The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c15.s1.10

c15.s1.10

Because of the insecure agrarian base, conquest remained a necessary complement to the management of the areas already under control, and as we saw, the central organization and ideology were in principle geared to that purpose. However, conquest—as distinct from mere raiding—not only meant a fairly heavy outlay in campaign costs, but also, and more important, the winning over of the local men who were in actual control of the agrarian resources in the areas to be conquered. This in turn meant that these new “subjects” had to be rewarded, preferably by integrating them into the mansabdār corps and giving them the corresponding salaries in cash or taxable land. Thus, for instance, the conquests in the Deccan resulted in the influx of a great number of Deccani notables into the higher mansabdār ranks.¹⁷