Question

Who were Mansabdars ?

Answer 1

'Mansab' literally means rank. It was a system meant for the successive numeral ranking of the Mughal nobility in terms of their salary and the contingents of cavalry(sawar) they maintained. In India,it was innovated by Emperor Akbar(1556–1605).

Earlier,the Mongols also had a somewhat akin system wherein they maintained commanders of 100,1000 or( notionally) 10,000soldiers or more in decimal units in multiples of 100.

But the mansabdari system in India was much more evolved and sophisticated. It was thw ranking of nobles in the Mughal court.Around 1595, Akbar innovated another mechanism,that of zat and sawar. They were an inveterate part of the mansabdari system. Different views have been expressed regarding it.”Zat” denoted the status or (soldiers?) of the noble and ‘sawar’meant the number of cavalrymen a noble had to maintain at his disposal. Accordingly,the salary of the noble was computed.For eg, a noble of 5000zat/ 5000 sawar would maintain 5000 cavalry and his zat(rank or soldiers?) is 5000 so his salary will be decided commensurately.

The nobles had to stand accordingly in the court and there were different lines for different ranks / mansabs of nobles according to court etiquettes. The highest mansabs were reserved for the princes of royal blood.

In Akbar's time,5000 mansab(5000zat/5000 sawar)was the highest mansab. For instance,Raja Man Singh of Amber ( military coomander and wife's brother)had 5000 mansab in his court.

Subsequently, in Shah Jahan's time(1628–58) , mansabs of 40,000 and beyond were reserved for the princes.For instance,Dara Shikoh,the emperor's eldest son held the mansab of 44,000,Shuja held 43,000,Aurangzeb had 42,000 and Muradbaksh,the youngest held 41000 mansab rank . While the highest nobles had 6–7000 mansabs in Shah Jahan’s court.

The same was true later for Aurangzeb (1658–1707).

While at the time of the later Mughals (1707 onwards) ,in the early part of the epoch,the nobles still held the same high ranks ,for instance, the founders of the independent states of Awadh, Bengal and Hyderabad held 6000 ,7000 and 7000 ranks of mansabs respectively.

Answer 2

The term mansabdar refers to an individual who holds a mansab meaning of position or rank .  Those who join the Mughal service were called as mansabdars . They received their salaries as revenue assignments called jagirs .