Question -
Answer -
1. The Mughal provincial administration was like the central administration as mentioned below :
- There were diwan, bakhshi and sadr corresponding the central ministers – Diwan-i ala, mir-bakshi and sadr-us sudur.
- The head of the provincial administration was the governor (subadar) who directly reported to the emperor.
- A suba was divided into sarkars.
- Faujdars were deployed with contingents of heavy cavalry and musketeers in districts.
- At the local level were parganas which were looked after by the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the chaudhuri (in charge of revenue collection) and the qazi.
- There was clerks, accountants, auditors, messengers and other functionaries who were technically qualified officials. They functioned with standardised rules and procedures.
- Persian was the language of the administration but local languages were used for village accounts.
2. The Mughal emperor and his court controlled the entire administrative apparatus down to the village level. However, the relationship between local landed magnates, the zamindars, and the representatives of the Mughal emperor was sometimes marked by conflicts over authority and a share of the resources. Moreover, after the death of Aurangzeb the provincial governors became powerful and this led to the downfall of the Mughal Empire.