[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [State papers](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin) › [Āʾīn-i Akbarī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari) › [The Ain i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett) › 160.2 # The Institutes of Akbar 160.2 The Áín i Akbari (Blochmann, Jarrett) 160.2 - **Language:** English ### [160.2.715](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2.715) Weigh well these facts, but put no question! These were things of daily occurrence, but notwithstanding all this, His Majesty’s good luck overcame all enemies, so that large numbers of soldiers were not so very necessary, and the Amírs had no longer to suffer from the inconvenient reluctance of their servants.” Hence the repeated musters which Akbar held, both of men, and of animals, carts, &c.; the minuteness of some of the regulations recorded in the Áín; and the heavy fines imposed on neglectful servants. The carefulness with which Akbar entered into details (kaṣrat), in order to understand the whole (waḥdat)—an unusual thing for rulers of former times—is the secret of his success. We have not sufficient data to form an exact estimate of the strength of Akbar’s army. We may, however, quote a statement in the Pádisháhnámah regarding the state of Sháhjahán’s army; vide Pádisháhn. II, p. 715. ### [160.2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2.1) “The paid army of the present reign consists of 200,000 cavalry, according to the rule of branding the fourth part, as has been mentioned above. This is exclusive of the soldiers that are allowed to the Faujdárs, Krorís, and tax-collectors, for the administration of the Parganahs. These 200,000 cavalry are made up as follows— 8000 Mançabdárs 7000 mounted Ahadís and mounted Barqandázes. 185,000 Cavalry, consisting of the contingents (tábínán) of the Princes, the Chief grandees, and the other Mançabdárs. Besides these 200,000 cavalry, there are 40,000 foot, musketeers, artillery, and rocket-bearers. Of these 40,000, 10,000 accompany the emperor, and the remaining 30,000 are in the Çúbahs and the forts.” The ‘Rule of branding the fourth part’ is described among the events of the year 1056, as follows (II, p. 506):— “The following law was made during the present reign (Sháhjahán). If a Mançabdár holds a jágír in the same çúbah, in which he holds his mançab, he has to muster one-third of the force indicated by his rank. Accordingly a Sih Hazárí çát sih hazár suwár (a Commander of 3000, personal rank; contingent, 3000 cavalry) has to muster (bring to the brand) 1000 cavalry. But if he holds an appointment in another çúbah, he has only to muster a fourth part. Accordingly, a Chahárhazárí chahárhazár suwár (a Commander of 4000; contingent, 4000) has only to muster 1000 cavalry. At the time when the Imperial army was ordered to take Balkh and Samarqand \[1055\], His Majesty, on account of the distance of those countries, gave the order that as long as the expedition should last, each Mançabdár should only muster one-fifth. Accordingly a Panjhazárí panjhazár suwár (a commander of 5000; contingent, 5000) mustered only 1000, viz., 300 Sihaspah troopers, 600 Duaspah troopers, 100 yakaspah troopers \[i. e., 1000 men with 2200 horses\], provided the income (háçil) of his jágír was fixed at 12 months; or 250 Sihaspah troopers, 500 duaspah troopers, and 250 yakaspah troopers \[i. e., 1000 men with 2000 horses\], provided the income of his jágír was fixed at 11 months; or 800 duaspah troopers, and 200 yakaspah troopers \[i. e., 1000 men and 1800 horses\], if the income of his jágír was fixed at 10 months; or 600 duaspah troopers and 400 yakaspah, if at 9 months; or 450 duaspah and 550 yakaspah troopers, if at 8 months; or 250 duaspah and 750 yakaspah troopers, if at 7 months; or 100 duaspah and 900 yakaspah troopers, if at 6 months; or 1000 yakaspah, if at 5 months. But if the troopers to a mancab had all been fixed as sihaspah duaspah \[in other words, if the Commander was not a Panj hazárí, panj hazár suwár, but a Panj hazárí panj hazár suwár i duaspah siaspah\] he musters, as his proportion of duaspah and sihaspah troopers, double the number which he would have to muster, if his mançab had been as in the preceding. Accordingly, a Panj hazárí panj hazár tamám duaspah sihaspah (a Commander of 5000; contingent, only duaspah and sihaspah), would muster 600 troopers with three horses, 1200 troopers with two horses, and 200 troopers with one horse each \[i. e., 2000 men with 4400 horses\], provided the income of his jagír be fixed at 12 months, and so on.” From this important passage, it is clear that one-fourth of that number of troopers, which is indicated by the title of a Mançabdár, was the average strength of the