A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c20.s1.36

c20.s1.36

He found no difficulty in gratifying his taste. Liberal pay and abundant honour drew crowds of artists, both foreigners and Indians, Muslims, and Hindus, to his magnificent court, where the more distinguished were enrolled as *mansabdārs*, or members of the official nobility, and assigned ample salaries. His system of government making no distinction between civil and military employ, or rather giving military titles to all official rank, the successful artists ranked as army officers of good standing, while their assistants and allies, gilders, binders, and the like, were enrolled either as members of the imperial bodyguard (*ahadī*), or as private soldiers, with pay ranging from fifteen to thirty rupees a month, sufficient for comfortable subsistence. The industry of all grades was stimulated by weekly inspections, at which His Majesty generously rewarded merit.