Mughal Administration c7.s3: § 3. Individual diwans' modes of transacting business.
Mughal Administration c7.s3
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§ 3. Individual diwans' modes of transacting business.
c7.s3.1
We can get a clear idea of the High Diwan's office-work and method of transacting business from the recorded practice of some of the famous diwans of the middle of the 17th century. (D. 101*a*—102*a*.) Sadullah Khan (the most famous wazir of Shah Jahan) used to proceed in the following way:
c7.s3.2
First he read the letters received and replied to them. Then he selected the applications of the *tankhā* department which were fit to be accepted, and submitted them to the Emperor with reasons for their acceptance, after signing his name at the bottom. Next, the papers of the department of rent-free land grant (*āima*) were signed. Thereafter the abstract memos (*yād-dāsht*) of the amin's office were signed by him. Finally he gave a hearing to the plaintiffs. Before leaving office he used to listen to the agents (of the princes, governors and other nobles) who pressed their requests.
c7.s3.3
The distribution-list of the chauki (i.e., mounting guard round the palace on different nights by different nobles), was signed by him in the morning before all other work.
c7.s3.4
He used to draft the royal letters in private, but urgent ones were composed by him in his office room.
c7.s3.5
Jafar Khan’s office-procedure was the following:—First he drafted the farmans and urgent letters. Then he read the papers of the tankhā office, applications (arzi) and orders (parwānahs.) Next he immediately took into consideration any paper of the Khālsa department, or any naqdi or abstract-memo, etc., that any one submitted to him, disposed of it, and then applied himself to other business.
c7.s3.6
Between the death of Sadullah Khan (7th April, 1656, O.S.), and the installation of Mir Jumla as his successor (7th July, 1656), and also during 1657—1663 Rajah Raghunath acted as officiating diwān. He used to conduct the work of the Exchequer thus:—
c7.s3.7
He reported to the Emperor the purport of the petitions received, in the same manner as the High Diwan, and then placed the papers before His Majesty. After drafting the royal letters (farmāns) he submitted them to the Emperor, after whose approval they were written out fair. On the attested copies (tasdiqāt) of the mandates (risālah) of the diwan,—according to which the abstract memos were drawn up,—he used to write, ‘Incorporate with the report of events (wāqia.)’ On the abstract-memos of the *wāqia* he wrote ‘Bring to His Majesty’s ears a second time (*arz-i-mukarrar*, for confirmation) and compare with the original *wāqia*.’*
c7.s3.8
On the abstracts of *wāqia*,—according to which the *farmāns* were written,—he wrote ‘Write an imperial farman [on the subject.]’ He put his signature on the *siāha* of jagirs and the *daul* (estimate) of cash *tankhā*, on the settlements of accounts (*muhāsibat*), on the *parwanahs* of all
c7.s3.9
∗ The procedure will become clear from the full description of it given in the *Ain* (i. 258-259) :—His Majesty has appointed fourteen clerks [*wāqia-navis.*] Their duty is to write down the orders and doings of His Majesty and whatever the heads of the departments report...appointments to mansabs, salaries, jagirs, grants of cash or land [in charity], the issue of orders,...battles, deaths,...the reports of events. After the diary has been corrected by one of His Majesty’s servants, it is laid before the Emperor, and approved by him. The clerk then makes a copy of each report...and hands it over to those who require it as a voucher, when it is also signed by......that person who laid it before His Majesty. The report in this state is called *yād-dāsht* or memorandum.
c7.s3.10
Besides, there are several copyists who...receive the *yād-dāsht* when completed, keep it with themselves, and make a proper abridgment of it, called *taliqa*, which is signed and sealed by the *wāqia-navis*, the *risālahdār*, the *mir-i-arz*, and the *dārogha*. They return this *taliqa* [to the man] instead of the *yād-dāsht*. The *tāliqa* is then signed and sealed by the ministers of State.
c7.s3.11
*Tasdiq*—verifying, attestation; a countermark attached to documents passing through the hands of Government officers or clerks, especially petitions for assignment of revenue. (Wilson, 513.)
c7.s3.12
offices, on the attested copies of the *āima* of the Crownland office, on the letters (*arzi*) from the treasuries, on the permits (*dastaks*) for *tankhā* in cash : and also affixed his seal to the last-mentioned papers. He signed the papers of distribution of *jagīr* (*taqsīm*.)
c7.s3.13
His seal was impressed on the rooms of the Public Treasury and the bags of money [in them], on the abstracts of the reports (*wāqia*), on the acknowledgments (*qabz*) of the monthly salary of the *ahadis barq-āndāzes* and menial servants, on the sheets of the reports from the provinces which the news-letter-reader at the imperial Court after reading them to His Majesty used to send to the imperial Record Office, on the slips (*nuskha*)* of the provinces sent by the [provincial] *diwan* or other officers.
c7.s3.14
On *farmāns* he wrote ‘Enter in the book’ (*sibt numāid.*) (*Sibti farmāns* are described in *Ain.* i. 260.)