Mughal Administration c11.3

c11.3

Every provincial viceroy’s ambition was to play the part of the Emperor within his own jurisdiction. The worst offenders in this respect were the holders of the four “greater subahdaris”, or the viceroys of the frontier provinces, who were higher in power and rank than their brethren elsewhere, like the ‘Marcher Earls’ of Feudal England. The evil reached its climax under Islam Khan Chishti, the governor of Bengal from 1608 to 1613, an inordinately haughty and self-willed man. Jahangir, therefore, found it necessary to issue a circular order in his 6th year (1611) forbidding certain practices on the part of his viceroys as infringement of the royal prerogative.*