ORGANIZATION OF GOVERNMENT UNDER AKBAR RULE
The Mughal Empire political system was extremely well organized. When the Mughal Empire came into power, each region was run independently and kept separate from the others. Akbar, the great ruler, established a centralized government. He continued pargana and the sarkar as before. The chief officers of the sarkar were the faujdar and the amalguzar, the former being in charge in law and order, and the latter responsible for the assessment and collection of the land revenue. The territories of the empire were divided into jagir, khalisa and inam. Income from the khalisa villages went directly to the royal exchequer. The inam lands were those which were allotted to learned and religious men. Jagirs were allotted to nobles and members of the loyal family including the queens. The amalguzar was required to exercise a general supervision over all types of holdings so that the imperial rules and regulations for the assessment and collection of land revenue were followed uniformly. Only autonomous rajas were left free to continue their traditional land revenue system in their territories. Even there, Akbar encouraged them to follow the imperial system.
Akbar paid great attention to the organization of the central and provincial governments. His system of central governments was based on the structure of government which had involved under the Delhi Sultanate, but the functions of the various departments were carefully reorganized, and meticulous rules and regulations were laid down for the conduct of the affairs. Thus, he gave a new shape to the system and breathed new life into it.
The Central Asian and Timurid tradition was having an all powerful wazir under whom various heads of departments functioned. He was the principal link between the ruler and the administration. In course of time, a separate department, the military department, has come into being. The judiciary has always been separate. Thus, in practice, the concept of an all powerful wazir has been given up. However, in his capacity as wakil, Bairam Khan had exercised the powers of an all powerful wazir.
Akbar reorganized the central machinery of administration on the basis of the division of power between various departments, and of checks and balances. While the post of wakil was not abolished, it was stripped of all power and became largely decorative. The post was given to important nobles from time to time, but they played little part in administration. The head of the revenue department continued to be the wazir. Under Akbar, generally the wazir did not hold a high mansab. Many nobles held mansabs which are higher than this. Thus, he was no longer the principal advisor to the ruler, but no one was an expert in revenue affairs. To emphasize this point, Akbar generally used the title of diwan or diwan-i-ala in preference to the word wazir. Sometimes, several persons were asked to discharge the duties of diwan jointly. The diwan was responsible for all income and expenditure, and held control over khalisa, jagir and inam lands.
The head of the military department was called the mir bakhshi. It was the mir bakhshi and not the diwan who was considered the head of the nobility. Therefore, only the leading grandees were appointed to this point. Recommendations for the appointment to mansabs or for promotions etc., were made to the emperor through the mir bakhshi. Once the emperor has accepted a recommendation, it was sent to the diwan for confirmation and for assigning a jagir to the appointee. The same procedure was followed in case of promotions.
The mir bakhshi was also the head of the intelligence and information agencies of the empire. Intelligence officers (barids) and news reporters (waqia-navis) were posted to all parts of the empire. Their reports were presented to the emperor at the court through the mir-bakhshi.
It will thus be seen that the diwan and the mir bakhshi were almost on par, and supported and checked each other.
The third important officer was the mir saman. He was in charge of the imperial household, including the supply of all the provisions and articles for the use of the inmates of the haram or the female apartments. Many of these articles were manufactured under supervision in royal workshops called karkhanas. Only nobles who enjoyed the complete confidence of the emperor were appointed to this office. The maintenance of etiquette at the court, the control of the royal bodyguard, etc., were all under the overall supervision of this officer.
The fourth important department was the judicial department headed by the chief qazi. The post was sometimes combined with that of the chef sadr who was responsible for all charitable and religious endowments. Thus, it was a post which carried considered power and patronage. It fell into bad odour due to the corruption and venality of Akbar’s chief qazi, Abdun Nabi.
After instituting a careful scrutiny of the grants held by various persons, Akbar separated the inam lands from the jagir and khalisa lands, and divided the empire into six circles for purposes of grant of inam lands and their administration. Two features of the inam grants are noteworthy. First, Akbar made it a deliberate part of his policy to grant inam lands to all persons, irrespective of their religious faith and beliefs. Sanads of grants to various Hindu maths made by Akbar are still preserved. Second, Akbar made it a rule that half of the inam land should consist of cultivable wasteland. Thus, the inam holders were encouraged to extend cultivation.
In order to make himself accessible to the people as well as to the ministers, Akbar carefully divided his time. The day started with the emperor’s appearance at the jharoka of the palace. Large number of people assembled daily to have glimpse of the ruler, and to present petitions to him, if necessary. These petitions were attended to immediately, or in the open darbar (diwan-i-am) which followed, and lasted till midday. The emperor then retired to his retirements for meals and rest.
Separate time was allotted to the ministers. For confidential consultations, the ministers were generally called to the chamber which was situated near Akbar’s bathing apartments (ghusal khana). In course of time, this private consultation chamber came to be called ghusal khana.
Akbar divided the empire into twelve subas in 1580. These were Bengal, Bihar, Allahabad, Awadh, Agra, Delhi, Lahore, Multan, Kabul, Ajmer, Malwa and Gujarat. A governor (subedar), a diwan, a bakhshi, a sadr, a qazi, and a waqia-navis were appointed to each of the provinces. Thus, orderly government based on the principle of checks and balances was extended to the provinces.
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