Mughal istration 4q3865

Mughal istration

• Akbar introduced major changes in istration • Akbar’s theory of state

Features • Mughals imported certain foreign elements into their istrative system – Perso-Arabic system in the Indian setting.

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Based on the military system: Mansabs Centralized despotism Blend of religion and politics existed Paper istration: growth of official records Aim: police duties and revenue collection System of public corporations istration of justice largely left to local istration Villages and small towns enjoyed ‘parochial’ self-government rather than local autonomy. They had no political freedom

Personnel istration • All civil servants were enrolled in the army as mansabdars – Although no military obligation was always incumbant on the mansabdar

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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.

Personnel istration • • • •

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

Provincial istration • Provincial was a miniature of the central • 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

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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 istration • Subah divided into sarkars. Sarkars divided into Paraganas. Paraganas into villages. • District governed by a shiqdar or a faujdar • Amalguzar: head of revenue istration (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 istration – Mughals gave legal sanction to the panchayats – Patwari and Chaukidar

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

Judicial istration • 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 istration • 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 • Provincial istration – Akbar was the first to develop an elaborate system of Provincial istration – Provinces had an istrative structure that was miniature of the imperial istration – 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 istration – 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 istration 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