[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Mughal Administration](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920) › c8 # Mughal Administration c8: Chapter IV. Provincial Administration Mughal Administration c8 - **Language:** English ## Contents - [c8.s1 § 1. Official dislike of village life and indifference to village interests.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s1) — 4 parts - [c8.s2 § 2. The Subahdar and his duties.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2) — 24 parts - [c8.s3 § 3. Duties of the provincial diwan.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3) — 10 parts - [c8.s4 § 4. The faujdar and his functions.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4) — 14 parts - [c8.s5 § 5. The kotwal and his duties.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5) — 14 parts - [c8.s6 § 6. News-reporters.](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6) — 16 parts ### Chapter IV. Provincial Administration ### § 1. Official dislike of village life and indifference to village interests. ### [c8.s1.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s1.1) The administrative agency in the provinces of the Mughal Empire was an exact miniature of that of the Central Government. There were the governor (officially styled the \*nāzim\* and popularly the \*subahdār\*), the \*diwān\*, the \*bakhshi\*, the \*qāzi\*, the \*sadr\*, the \*buyutāt\*, and the censor; but no \*Khān-i-sāmān\*. These provincial bakhshis were really officers attached to the contingents that accompanied the different subahdars rather than officers of the subahs as geographical units. The practical effect, however, was the same. ### [c8.s1.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s1.2) The administration was concentrated in the provincial capital. It was city-government, not in the Greek sense of the term, but rather as a government living and working in cities and mainly concerning itself with the inhabitants of the cities and their immediate neighbourhood. The Mughals--after due allowance has been made for their love of hunting and laying out pleasure gardens and their frequent marches,--were essentially an urban people in India, and so were their courtiers, officials, and generally speaking the upper and middle classes of the Muhammadan population here. The villages were neglected and despised, and village-life was dreaded by them as a punishment. No doubt, the villages were the places from which their food and income came; but that was their only connection with them. Life in a village was as intolerable to them as residence on ‘the Getic and Sarmatian shores’ away from ‘the seat of empire and of the gods’ was to a cultured poet of imperial Rome. This feeling comes out very clearly in a Persian couplet: ### [c8.s1.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s1.3) Zāgh dum su-i-shahar wa sar su-i-deh. Dum-i-ān zāgh āz sar-i-u beh.\* The tail of a crow was turned towards the city and its head towards the village; Surely, the tail here was better than the head! \[‘better’, \*i.e.\*, nobler or happier.\] ### [c8.s1.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s1.4) The provincial Government kept touch with the villages by means of (1) the faujdars posted to the subdivisions, who almost always lived in the district towns, (2) the lower officials of the revenue department, who did the actual collection from the peasantry, (3) the visits of the zamindars to the subahdar’s court, and (4) the tours of the subahdar. The contact, however, was not very intimate, and the villagers, as I have remarked in the first chapter, were left pretty much to their own devices, uninfluenced by and indifferent to the Government at the chief town of the province, so long as they paid the land-tax and did not disturb the peace. ### § 2. The Subahdar and his duties. ### [c8.s2.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.1) The term SUBAHDAR comes from the Arabic word \*sub\* meaning direction or point of the compass. In very early times the provinces into which every large kingdom was necessarily divided, were named in accordance with their bearing towards the capital, —such as the viceroyalty of the north, of the south, of the east, and of the west,—in whichever of these directions there was enough territory to compose a separate province. Similarly, the provincial governors of the Bahmani Empire were styled \*tarf-dārs\*, from the word \*tarf\* meaning direction. ### [c8.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.2) ∗ Hamid-ud-din’s \*Ahkām-i-Alamgiri\*, § 28 of the text as edited and translated by me. ### [c8.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.3) With the country covered by an immense number of small geographical units, each occupied by a different tribe, and the tribes often migrating from place to place, it was at first impossible to give any single historical or tribal name to a province, which was the aggregate of several such tribal settlements and socially unconnected districts. It was more convenient to designate the viceroyalties as the northern, the southern, etc. Hence, the origin of the terms \*subahdār\* and \*tarfdār\*. ### [c8.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.4) The subahdar was officially called the \*nāzim\* or regulator of the province. His essential duties were to maintain order, to help the smooth and successful collection of revenue, and to execute the royal decrees and regulations sent to him. ### [c8.s2.