Mughal Administration c7.s7.1

c7.s7.1

Buyutāt is the double plural of the Arabic word bait, meaning ‘house’. In Mughal India Diwān-i-buyutāt, popularly always shortened into Buyutāt, was the title of an officer who registered the property of deceased persons, in order to secure the payment of the dues of the State as well as to safeguard the property for the heirs of the deceased. In addition, he was in some respects an understudy of the Khan-i-sāmān, as the following list of his duties [Z. 21b; D. 84a] will show:—