The Army of the Indian Moghuls: Its Organization and Administration c6.4

c6.4

*Duties of the Bakhshī-ul-mamālik.* — These duties comprised the recruiting of the army; maintaining a list of *manṣabdārs* with their postings, showing (1) officers at Court, (2) officers in the provinces; keeping a roster of the guard-mounting at the palace; preparing the rules as to grants of pay (*tankhwāh*); keeping up a list of officers paid in cash, and an abstract of the total pay-bills; the superintendence of the mustering for branding and verifying the troopers’ horses and the orders subsidiary thereto; the preparation of the register of absentees, with or without leave, of deaths, and dismissals, of cash advances, of demands due from officers (*muṭālibah*), of sureties produced by officers, and the issue of written orders (*dastak*) to officers sent on duty into the provinces.¹ One special duty belonging to the *Bakhshī* was, in preparation for a great battle, to assign posts to the several commanders in the van, centre, wings, or rearguard. The *Bakhshī* was also expected on the morning of a battle to lay before the emperor a present state or muster roll, giving the exact number of men under each commander in each division of the fighting line.