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.5) When a newly-appointed subahdar went to the High Diwan to take his leave before setting out for his province, the Diwan was to deliver the following charge to him :— ### [c8.s2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.6) "Experienced men have written concerning a subahdar's work that he ought to keep all classes of men pleased by his good behaviour, and see that the ### [c8.s2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.7) strong may not oppress the weak. He should keep all oppressors down, etc. ### [c8.s2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.8) "A subahdar's recommendations about the mansabdars under him are naturally valued and given effect to by his sovereign, and therefore the subahdar should take care to recommend only worthy officials for promotion. He should punish rebellious zamindars and all lawless men, and every month send two despatches to Court by dak chauki reporting the occurrences of the province. ### [c8.s2.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.9) "He should never release robbers by taking anything from them, because this practice amounts to 'sowing the seed of oppression', as other rich men, knowing that they can secure impunity by giving bribes, will practise very great tyranny, so that it will, in the end, be very difficult for you to control them." \[Manual, 13-14.\] ### [c8.s2.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.10) A long string of good counsels (40 in number) as to what subahdars should do and what they should avoid doing, is given in Akbar's farmān \[Mirat, i. 163—170, tr. in Bird's History of Gujarat, 389-400\]. ### [c8.s2.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.11) A new viceroy is instructed about his work thus \[Manual, 27-32 ; Cf. Ain. ii. 37-40\]:— ### [c8.s2.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.12) "When you are appointed, you should engage a good diwan,—a trustworthy and experienced man who has already done work in the service of some high grandee,—and a munshi (secretary) with similar ability and experience. You should secure a trustworthy mediator or friend (wasilah) at Court to report promptly to the Emperor and take his orders on any affair of the province on which you may write to His Majesty. To this mediator you will have to give presents, for such is the usage of our times. When people visit the tombs of dead saints, they offer flowers and sweetmeats for gaining their favour. How much more are presents necessary for gaining the favour of living men!! ### [c8.s2.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.13) "Learn from the well-informed men of the province how many of the zamindars require the display of force and the general character of the peasants, and get an estimate as to the number of sehbandi troops \[i.e., irregulars employed to assist in revenue collection, etc., somewhat like the armed police\], necessary for doing the work of control and administration (rabt and zabt.) If you find your retainers (tabinan) and sehbandi insufficient and in other matters also require the Emperor's sanction and help, then make a petition and submit it through your mediator at Court. If the Emperor grants the force that you consider necessary for the efficient management of the subah, well and good. Otherwise, if you think that you can govern the subah at your own expense and recover your cost during your tenure of office \[from your salary and allowances\] after getting the province under control, then do it. If not, decline the post, for what can a single trooper do? (i.e., you are only one man, if your master will not give you an adequate force.) ### [c8.s2.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.14) "When you start from the imperial capital to go to your province after your appointment, enlist one-fourth of the number of tabinan (armed followers) sanctioned for you by Government; they should be good soldiers, men of good families and experienced in war. Half-way to your subah enlist one-fourth more, of the same class as before. Take with yourself able and experienced candidates for \[civil\] offices, telling them that their service would begin from the day of your arrival at the frontier of your province. Keep half of these \[prospective officers\] with yourself, and send the other half of the tabinān already enlisted and present with you, to the province to arrive there before you, telling them to assemble the well-informed local men and learn from them the character of every zamindar and jamādār of the place, and report to you their mutual relations and their conduct towards former subahdars as regards the payment of revenue, and how much a particular zamindar used to pay over and above the revenue. When you are still a quarter of the way from your province, send off expert troopers with your parwānahs calling upon the zamindars to wait on you at an appointed place immediately after your arrival.\* ### [c8.s2.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.15) "When you reach the frontier of your subah, enlist the candidates for office from that date, and treat them well, because their first impressions will determine their future opinion of you as a master. ### [c8.s2.