History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37.s7: §7. The Chief Officers of State.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c37.s7
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§7. The Chief Officers of State.
v3.c37.s7.1
We now turn to the ministers who composed Aurangzib's Court. At the head of the official hierarchy* stood the *High Diwan* or Chancellor of the Exchequer, the *First Bakhshi* or Pay-master General, and the *Khan-i-saman* or Lord High Steward and Chamberlain. In the Church the highest dignitaries were the *Qazi-ul-quzat* or Supreme Judge of Canon Law, the *Muhtasib* or Censor of Public Morals, and the *Sadr-us-sadur* or Chief Justice of Civil Law. The artillery was under a special chief called the *Mir-i-Atish* or Lord Fireworker. As in the Mughal Government every official,—civil, military and ecclesiastical,—was enrolled in the Army List and held a *mansab* which in theory gave him a particular rank among the army officers, there was no Civil Treasury department, but all classes of public officers received their pay and bounty through the Bakhshi. In the reign of Aurangzib the number of Bakhshis was three, with a fourth for the *Ahadis* or gentlemen troopers. The *Khan-i-saman* in those days was an officer of the first rank, who controlled the imperial household and stores, and enjoyed very great power and prestige, though the term has been degraded in modern times to mean waiters at the tables of Anglo-Indian houses.
v3.c37.s7.2
∗ The subject has been studied in full detail in my *Mughal Administration*.