Mughal Administration c6.s4.4

c6.s4.4

*i.e.*, writer. But the Abbasides who borrowed much of the Persian administrative system, were the first to style him *wazir*. Gradually the wazir added to his original function of letters that of the head of the Treasury and even the right to decide petitions. Under the Ottoman Turks the number of wazirs varied, sometimes reaching seven. "As a rule, *wazir* in later times was simply a title of the high officials." [*Enc. Isl.* iv. 1135.] This was also the case in the Deccani Sultanates, where any high official (like Shahji Bhonsle or the Abyssinian Yaqut Khan of Janjira) was called a wazir. Not so in North India.