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.16) "Chastise the refractory zamindars and the leaders of lawless men, so that others of the same class may take warning from it and pay revenue \[without trouble.\] ### [c8.s2.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.17) "Then enter the fort.† Dismiss the troops that you find unnecessary after making a survey of the situation. \[Remember that\] it is difficult to pay the arrears of the salaries of subordinates. Tell the diwan to spend according to the income of the province. ### [c8.s2.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.18) ∗ E.g., the practice of the subahdar of Orissa, as described in his letters, in my Studies in Aur. Reign, xiv. § 9-12. ### [c8.s2.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.19) † The fort in the chief town of the province was the ### [c8.s2.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.20) “Encourage the ryots to extend the cultivation and carry on agriculture with all their heart. Do not screw everything out of them. Remember that the ryots are permanent (i.e., the only permanent source of income to the State.) Conciliate the zamindars with presents; it is cheaper to keep them in hand thus than to repress them with troops! ### [c8.s2.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.21) “Do not lay your hands on the villages of the Crownland (\*khālsa mahals\*), as in that case you will provoke a quarrel with the diwan of khalsa, who will complain to the Emperor and you will be called upon to explain your conduct. ### [c8.s2.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.22) “Cherish the Shaikhs and qāzis. As for the \*darvishes\* who do not go to any one’s house \[to beg alms\], inquire how they are faring, and support them with cash and kind. Give alms to \*faqirs\* and \[ordinary\] beggars. See that the strong may not oppress the weak.” ### [c8.s2.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.23) Another of his duties was to collect the tribute due from vassal princes close to his jurisdiction and to arrange for its safe convoy to the imperial Court. (\*Studies in Aur. Reign\*, xiv § 13.) ### [c8.s2.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s2.24) subahdar's official residence and court. He entered it for the first time with much ceremony, on an auspicious day and hour chosen by his astrologers, for which the newly-arrived subahdar had often to wait for weeks in a garden outside the city! ### § 3. Duties of the provincial diwan. ### [c8.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.1) The provincial DIWAN\* was the second officer in the locality and, as I have pointed out in the first chapter, he was the rival of the subahdar. The two had to keep a strict and jealous watch on each other, thus continuing the earliest administrative policy and traditions of the Arabs when they went forth after the Prophet’s death, conquering the world and establishing their new government in the annexed lands. ### [c8.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.2) The provincial diwan was selected by the imperial Diwan and acted directly under his orders and in constant correspondence with him. At the time of giving leave to a new diwan, the High Diwan was to urge him to increase the cultivation and to select honest men only for the post of āmin. He was to report to the High Diwan twice every month the occurrences of the subah with a statement of the cash balance with him. The diwan was specially urged to appoint as collectors (kroris and tahsildārs) practical men who were likely to induce the ryots to pay the Government dues of their own accord, without the necessity of resorting to harshness or chastisement. \[Manual, 13-14.\] ### [c8.s3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.3) The sanad or letter of appointment of a provincial diwan charges him with his duties in the following words:— ### [c8.s3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.4) “Cause the extension of cultivation and habitation in the villages. Watch over the imperial ### [c8.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.5) ∗ The provincial diwan was appointed under a hasb-ul-hukm of the Emperor (written by the wazir) and a sanad bearing the seal of the wazir. \[Mirat, Sup. 173.\] ### [c8.s3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.6) treasury, that nobody may draw any money without due warrant. When due money is paid into the treasury from the chests of the fotahdars and other sources, give receipts (\*qabz-ul-wasul\*) to their agents. See that no official (\*āmil\*) exacts any forbidden cess (\*ābwāb\*.) ### [c8.s3.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.7) "At the end of every agricultural season ascertain from the original rough papers \[\*i.e.\*, first notes\] the extortions and peculations of the \*āmils\*, and recover for the imperial treasury whatever may be due from them on this account. Report bad or dishonest \*āmils\* to Government \[\*i.e.\*, to the High Diwan\] so that better men may be appointed to replace them. ### [c8.s3.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.8) "If any \*āmil\* has let arrears \[of revenue\] accumulate for many years, you should collect the due amount from the villages in question by easy instalments at the rate of 5 per cent every season. ### [c8.s3.