Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/116

110 of 5000 horsemen, though it doubtless meant this originally. It was merely a title of rank, and the number of cavalry that each Amír was bound to maintain was regulated by the King himself. An Amír of 5000 sometimes was ordered to keep only 500 horses; the rest was on paper only. As a matter of fact, he often kept much fewer than he was paid for; and what with false returns of his efficient force, and stopping part of the men's pay, the grantee enjoyed a large income. Yet the heavy expenses of the Court, the extravagance and enormous establishments of the Amírs, and the ruinous presents they were forced to make to the Emperor at the annual festivals, exhausted their resources, and involved them deeply in debt. In Bernier's time there were always twenty-five or thirty of these higher Amírs at the Court, drawing salaries estimated at the rate of from one to twelve thousand horse. The number in the provinces is not stated, but must have been very great, besides innumerable mansabdárs or petty vassals of less than a thousand horse; of whom, besides, there were 'never less than two or three hundred at Court.' Those lower officers received from 150 to 700 rupees a month, and kept but two to six horses; and beneath them in rank were the Rauzínadárs, who were paid daily, and often filled the posts of clerks and secretaries. The troopers who formed the following of the Amírs and mansabdárs were entitled to the pay of 25 rupees a month for each horse, but did not always get it from their masters. Two horses to a man formed the usual