Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 1.pdf/97

 MARCH 1, 1872.]

served

under

Bábar and

of them refer to

77

MUGHUI, GIRANDEES.

Humáyūn; most

the period

between

the

reigns of Akbar and Farrukh Siyar. Many of the biographies, however, are not merely bio graphies of one grandee, but of his whole family. The last edition, which is the only valuable one, “enumerates no less than thirty histories and

biographical treatises, from which 'Abdul Hai has drawn the materials for his own portion of the work;” he has also added numerous inci dental notices from inscriptions on tombs and family histories. The biographies of the Amirs who served under Akbar have nearly all been given in my translation of the A'in.

I shall therefore select

biographies of the Amirs that belong to the subsequent reigns. The grandees of the Mughul Court were di vided into two classes, of which the first com

kept up 1250 men. On account of the frequent rebellions of powerful Amirs, the emperors con tinually lowered the actual commands, and in creased the strength of the standing or imperial army. Thus Shāhjahán, during the Balkh war, lowered the strength of the contingents from one-fourth to one-fifth. The troops of the Amirs

were called tâbindin, or followers.

Cavalry alone

was counted. The recruiting and officering of the contingents rested entirely with the Amirs.

The men of the standing army of the emperor were called Dikhili troops. For the payment of their contingents the Amirs received lands as tuyºl, or jågår. The former term is generally restricted to lands held exclusively for military

purposes; the word jáſár has a more general meaning, and refers mostly to lands granted as rewards to distinguished officers. Hence we often find in histories that Amirs held certain

prised the Umard i kibár, or great Amirs. The

lands as tuyºl and other lands, often far away,

emperor's service was strictly military, and the titles of the several ranks indicated the strength

as jęgłr. The contingents of the Amirs consisted mostly

of the contingent which each Amir had to fur

of troopers who joined their service with one horse each. Troopers who furnished two horses were called duaspah, and such as came with three, sihaspah. This will explain such titles as Panjhazārā, chahár hazár suwär, sihastiré duaspah sihaspah, “a commander of five thousand, four thousand horse, three thousand Duaspah and Sihaspah troopers,' which means that the Amir held a personal rank of 5,000, with a contingent not exceeding 4,000 horse, of which 3,000 should be troopers with two and three horses. Horses

nish. As commanders of contingents the Amirs were called Mançabdārs. The lowest mangab,

or command, which entitled an officer to the title of Amir, was, under Akbar, a command of Two Hundred, and from the time of Sháhjahán, a command of Five Hundred.

Commanders of

Two Thousand and upwards were looked upon as ‘great Amirs.' The highest command was that of Five Thousand ; but the princes, several Mahārājahs, and grandees related to the em perors, held higher commands. The princes often held commands of Thirty Thousand. Under Ak bar, commands of Seven Thousand were given to a few, as to Mánsingh and Mirzá Sháhrukh.

Under Sháhjahán the highest command was that of A'caf Khán, the father of Mumtéz Mahall, Sháhjahán's wife who lies buried in the Tájat Agrá. He held a command of Nine Thousand; but on his death, no grandee was promoted to his post. Jai Singh held, only towards the very

end of Shájahán's reign, a command of Seven Thousand. The weak emperors after Aurangzib again conferred high mangabs. During the time of war, many grandees kept

killed when on service were replaced by the state.

-

When grandees were old, they were excused attendance at court (tak{{f bair); they lost their tuyūls, and were sent to their jagirs, or re ceived pensions in cash. At death, their whole property lapsed to the emperor. There are several other points of interest con nected with the salaries, promotions, and titles of the Amirs, and certain court-ceremonies, which will be described hereafter.

I now commence the biographical notices with

up much larger contingents than their rank

I. SHAIKH DAGD QURAISHi, Shaikh Dáid was the son of Bhikan Khán,

indicated. Thus A'gaf Khán I., the conqueror of Gondwana, had under Akbar for some time a contingent of 20,000 men, recruited by him self. In times of peace, the rule was to main

and belonged to a family of Shaikhzādahs settled in Hiçár Firüzah. The word “Quraishi' signifies ‘tracing his descent from the Arabian tribe of Quraish,’ to which the Prophet belonged; but

tain only the fourth part of the nominal com

the term is often applied in this country to

mand, so that a commander of Five Thousand

Hindú converts to Islám.

Dáild's

father had