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.9) "The \*taqāvi\* loan given last year by Government should be realized in the first season of the present year. If they fail to pay, or delay payment, Government will compel the diwan and the amin to make the amount good. ### [c8.s3.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s3.10) "Send the papers of your department to the imperial record office according to the regulations."\* ### § 4. The faujdar and his functions. ### [c8.s4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.1) In the maintenance of peace and the discharge of executive functions in general, the subahdar's assistants were the FAUJDARS. These officers were placed in charge of suitable subdivisions of the province, provided that they were sufficiently civilized or important on account of the presence of zamindars or large sources of State revenue in them and also if they contained towns. ### [c8.s4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.2) ∗ Some of these regulations are given in Aurangzib's farman to Rasik-das, see ch. XI. ### [c8.s4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.3) When a new faujdar was appointed, he was given the following advice as to his policy and conduct:— ### [c8.s4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.4) "A faujdar should be brave and polite in dealing with his soldiers. He should enlist in his contingent of armed retainers only men of known bravery and good family. ### [c8.s4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.5) "As soon as you reach the place of your service, find out the people who knew the past administration of the locality, viz., the qānungoes and others, win their hearts, and learn from them which of the troops quartered in your subdivision are inclined to take advantage of their commander's weakness or the difficulties of the administration and which of them are in secret league with the lawless zamindars. ### [c8.s4.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.6) "Learn whether the local zamindars paid the revenue regularly or displayed a defiant spirit in your predecessor's time. In the case of zamindars who are not naturally disposed to be submissive, first treat them well; and if they do not respond by offering obedience, then chastise them. When your own troops are insufficient to crush such a refractory zamindar, set his enemies up against him, make a grant of this zamindar's lands to his rival, and send your own troops to co-operate with those of the rival in order to crush the rebel more easily. ### [c8.s4.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.7) "Arrange with a trusty clerk of the imperial Court to receive letters from you, and, on the basis of the information thus supplied, to report on your affairs to the Court \[evidently to the High Diwan.\] ### [c8.s4.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.8) “Conciliate the local \*waqāi-navis\*, \*sawānih-nigār\* and \*harkārah\* (i.e., the official news-reporters and spies), in order that they may always write their reports of occurrences in a manner leading to your advancement. ### [c8.s4.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.9) “Keep up your practice in the exercise of all weapons of war, in hunting, and in riding horses, so as to keep yourself in a fit condition and to be able to take the field promptly \[when called upon to march to a scene of disturbance.\] Do justice to the oppressed.” \[Manual, 34-36.\] ### [c8.s4.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.10) The faujdar's duties are fully enumerated in the following sanad or letter-patent appointing him to his office:— ### [c8.s4.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.11) “Destroy the forts of lawless men and rebel chiefs as the \[best\] means of punishing them. Guard the roads, protect the revenue-payers. Assist and give \[armed\] support to the agents (\*gumāshtahs\*) of the \*jāgirdārs\* \[in the case of military fiefs\] and the \*kroris\* \[in the case of Crownlands\], at the time of collecting the revenue. ### [c8.s4.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.12) “Forbid the blacksmiths to manufacture matchlocks. Urge the \*thānahdārs\* \[men in command of the outposts or smaller areas within a faujdari\], whom you appoint under yourself, to take complete possession of their charges, to abstain from dispossessing people from their rightful property and from levying any forbidden cess (\*abwāb\*). ### [c8.s4.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.13) “So long as the agent of the jagirdar or the \*āmil\* of the Crownlands does not give you a written requisition for military aid, do not attack any village in your jurisdiction. After you have received such a requisition \[or rather complaint against a defaulting and refractory village\], contrive to influence some of the leading men of the village who are the sources of the trouble and try to reform them, so that they may repent of their violence and lawless conduct and incline to the payment of revenue and the peaceful pursuit of agriculture. In case they reform themselves, take a deed of agreement \[to such a course\] from the amil. If they refuse to reform, then chastise the evil men of the village \[i.e., the ringleaders\], but do not molest the \[ordinary\] peasants. Guard the roads, cut the jungles, demolish the \[illegal\] forts, etc." ### [c8.s4.