Mughal Administration

The government of the Mughal Empire was a highly centralised bureaucracy, most of which was instituted during the rule of the third Mughal emperor, Akbar. The central government was headed by the Mughal emperor; immediately beneath him were four ministries. The finance/revenue ministry was responsible for controlling revenues from the empire's territories, calculating tax revenues, and using this information to distribute assignments. The ministry of the military (army/intelligence) was headed by an official titled ''mir bakhshi'', who was in charge of military organisation, messenger service, and the ''mansabdari'' system. The ministry in charge of law/religious patronage was the responsibility of the ''sadr as-sudr,'' who appointed judges and managed charities and stipends. Another ministry was dedicated to the imperial household and public works.

Provinces

The empire was divided into a number of ''subahs'' (provinces), each of which was headed by a provincial governor called a ''subahdar.'' The structure of the central government was mirrored at the provincial level; each ''subah'' had its own ''bakhshi'', ''sadr as-sudr'', and finance minister that reported directly to the central government rather than the ''subahdar''.

''Subahs'' were subdivided into administrative units known as '' sarkars,'' which were further divided into groups of villages known as ''parganas''. The government at the ''pargana'' level consisted of a Muslim judge and a local tax collector.

Capitals

The Mughals had multiple imperial capitals, established over the course of their rule. These were the cities of Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and Fatehpur Sikri. Power often shifted back and forth between these capitals. Sometimes this was necessitated by political and military demands, but shifts also occurred for ideological reasons (for example, Akbar's establishment of Fatehpur Sikri), or even simply because the cost of establishing a new capital was marginal. Situations where there were two simultaneous capitals happened multiple times in Mughal history. Certain cities also served as short-term, provincial capitals, as was the case with Aurangzeb's shift to Aurangabad in the Deccan.

The imperial camp, used for military expeditions and royal tours, also served as a kind of mobile, "de-facto" administrative capital. From the time of Akbar, Mughal camps were huge in scale, accompanied by numerous personages associated with the royal court, as well as soldiers and labourers. All administration and governance was carried out within them. The Mughal Emperors spent a significant portion of their ruling period within these camps.

After Aurangzeb, the Mughal capital definitively became the walled city of Shahjahanabad (today Old Delhi).

Law

The Mughal Empire's legal system was context-specific and evolved over the course of the empire's rule. Being a Muslim state, the empire employed ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence) and therefore the fundamental institutions of Islamic law such as those of the ''qadi'' (judge), ''mufti'' (jurisconsult), and ''muhtasib'' (censor and market supervisor) were well-established in the Mughal Empire. However, the dispensation of justice also depended on other factors, such as administrative rules, local customs, and political convenience. This was due to Persianate influences on Mughal ideology, and the fact that the Mughal Empire governed a non-Muslim majority.

Legal ideology

The Mughal Empire followed the Sunni Hanafi system of jurisprudence. In its early years, the empire relied on Hanafi legal references inherited from its predecessor, the Delhi Sultanate. These included the '' al-Hidaya'' (the best guidance) and the ''Fatawa al-Tatarkhaniyya'' (religious decisions of the Emire Tatarkhan). During the Mughal Empire's peak, the '' Al-Fatawa al-'Alamgiriyya'' was commissioned by Emperor Aurangzeb. This compendium of Hanafi law sought to serve as a central reference for the Mughal state that dealt with the specifics of the South Asian context.

The Mughal Empire also drew on Persianate notions of kingship. Particularly, this meant that the Mughal emperor was considered the supreme authority on legal affairs.

Courts of law

Various kinds of courts existed in the Mughal empire. One such court was that of the ''qadi''. The Mughal ''qadi'' was responsible for dispensing justice; this included settling disputes, judging people for crimes, and dealing with inheritances and orphans. The ''qadi'' also had additional importance with regards to documents, as the seal of the ''qadi'' was required to validate deeds and tax records. ''Qadis'' did not constitute a single position, but made up a hierarchy. For example, the most basic kind was the ''pargana'' (district) ''qadi''. More prestigious positions were those of the ''qadi al-quddat'' (judge of judges) who accompanied the mobile imperial camp, and the ''qadi-yi lashkar'' (judge of the army). ''Qadis'' were usually appointed by the emperor or the ''sadr-us-sudr'' (chief of charities). The jurisdiction of the ''qadi'' was availed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

The '' jagirdar'' (local tax collector) was another kind of official approached, especially for high-stakes cases. Subjects of the Mughal Empire also took their grievances to the courts of superior officials who held more authority and punitive power than the local ''qadi''. Such officials included the ''kotwal'' (local police), the ''faujdar'' (an officer controlling multiple districts and troops of soldiers), and the most powerful, the ''subahdar'' (provincial governor). In some cases, the emperor themself dispensed justice directly. Jahangir was known to have installed a "chain of justice" in the Agra fort that any aggrieved subject could shake to get the attention of the emperor and bypass the inefficacy of officials.

Self-regulating tribunals operating at the community or village level were common, but sparse documentation of them exists. For example, it is unclear how ''panchayats'' (village councils) operated in the Mughal era.

List of Mughal Emperors

See also

* Mughal dynasty
* Mughal emperors
* Economy of the Mughal Empire
* Foreign relations of the Mughal Empire
* Islam in South Asia

Further reading

*
* Habib, Irfan. ''Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps'' (1982).

References

{{Mughal Empire

Mughal Empire
*
History of India