Mansabdari System and The Army

The Mansabdari System was a military and civil administration system introduced by the Mughal emperor Akbar in 1571. It is a core part of the Mughal empire During Akbar’s rule which help him to expand his empire and maintain his hold over the Empire. For this he felt it necessary to organize the nobility as well as his army. These objectives were fulfilled through Mansabdari system. Under this system, every officer was assigned a rank (mansab). The lowest rank was 10, and the highest was 5000 for the nobles. Princes of the blood received higher mansabs. Towards the end of the Akbar’s reign, the highest rank a noble can attain was raised from 5000 to 7000, and the two premier nobles of the empire, Mirza Aziz Koka and Raja Man Singh, were honoured with the rank of 7000 each. This limit was retained basically till the end of Aurangzeb’s reign. The mansab system under Akbar developed gradually. At first there was only one rank (mansab). From the fortieth year (1594-95), the ranks were divided into two- zat and sawar. The word zat means personal. It fixed the personal status of a person, and also the salary due to him. The sawar rank indicated the number of cavalrymen (sawars) a person was required to maintain. A person who was required to maintain as many sawars as his zat rank was placed in the first category of the rank; if he maintained half or more, then in the second category and if he maintained less than half then in the third category. Thus, there were three categories in every rank (mansab).

Great care was taken to ensure that the sawars recruited by the nobles were experienced and well-mounted. For this purpose, a descriptive roll (chehra) of the soldier was maintained, and his horse was branded with the imperial marks. This was called the dagh system. Every noble had to bring his contingent for periodic inspection before persons appointed by the emperor for the purpose. The horses were carefully inspected and only good quality horses of Arabic and Iraqi breed were employed. Ideally, for every ten cavalrymen, the mansabdar had to maintain twenty horses. This was so, because horses had to be rested while on march, and replacements were necessary in time of war. A sawar with only one horse was considered to be only half a sawar. The Mughal cavalry force remained an efficient one as long as the 10-20 rule was adhered to.

Provision was made that the contingents of the nobles should be mixed ones, that is drawn from all group- Mughal, Pathan, Hindustani, and Rajput. Thus, Akbar tried to weaken the forces of tribalism and parochialism. Only the Mughals and Rajputs nobles were allowed to have contingents exclusively of Mughals or Rajputs, but in course of time, mixed contingents became the general rule.

Apart from cavalrymen, bowmen, musketeers (bandukchi), sappers and miners were also recruited in the contingents. The salaries varied, the average salary of the sawars was Rs 20 per month. Iranis and Turanis received a higher salary than Rajputs and Hindustanis (Indian Muslims). An infantryman received about Rs 3 per month. The salary due to the soldiers was added to the salary of the mansabdar, who was paid by assigning to him a jagir. Sometimes, the mansabdars were paid in cash. It is wrong to think that Akbar did not like the jagir system and tried to do away with it, but failed as it too deeply entrenched. A jagir did not confer any hereditary rights on the holder, or disturb any of the existing rights in the area. It only meant that the land revenue due to the state was to be paid to the jagirdar.

The mansabdari system, as it developed under the Mughals, was a parallel distinctive and unique system which did not have any exact parallel outside India. The origins of the mansabdari system can, perhaps, be traced back to Changez Khan who organized his army on a decimal basis, the lowest unit of command being ten, and the highest ten thousand (toman) whose commander called khan. The Mongol system influenced, to some extent, the military system of the Delhi Sultanat, for we hear of commanders of hundred (sadis) and one thousand (hazaras). Under the Surs, they have nobles who were designated commanders of 20,000, or 10,000 or 5,000 sawars. But I do not know the system which was prevalent under Babur and Humayun.

Persons holding ranks below 500 zat were called mansabdars, those from 500 to below 2500 were called amirs, and those holding ranks of 2500 and above were called amir-i-umda or umda-i-azam. However, the word mansabdar is sometimes used for all the three categories. Apart from status, this classification has a significance: an amir or an amir-i-umda could have another amir or mansabdar serve under him, but a mansabdar could not do so.Thus, a person with a rank of 5000 could have under him a mansabdar up to a rank of 500 zat, and one with a rank of 4000 could have a mansabdar up to a rank of 400 zat, and so on.

The categories were not rigid. Persons were generally appointed at a low mansab and gradually promoted, depending upon their merits and the favour of the emperor. A person could also be demoted as a mark of punishment. Thus, there was only one service including both armymen and civilians. People who entered service at the lower rung of the ladder, could hope to rise to the position of an amir or even amir-i-umda. To that extent, careers were thrown open to talent.

In addition of meeting his personal expenses, the mansabdar had to maintain out of his salary a stipulated quota of horses, elephants, beasts of burden (camels and mules) and carts. Thus a mansabdar holding a zat rank of 5000 had to maintain 340 horses, 100 elephants, 400 camels, 100 mules and 160 carts. Later, these were maintained centrally, but the mansabdar had to pay for them out of his salary. The horses were classified into six categories, and the elephants into five according to quality, the number and quality of horses and elephants being carefully prescribed. This as so because horses and elephants of high breed were greatly prized and were considered indispensable for an efficient military machine. Cavalry and elephants, in fact, formed the main basis of the army in those days, though the artillery was rapidly becoming more important. The transport corps was vital for making the army more mobile.

For meeting these expenses, the Mughal mansabdars were paid handsomely. A mansabdar with a rank of 5000 could get a salary of Rs 30,000 per month, a mansabdar of 3000, Rs 17,000 and of 1000, Rs 8,200 per month. Even a humble sadi holding a rank of 100, could get Rs 7000 per year. Oughly, a quarter of these salaries were spent of meeting the cost of the transport corps. Even then the Mughal mansabdars formed the highest paid service in the world.

Akbar kept a large body of cavalrymen as his bodyguards. He kept a big stable of horses. He also maintained a body of gentleman troopers (ahadis).       These were persons of noble lineage who did not have the means of raising a contingent or were persons who had impressed the emperor. They were allowed to keep eight to ten horses, and received a high salary of about Rs 800 a month. They were answerable only to the emperor, and had a separate muster-master. These people could be compared to the knights of medieval Europe.

Akbar was very fond of horses and elephants. He also maintained a strong artillery. Akbar was specially interested in guns. He devised detachable guns which could be carried on an elephant or a camel. There were also heavy siege guns for breaching forts; some of these were so heavy that 100 or 200 oxen and several elephants were needed to pull them. A strong park of light artillery accompanied the emperor whenever he moved out of the capital.

I do not know whether Akbar ever had plans of building a navy. The lack of strong navy remained a key weakness of the Mughal empire. If Akbar had the time, he might have paid attention to it. He did build an efficient flotilla of war boats which can be used in eastern campaigns. Some of the boats were over 30 metres long and displaced over 250 tons.