contingents at the time of Sháhjahán. Thus if a Commander of 1000 troopers had the title of Hazárí hazár suwár, the strength of his contingent was 1000/4 = 250 men with 650 horses, viz. 75 sihaspah, 150 duaspah, and 25 yakaspah; and if his title was Hazárí hazár suwár i duaspah siaspah, the strength of his contingent was 500 men with 1300 horses, viz. 150 sihaspah, 300 duaspah, and 50 yakaspah, if the income of his jágír was drawn by him for every month of the year. The above passage also indicates that the proportions of sihaspah, and duaspah, and yakaspah troopers was for all mançabs as 300: 600: 100, or as 3: 6: 1. ### [160.2.650](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2.650) As the author of the Pádisháhnámah does not mention the restriction as to the number of months for which the Mançabdárs drew the income, we may assume that the difference in strength of the contingents mentioned after the name of each grandee depended on the value of their jágírs. From an incidental remark (Pádisháhnámah, I. p. 113), we see that the pay of a Commander of sihaspah duaspah troopers was double the pay allowed to a Commander of yakaspahs. This agrees with the fact that the former had double the number of men and horses of the latter. The strength also of Aurangzéb’s army, on a statement by Bernier, was conjectured to have been 200,000 cavalry, vide Elphinstone’s History, Second Edition, p. 546, last line. Akbar’s army must have been smaller. It is impossible to compute the strength of the contingents, which was continually fluctuating, and depended rather on emergencies. We can, however, guess at the strength of Akbar’s standing army. At the end of Ain 30, Abulfazl states that there were alive at the time he wrote the Ain 250 Commanders of 100 (Yúzbáshís) 204 Commanders of 60 260 Commanders of 40 250 Commanders of 20 224 Commanders of 10 As these numbers are very uniform, the regular army could not have been larger than 250 X 100, or 25,000 men (troopers, musketeers, and artillery). The Imperial stables contained 12,000 horses (vide p. 132, l. 6 from below), which were under the immediate charge of Mírzá Abdurrahím Khán Khánán, Akbar’s Commander-in-Chief. Hence there may have been about 12,000 standing cavalry. The rest were matchlock-bearers and artillery. In Ain 6, Abulfazl states that there were 12,000 matchlock-bearers. The number of Ahadís, of which Sháhjahán had 7000, cannot have been very large. Many of them were on staff employ in the various offices, store-houses, Imperial workshops; others were employed as adjutants and carriers of important orders. They were, at Akbar’s time, gentlemen rather than common soldiers, as they had to buy their own horse on joining. Badáoní mentions an Ahadí of the name of Khwájah Ibráhím Husain as one of his friends (II, p. 394). The number of Mançabdárs, which under Sháhjahán amounted to 8000, was also much less. Of the 415 Mançabdárs, whose names are given in Ain 30, about 150 were dead, when Abulfazl wrote it, so that there would be about 250 higher Mançabdárs, to which we have to add 1388 lower Mançabdárs, from the Commanders of 150 downwards; hence altogether about 1600 Mançabdárs. But Akbar’s Mançabdárs, on the whole, had larger contingents, especially more horses, than the Mançabdárs of the following reigns, during which the brevet ranks (zát) were multiplied. In the beginning of Akbar’s reign, Mançabdárs had even to furnish men with four horses (chaháraspah). A Dahbáshí, or Commander of Ten, had to furnish 10 men with 25 horses; but in later times, (vide Aín, 5) the Chaháraspahs were discontinued, and a Dahbíshtí furnished 10 men with 18 horses. As the other ranks had to furnish horses in proportion, one of Akbar’s Hazárís would have had to bring 1800 horses, whilst a Hazárí at the time of Sháhjahán only furnished 650. ### [160.2.p4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2.p4) Of Non-Commissioned officers a Mírdahah is mentioned; vide note 1, p. 116. The pay of a Mírdahah of matchlock-bearers varied from 7½ to 6½ R. per mensem. Common matchlock-bearers received from 6½ to 2½ R. As they were standing (household) troops, Abulfazl has put them into the first Book of this work (Aíns 36 to 40); and generally, the reader will have to bear in mind that the second book, relating to the army, treats chiefly of the contingents of the Manṣabdárs. Badáoní, in the above extract, p. 243, speaks of a Libás i sipáhí, or soldier’s uniform (armour?). The distinctions conferred by the emperor on the Manṣabdárs consisted in certain flags (vide p. 50, l. 6, from below), and the gharyál or gong (vide in the beginning of the Fourth Book, Áín i Gharyál). --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.admin.ain-i-akbari~en-blochmann-jarrett.160.2) · Pramāṇa