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s4.14) In short, the faujdar, as his name means, was only the commander of a military force stationed in the country to put down smaller rebellions, disperse or arrest robber-gangs, take cognizance of all violent crimes, and make demonstrations of force to overawe opposition to the revenue authorities or the criminal judge or the censor. \[His functions are briefly described in \*Ain\*, ii. 40—41 and \*Storia\*, ii. 450—451.\] ### § 5. The kotwal and his duties. ### [c8.s5.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.1) In connection with the public peace, we may most conveniently discuss the kotwāl and his functions here. He was essentially an urban officer, being the chief of the city police. ### [c8.s5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.2) The ideal KOTWĀL is described as a man who follows the regulations in his outward actions and fears God inwardly. He should attend when the sovereign or provincial viceroy holds a court of justice or grants public audience. On taking over charge, he should satisfy himself by a personal inspection that the horse and foot attached to his post are really up to the fixed strength and have their proper equipment, arms and stores, and that the appurtenances of his office,—such as long rods, fetters and lashes\*,—are really of the number entered in the official list. He should check the number of the persons in the prison and ascertain \[their\] answers to the charges against them. Then he should report to his official superior the cases of those prisoners whom he considers innocent and secure their liberation. In the case of the guilty persons who can pay, he should take orders for exacting suitable fines from them and then releasing them. In the case of penniless prisoners, the \*kotwāl\* should report and take action as commanded. A statement of the cases of those deserving to be kept in prison should be sent to the officers of Canon Law, and the orders passed by the latter over their signatures should be carried out by the kotwal. In the case of those deserving death, the kotwal should, through proper officers, freely state their cases to the judge (in writing) on the day of trial, receive the qāzi's signed sentence of death, and execute the sentence. ### [c8.s5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.3) Summoning the watchmen and sweepers, he should take bonds from them that they would daily report to him the occurrences of every \*mahalla\* (ward of the city) without suppression or exaggeration. ### [c8.s5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.4) ∗ Text reads \*jaulānah\* for \*zulah\*. ### [c8.s5.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.5) He should enlist a footman (\*piāda\*) singly from each ward and post him there as a spy to report all news, so that he may compare the reports from these two sources and thus know the truth and do the needful in the case. ### [c8.s5.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.6) "Do justice that the people may liken you to a qazi in the power of arriving at the truth of a case. On the public streets of the cities, post careful men to act as watchmen from sunset to 9 P.M. and from 9 P.M. to dawn, to scrutinize the way-farers and arrest those whom they consider to be thieves and evil-doers, and bring them to you. ### [c8.s5.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.7) "At places of sale and purchase, at places of entertainment (\*shādi\*) where spectators assemble, keep watchmen to seize the pickpockets and the snatchers-up of things and bring them to you for punishment. ### [c8.s5.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.8) "Summoning the 'professional women,' dancing-girls, liquor-sellers and vendors of intoxicants, take bonds from them that if they do any forbidden act they would pay so much as fine. Fine them if they break the bond. At midnight take horse with your followers and patrol round the city and in the streets also. In the lanes where you had previously sent your spies and they have found dens of thieves, you should go in time and nip their mischievous designs in the bud. ### [c8.s5.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.9) "Watch and guard the prisoners very carefully lest any of them should escape." (Manual, 57—71.) ### [c8.s5.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.10) The kotwal's functions are also minutely enumerated in the \*Ain-i-Akbari\* (ii. 41—43.) But most of Akbar's regulations which this officer is there directed to enforce were withdrawn after the Emperor's death; and the entire passage in the \*Ain\* also seems to me to point out only the ideal for a kotwāl and not to represent the actual state of things. Only a perfect man can satisfy what is demanded of the kotwal here. I, therefore, do not attach any value to this source. ### [c8.s5.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.11) Akbar's farman, as given in \*Mirāt-i-Ahmadi\*, i. 168—170, contains the following instructions for the kotwāl:—"The kotwāl...with the help of clerks should make a list of the houses and buildings of the place, and enter under each house \[the names of\] its inhabitants, stating what sort of men they are, how many of them are \*bāzāris\*, how many are artisans, how many are soldiers, how many darvishes. Taking security from every house, he should ensure their mutual co-operation, and defining the \*mahallas\* (wards), he should appoint a headman for each \*mahalla\*, by whose advice all things should be done there. Spies should come every day and night and cause to be written down \[in the kotwāl's office\] the occurrences of each ward...When a guest arrives, —be he a kinsman or a stranger,—it should be reported to the headman of the ward...The kotwāl should always keep himself informed about the income and expenditure of every man, because when a man spends in excess of his income it is certain that he is doing something wrong...In the markets he should fix the prices of things and prevent rich men from \[creating a monopoly by\] buying much and selling little. The kotwāl should stop the sale and drinking of wine in his jurisdiction." ### [c8.s5.