Xavierncr at 13:55, 6 February 2026

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{{Use Indian English|date=November 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox executive government
| government_name = 
| nativename = 
| border =
| image = Alam of the Mughal Empire.svg
| image_size =
| alt =
| image2 = Imperial Seal of the Mughal Empire.svg
| image_size2 =
| alt2 =
| caption = '''Flag and Seal of the Mughal Empire'''
| date_established = {{Start date|1526|04|21|df=yes}}
| date_dissolved = {{End date|1857|09|21|df=yes}}
| state = [[Mughal Empire]]
| country = 
| polity = 
| leader_title = [[Mughal emperors|Mughal emperor]]
| appointed = 
| main_organ =
| ministries = [[Vakil of the Mughal Empire|Vakil]] / [[List of Mughal grand viziers|Grand vizier]] [[Ministry of finance]] [[Ministry of defence|Ministry of the military]] [[Ministry of justice|Ministry of law/religious patronage]] [[Royal household|Ministry of the imperial household and public works]]
| budget = 
| address = [[Agra]] [[Delhi]] [[Lahore]] [[Fatehpur Sikri]]
}}
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]].<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=Robinson |first=Francis |title=Mughal Empire |date=2009 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001/acref-9780195305135-e-0549 |encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-530513-5 |access-date=2022-03-28|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Burton-Page |first1=J. |title=Mug̲h̲als |date=2012-04-24 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/*-COM_0778 |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_com_0778 |access-date=2022-03-31 |last2=Islam |first2=Riazul |last3=Athar Ali |first3=M. |last4=Moosvi |first4=Shireen |last5=Moreland |first5=W. H. |last6=Bosworth |first6=C. E. |last7=Schimmel |first7=Annemarie |last8=Koch |first8=Ebba |last9=Hall |first9=Margaret|url-access=subscription }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":3">{{Citation |last=Conermann |first=Stephan |title=Mughal Empire |date=2015-08-04 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-early-modern-history-online/*-COM_024206 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/2352-0272_emho_com_024206 |access-date=2022-03-28|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Administrative division ==

The territory of the empire was divided into provincial level administrative units known as ''[[Subah]]s'' (provinces), each was controlled by official governor called ''[[subahdar]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author1=y George Clifford Whitworth |title=An Anglo-indian Dictionary: A Glossary Of Indian Terms Used In English, And Of Such English Or Other Non-indian Terms As Have Obtained Special Meanings In India |year=2016 |publisher=Palala Press |isbn=978-1354764114 |page=301 }}</ref> ''Subahs'' were subdivided into administrative units known as ''[[Sarkar (administrative division)|Sarkars]],'' which further divided into smaller administrative units known as ''[[Pargana]]''. The government at the ''Pargana'' level consisted of a Muslim judge (Qadi) and a local tax collector official.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" /> Each Pargana has contained more smaller administrative units which called ''Tarafs'', which in their turn consisted of several villages plus some uninhabited mountain and forest land.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Making Of British India - 1756-1858 |year=2006 |publisher=Read Books |page=289 |author1=Ramsay Muir |author-link=Ramsay Muir |id={{ASIN|1406723789|country=in}} }}</ref>

Mughal administrative divisions were not static, as these territories were often changed and reconstituted to suit the evolving physical territories, and to facilitate the better administration of the land cultivation. For example, a ''sarkar'' could change its status into a ''subah'', and ''Parganas'' often transferred into another ''Sarkars''. However, hierarchical authority of each division could fall under multiple overlapping jurisdictions. Administrative divisions were also vague in their geographical mapping, as the Mughal state did not have enough resources or authority for detailed survey of land; hence the geographical limits obstructed the empire to formalise the mappings of their territories. The empire instead relying on recorded statistic details about each division to assess the territory's revenue, based on more simple form of land surveys.<ref>{{cite book |last=Michael |first=Bernardo A. |title=Statemaking and Territory in South Asia |year=2012 |pages=69, 75, 77–78 |publisher=Anthem Press |doi=10.7135/upo9780857285324.005 |isbn=978-0-85728-532-4}}</ref>

The structure of the central government of the empire resembles those Subah provincial units government; To facilitate to government control, each ''subah'' had its own ''[[Bakhshi (Mughal Empire)|bakhshi]]'', ''sadr as-sudr'', and finance minister that reported directly to the central government rather than the ''subahdar''.{{citation needed|date=July 2024}} The empire also established "Dastur-ul-Amal", an office responsible for the administration of land revenue. Each cultivator of the land which assigned was known as "Patta", and "Qabuliyat", a status of agreement regarding the said land's revenue.<ref>{{cite book |author1=I.A. Khan |title=Medieval History (Emergence of Islam to downfall of mughal empire) |year=2022 |publisher=Blue Rose Publishers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bLB4EAAAQBAJ |access-date=26 July 2024 |language=En}}</ref>

