Mansabdari System is a grading system used by Mughal rulers to fix the rank and salaries of mansabdars, basically the royal officers.
Mansabdars are nobles who acted as military commanders,high civil military officers, provincial governors.
Rank of the mansabdars are determined by the cavalrymen and zat
Terms
Mashrut- Conditional rank- increase of sawar rank for a short period
Tajwiz- petition presented by a noblemen to emperor, applicant can be recruited as mansabdar
Mansabdars represent civil and military posts .
Recruitment
Tajwiz to the emperor
Higher mansabs given to the princes and rajputs
Mansab denote rank (position) of Mughal military officer
Higher the mansab, higher the salary, status and position of the officer
Zat- fixed the rank in the army, salary is based on zat.
Sawar - cavalry men to maintain and register horses
mansabdar rank is decided by zat
A mansabdar with 5000 zat and 3000 sawar is higher than 3000 zat and 5000 sawar.
Military Responsibilities
Maintain a specified number of cavalry men horses , to review and register them
Amir- rank< 1000
Great Amir(Amir - al- Kabir)>1000
Amir-of Amir's (Amir-al-Umara) >5000
Salary in cash/Land
According to rank-
If cash is given it is called - Naqdi
Land(Jagir) -liable to transfer- not hereditary- jagirdars collect revenue or income from the piece of land but the land is not given
Mansabdars are not supposed to accumulate wealth and salaries
After death, all his jagirs and wealth is confiscated
Mansabdars post is not hereditary
In Akbar reign, mansabdars system is introduced on the basis of civil and military administration
All mansabdars did not reside in their own jagirs but used servants to collect revenue while they reside in another part of the empire
But in Delhi Sultanates- Khalji and Tughlaq monarchs their commanders and governors collect revenue from land (Iqta) - those who collect them (Iqtadars) / (muqti)
In Akbar Reign, 1803 Mansabdars of which 29 are with a rank of 5000 Zat.
By the end of Aurangzeb reign, 14,449 mansabdars of which 79 are with a rank of 5000 Zat.
All the jagirdars are promoted, so there is shortage of jagirdars, less revenue collection from land , which is not enough to pay to the salaries assigned to the mansabdars .
This led to Agrarian and Jagirdar Crisis and collapse in tax collection and the fall of the Mansabdari System.