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.12) Manucci (ii. 420—421) gives a more valuable account of the kotwāl’s work from actual observation. “It is his business to stop the distillation of spirits. He has to see that there were no public women in the town, nor anything else forbidden by the king \[Aurangzib.\] He obtains information about all that goes in, so as to be able to send in his report \[to the ruler.\] For this purpose there are throughout the Mughal Empire certain persons, known as halāl-khor (i.e., house scavengers.) These men are under obligation to go twice a day to clean out every house, and they tell the kotwāl all that goes on……..He also has the duty of arresting thieves and criminals. He is subordinate to the qazi, and receives orders from him...Under his orders there is a considerable body of cavalry and a great number of foot-soldiers ; for in every ward there is a horseman and 20 to 30 foot-soldiers, who, in a sort of way, go the rounds.” ### [c8.s5.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.13) In a \*sanad\* of appointment the kotwāl is urged to see that there may be no theft in his city and that the people of the place may enjoy security and ply their trade peacefully. He is to carry out the qazi’s written orders and not to act at his own discretion in keeping men accused of peculation in prison or in releasing them. If there is a ferry at the city, he should take care not to collect any toll on the ferries (as they were abolished by the Emperor), to prevent the boatmen from charging more than the proper hire, and to stop lawless men and oppressors from crossing the ferries. ### [c8.s5.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s5.14) There was a platform (\*chabutra\*) in front of the kotwal's office and bordering the public road, where malefactors or their severed heads were often exhibited. ### § 6. News-reporters. ### [c8.s6.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.1) The agency by which the Central Government learnt the news of the country consisted of (1) the \*waqāi-navis\*, (2) the \*sawānih-nigār\*, (3) the \*khufia-navis\*,—all three of whom sent written reports,—and (4) the \*harkārah\*, literally meaning a courier of news, but really a spy, who generally brought oral news, and at times also sent news-letters. ### [c8.s6.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.2) The terms \*waqāi-navis\* (sometimes written as \*waqāi-nigār\* also) and \*sawānih-nigār\* mean the same thing, \*viz.\*, a writer or surveyor of occurrences. There was a difference between them in this that the \*waqāi-navis\* was the more regular and public reporter of the two, while the \*sawānih-nigār\* was of the nature of a secret reporter on important cases only. There was a \*waqāi-navis\* attached to every field-army, province and large town, and a \*sawānih-nigār\* at special places and times only. The latter was intended to be a spy and check on the former! The \*Mirāt-i-Ahmadi\* (Sup. 175) makes the point quite clear:—"In former reigns \*waqāi-navises\* were employed \[to report provincial occurrences\]; but owing to the suspicion of their entering into collusion \[with the local officers\], \*sawānih-nigārs\*,—who are also called \*khufia-navises\*,—were appointed to reside secretly in the subahs and report news. At last when the latter was entrusted with the duty of supervising the postal arrangements within the province, the matter became public." I believe that it was then that a third or most secret class of reporters, i.e., \*harkārahs\* or true \*khufia-navises\*, were posted to the provinces. Manucci \[ii. 331\] implies the same thing. ### [c8.s6.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.3) According to a contemporary history of Jahangir, the \*Bahāristān-i-Ghaibi\* (Paris MS., 101a), the practice of appointing public newswriters to each province and reading their reports openly in the Emperor's Court was introduced by that monarch, to make a display of his greatness before the expected Persian ambassador. Secret news-reporters in the provinces were an important element of the Abbasid administration. \[\*Camb. Med. Hist.\*, iv. 283.\] ### [c8.s6.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.4) The public intelligencer of a province (\*i.e.\*, the \*waqāi-navis\*) appointed agents in most of the small \*parganahs\* to report to him the occurrences of these places, out of which he selected what was fit for the Emperor's ears and incorporated it in the provincial news-letter. In the offices of the subahdar, the diwan, the faujdar of the environs of the provincial capital, the court of justice, the kotwal's \*chabutra\*, he stationed his clerks, who brought to him every evening a record of what had occurred there during the day. In many of the important \*parganahs\*, separate reporters were posted directly from the imperial Court, to send to the provincial diwan \*siāha\* (ledgers of receipts) of the escheated \*jagirs\* of mansabdars who were dead, absconding or absent. \[\*Mirāt\*, Sup. 174-175.