of the imperial govt to recruit all the soldiers of the mansabdars No uniform rules were prescribed for systematic training of the soldiers The nature and the quality of the war weapons borne by them differed from contingent to contingent

Provincial and Local Centre Subah - Subedar Sarkar - Fauzdar Pargana - Shiqdar Village

Communication and Intelligence Waqaya Nafis Posted newswriters and spies all over the province

Aspects of Secularism Hindus were given high mansabs Hindu customs were followed in cases related to them

Welfare Revenue collectors were under orders not to oppress the cultivators while collecting the state demands Panchayats had some powers for local taxation Responsibility for social development

Centralised Despotism For The state was based on a military system with the mansabdars responsible to the emperor No division between civil and military power gave immense power to the officials Against Some elements of decentralisation Mughals had given a legal sanction to the panchayati raj

Legacy of MA for Indian Admin Provincial administration Akbar was the first to develop an elaborate system of Provincial Administration Provinces had an administrative structure that was miniature of the imperial administration Similar to modern day states? Kotwals The system of Kotwals was inherited by the British in modified form and helped in the development of the modern police system Kotwal was primarily a police chief who combined in his office the functions of a municipal commissioner as well Municipal Commissioner Revenue administration Todar mal’s bandobast Revenue officers continue to this day in some modified form: eg patwari Division of provinces/districts.

Conclusions The monarchy, though benevolent, was backward in its outlook. Elements of democracy were conspicuous by their absence. It contained no element of self-criticism and endogenous reforms Through their administration they installed an element of homogeneity in the governance of the country A useful element introduced by them was of compiling and codifying all the records. Although it was a muslim state, no discrimination was made in the selection of personnel