Page:Aurangzíb and the Decay of the Mughal Empire.djvu/118

112 The regular infantry was of small account; the musketeers could only fire decently 'when squatting on the ground, and resting their muskets on a kind of wooden fork which hangs to them,' and were terribly afraid of burning their beards, or bursting their guns. There were about 15,000 of this arm about the Court, besides a larger number in the provinces; but the hordes of camp-followers, sutlers, grooms, traders, and servants, who always hung about the army, and were often absurdly reckoned as part of its effective strength, gave the impression of an infantry force of two or three hundred thousand men. All these people had directly or indirectly to be paid, and considering that there were few soldiers in the Mughal army who were not encumbered with wives, children, and slaves, it may be imagined that the army budget absorbed a very considerable part of the imperial revenue. There was also a small artillery arm, consisting partly of heavy guns, and partly of lighter pieces mounted on camels.

Whilst the Emperor kept the control of the army and nobles in his own hands by this system of grants of land or money in return for military service, the civil administration was governed on the same principle. Indeed, the civil and military characters were blended in the provincial administration. The mansab and jágír system pervaded the whole empire. The governors of provinces were mansabdárs, and received grants of land in lieu of salary for the maintenance of their state and their