\] ### [c8.s6.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.5) The \*waqāi-navis\* attended when the provincial viceroy held public court, and he recorded the occurrences then and there. The contents of the newsletter drafted by this reporter were communicated to the subahdar or, in the case of a field-army, to the general in command, before being despatched to the Emperor. The \*sawānih-nigār\* did not do so. ### [c8.s6.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.6) In the Manual, the \*waqāi-navis\* is charged to send his reports of occurrences once every week, and the \*sawānih-nigār\* eight times in a month. The language implies that the latter officer reported on the whole subah, while the former reported about a particular locality only. ### [c8.s6.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.7) In the case of many of the provinces and all the minor armies, the posts of \*bakhshi\* and \*waqāi-navis\* were combined in the same person. ### [c8.s6.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.8) The \*khufia-navis\* or ‘secret writer’, was a most confidential agent. He reported secretly on events without any communication with the local authorities, who often did not even know his name. All people were in mortal dread of these secret intelligencers, and their office is, I understand, still maintained in some of our feudatory States.\* \[\*Alamgir-nāmah\*, 1081.\] ### [c8.s6.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.9) “The harkarahs posted in a province have to report the news of all sides and occurrences to the governor of the subah, and to send letters closed in envelopes for being despatched to the imperial Court with the provincial post. The harkarah also keeps his agents in the offices of the nazim and in other places, just like the waqai-nigar and sawanih-navis, and all these three men are called alike ākhbār-navis.” \[Mirāt, O.P.L. MS. 691b ; Sup. 175 differs.\] ### [c8.s6.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.10) ∗ The secret intelligencer is now called \*pārcha-wālā\*, which title must not be confounded with the \*pārcha-navis\* described in Manual p. 55. ### [c8.s6.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.11) The news-letters were sent to an officer of the Court named the Dārogha of Dāk Chauki, i.e., Superintendent of Posts and Intelligence, who handed them unopened to the wazir for submission to the Emperor. These four classes of public intelligencers acted under the orders of this Dārogha who was their official superior and protector. Sometimes an irate governor would publicly insult or beat the local news-writer for a report against himself, and then the Dārogha would take up the cause of his subordinate and get the offending governor punished. The head of the Intelligence Department enjoyed great influence and trust in the reign of Aurangzib, who used to regard the spies as his eyes and ears. Amusing examples of it are given in Hamid-ud-din’s Āhkām-i-Alamgiri, translated into English by me as Anecdotes of Aurangzib, § § 61, 62, 64 and 65. ### [c8.s6.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.12) A newly-appointed waqai-navis is given the following shrewd advice in the Manual, pages 51-55 :— ### [c8.s6.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.13) “Report the truth, lest the Emperor should learn the facts from another source and punish you! Your work is delicate ; both sides have to be served. Deep sagacity and consideration should be employed so that ‘both the Shaikh and the Book may remain in their proper places!’ In the wards of most of the high officers, forbidden things are done. If you report them ### [c8.s6.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.14) truly, the officers will be disgraced. If you do not, you yourself will be undone. Therefore, you should tell the lord of the ward, ‘In your ward forbidden things are taking place; stop them.’ If he gives a rude reply, you should threaten the kotwal of the ward by pointing out the misdeed. The lord of the ward will then know of it. Although the evil has not yet been removed from the ward, yet, if any one reports the matter to the Emperor, you can easily defend yourself by saying that you have informed the master of the ward and instructed the kotwal. ### [c8.s6.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.15) “In every matter write the truth; but avoid offending the nobles. Write after carefully verifying your statements. ### [c8.s6.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8.s6.16) “\*Waqāi\* should be sent once a week, \*sawānih\* twice, and the \*ākhbār\* of harkarahs once \[? a month\] and the despatches in cylinders (\*nalo\*) from the \*nāzim\* and the \*diwān\* twice every month, in addition to urgent matters (which are to be reported immediately.)” But the practice in Gujrat early in the 18th century was to send all these papers to the Emperor along with the despatches of the provincial governor and diwan and a statement of the cash balance of the Treasury, once a week. \[Mirat, ii. Sup 175.\] --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sarkar-1920.c8) · Pramāṇa