The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c3.3

c3.3

The word *manṣab* is literally (*Dastūr-ul-Inshā*, p. 233) “the place where anything is put or erected” (*naṣb kardan*, to place, fix, appoint); and then, as a secondary meaning, the state or condition of holding a place, dignity, or office. It seems to have been in use in Central Asia before the Moghuls descended into Hindūstān; and Ross translates it by the vaguer term “privileges”. — *Tārīkh-i-Rashīdī*, 103. This word *manṣab* I represent by the word rank, as its object was to settle precedence and fix gradation of pay; it did not necessarily imply the exercise of any particular office, and meant nothing beyond the fact that the holder was in the employment of the State, and bound in return to yield certain services when called upon.