== 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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Sinopoli |first=Carla M.|date=1994|title=Monumentality and Mobility in Mughal Capitals|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42928323|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=33|issue=2|pages=294–295|jstor=42928323|issn=0066-8435}}</ref> The court often maintained and used several cities at a time, but the Mughals found that moving the entirity of the growing imperial bureaucracy and court was increasingly difficult. Sometimes moves were due to necessary political and military demands, or to ideological reasons; such as Akbar's establishment of new capital in [[Fatehpur Sikri]]; Another reason was because the marginal cost of establishing a new imperial capital.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sinopoli |first=Carla M.|date=1994|title=Monumentality and Mobility in Mughal Capitals|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42928323|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=33|issue=2|pages=304–305|jstor=42928323|issn=0066-8435}}</ref> Certain cities also served as temporary provincial capitals, as when Aurangzeb briefly shifted his central government to [[Aurangabad]] in the [[Deccan]].<ref name=":1" />

The imperial camp are used for military expeditions and royal entourage which 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sinopoli |first=Carla M.|date=1994|title=Monumentality and Mobility in Mughal Capitals|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42928323|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=33|issue=2|pages=296 & 298|jstor=42928323|issn=0066-8435}}</ref>

After Aurangzeb, the Mughal capital definitively became the walled city of [[Shahjahanabad]] (modern day Old Delhi).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Edmund.|first=Bosworth, Clifford|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/231801473|title=Historic cities of the Islamic world|date=2008|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-15388-2|pages=127|oclc=231801473}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Catherine B. Asher |title=Architecture of Mughal India, Volume 4 |year=1992 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521267285 |page=292 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ctLNvx68hIC |access-date=27 July 2024 |language=En |chapter=7}}</ref>

== Law ==
[[File:Police Chuprasi, Delhi.png|Police in Delhi under Bahadur Shah II, 1842|thumb]]
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.<ref name=":2">{{Citation|last=Chatterjee|first=Nandini|title=Courts of law, Mughal|date=2019-12-01|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/*-COM_25171|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE|publisher=Brill|language=en|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_com_25171|access-date=2021-12-13|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

=== 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-Hidayah|al-Hidaya]]'' (the best guidance) and the ''Fatawa al-Tatarkhaniyya'' (religious decisions of the Emire Tatarkhan). During the Mughal Empire's peak, the ''[[Fatawa 'Alamgiri|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.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Khalfaoui|first=Mouez|title=Mughal Empire and Law|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t349/e0066|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213062301/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/print/opr/t349/e0066|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2021|website=Oxford Islamic Studies Online}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" />

=== 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).<ref name=":2" /> ''Qadis'' were usually appointed by the emperor or the ''sadr-us-sudr'' (chief of charities).<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Citation |last=Conermann |first=Stephan |title=Mughal Empire |date=2015-08-04 |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-early-modern-history-online/*-COM_024206 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/2352-0272_emho_com_024206 |access-date=2022-03-25|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The jurisdiction of the ''qadi'' was availed by Muslims and non-Muslims alike.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Chatterjee|first=Nandini|title=Reflections on Religious Difference and Permissive Inclusion in Mughal Law|date=2014|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jlr.2014.20|journal=Journal of Law and Religion|volume=29|issue=3|pages=396–415|doi=10.1017/jlr.2014.20|hdl=10871/15975|s2cid=143513602|issn=0748-0814|hdl-access=free|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" /> Jahangir was known to have installed a "chain of justice" in the [[Agra Fort|Agra fort]] that any aggrieved subject could shake to get the attention of the emperor and bypass the inefficacy of officials.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Eaton|first=Richard M.|url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1243310832|title=India in the Persianate Age : 1000-1765|publisher=University of California Press|year=2019|isbn=978-0-520-97423-4|pages=272|oclc=1243310832}}</ref>

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.<ref name=":2" />

== Ethnic composition ==
In 1595, among the Mughal nobles 61% were ethnic [[Persians|Iranians]] or [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] who had migrated from [[Iran]] and [[Central Asia]].<ref>{{Harvard citation no brackets|Eaton|1996|p=165}}</ref>

== List of Mughal Emperors ==
{{Main|Mughal emperors}}

== See also ==
* [[Mughal dynasty]]
* [[Mughal emperors]]
* [[Economy of the Mughal Empire]]
* [[Foreign relations of the Mughal Empire]]
* [[Islam in South Asia]]
== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Eaton |first=Richard M. |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Rise_of_Islam_and_the_Bengal_Frontie.html?id=O6QwDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description |title=The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 |date=1996-07-31 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-20507-9 |language=en}}
{{Refend}}
== Further reading ==
* {{Citation |last=Blake |first=Stephen P. |title=The Patrimonial-Bureaucratic Empire of the Mughals |date=November 1979 |journal=Journal of Asian Studies |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=77–94 |doi=10.2307/2053505 |jstor=2053505|s2cid=154527305 }}
* Habib, Irfan. ''Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps'' (1982).

{{Mughal Empire}}

[[Category:Government of the Mughal Empire|*]]

Government of the Mughal Empire - Revision history

Xavierncr at 13:55, 6 February 2026