M. Mohiuddin, ‘The Chancellery And Persian Epistolography Under The Mughals,’ 1967

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[Momin Mohiuddin, “The Chancellery and Persian Epistolography under the Mughals, from Bábur to Sháh Jahán (1526-1658): A Study on Insháʾ, Dár al-Insháʾ and Munshís, based on original documents” (Calcutta: Iran Society, 1971).]

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Chapter II: Classes of Epistles

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توقیعات

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Tauqī‘āt

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Section I

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According to the Badā’i‘-al-inshā’, the Tauqī‘āt consists of the aḥkām [احکام] and amthila [امثله], the last being the official rescripts of the viziers and nobles of the state. It disappears during the Mughal period in favour of the parvānachas [پروانچه], which is the official term for ministerial edicts. The aḥkām used in this context of royal and chancellery orders, is replaced by the farmān [فرمان], which covers both categories of royal orders, i.e. personal orders of the Emperor and chancellery orders. For the sake of convenience we call them (A) Farāmīn-i-sulṭānī and (B) aḥkām-i-dīvānī.

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The distinctions between the above two classes of royal orders are mainly based on the following technical and literary points:

(i.) Status of the recipient of the farmān
(ii.) Subject-matter of the farmān
(iii.) Official formalities
(iv.) Literary draughtsmanship

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(A) فرامین سلطانی

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(A) Farāmīn-i-Sulṭānī:

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(i) This consists of the royal orders and missives in which the addressee is either a member of the royal family, a noble or official of the State, a feudatory or ruling prince under the vassalage of the Mughal dynasty, or any other individual of the State, except the privileged persons such as sufis and saintly scholars, who receive and write Maktūb [مکتوب] from and to the Emperor.

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(ii) The subject-matter is significantly of a political nature, or concerns State affairs or business, royal favours or privileges conferred on the recipient, or private affairs of the Emperor.

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(iii) It was not put though the official routine save for minor formalities, and was in most cases drafted by the Emperor himself in the private chamber, or by viziers and munshīs. The ṭughrā and the royal seal, with the exception of a few edicts, are the inevitable features of the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī.

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(iv) The farāmīn-i-sulṭānī does not indicate the preceding prototype in its literary draughtsmanship except in the choice of conventional alqāb and du‘ā. A manshūr belonging to the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī differs as much from another of its counterparts in the general literary set-up as the aḥkām-i-dīvānī is closely adhered to the chancellery draughtsmanship.

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(B) احکام دیوانی

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(B) Aḥkām-i-dīvānī:

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(i) & (ii) This consists of the farmāns relating to State affairs and revenue transactions (mu‘āmalāt-i-mālī va mulkī) and in this respect covers a large variety of royal orders of appointments to manṣabs, tutorship of the princes, to the rank of amīr al-umarā’, land grants in jāgīr with military service or without it and for benevolent purposes, like the soyūrghāl grants, and all other such matters coming within the purview of the royal order initiating a farmān of this nature. The aḥkām-i dīvānī are directed to the officials of the State enjoining them to execute the royal order accordingly and to abide by it. Abu’l-Faḍl in the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī under the general heading of Sanads, assigns to such farmāns the official term of Farmān-i-thabtī, while a farmān specifying a cash payment has been denominated as Barāt. The Farmān-i-thabtī, of the Mughal chancellery corresponds to the Farmān-i-ṭughrā relating to land grants, and Aḥkām-i tauqī‘ to appointments, of the period of the Sultanate.

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(iii) The aḥkām-i-dīvānī unlike its counterpart the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī, passed in all cases through the well-regulated office routine and admitted much red tape. It contains on the verso a résumé of the office procedure, the seals and endorsements of the officials through which it passed. The “ḍimn” explains the details of the procedure stage by stage. The ṭughrā and the royal seal are the essential features of the aḥkām-i-dīvānī.

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(iv) With only a few exceptions, the aḥkām-i-dīvānī in most cases show the administrative and literary persistence of the Mughal chancellery. The rigid structure, stereotyped language and the conventional formulae and phrases, exhibit a definite line followed by the Mughals in imitation of the earlier Muslim chancellery practices. It is doubtful if the Mughals borrowed any of the chancellery traditions from the Sulṭāns of Delhi, for a comparative study of the Mughal charts with those of the chancelleries outside India, Fars and Khorasan reveals striking similarities. In view of the fact that no regular document belonging to the pre-Mughal period in India has so far come to light to enable us to make a comparative study, we can only form our opinion consequently in favour of the first assertion.

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Varieties of the Farāmīn-i-Sulṭānī:

(i) فرمان

(a) فرمان سیاسی
(b) فرمان ملکی و مالی
(c) فرمان اعلامی

(ii) فرمان بیاضی
(iii) فتحنامه
(iv) قولنامه
(v) عهدنامه
(vi) احکام
(vii) رمز
(viii) اشاره
(ix) کلمه
(x) منشور

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Varieties of the Farāmīn-i-Sulṭānī:

(i) Farmān

(a) Farmān-i-siyāsī
(b) Farmān-i-mulkī va mālī
(c) Farmān-i-i‘lāmī

(ii) Farmān-i bayāḍī
(iii) Fatḥ-nāma
(iv) Qaul-nāma
(v) ‘Aḥd-nāma
(vi) Aḥkām
(vii) Ramz
(viii) Ishāra
(ix) Kalima
(x) Manshūr

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(i) فرمان

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(i) Farmān:

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This is the most loosely applied term to every Imperial order and missive that issued from the sovereign or the Chancellery bearing the royal seal and the ṭughrā. Some of them are distinguished by the technical terms assigned to them, such as the farmāns of land grants for benevolent purposes are known by the official term soyūrghāl and especially as farmān-i-madad-i-ma‘āsh, ayma and milk grants as the case may be. There remains nevertheless a few of them that still need to be distinguished by special names, such as the following kinds of farmāns.

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(a) فرمان سیاسی

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(a) Farmān-i-siyāsī:

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A royal missive addressed to a feudatory or any private or official person is recorded simply as farmān. Such farmāns may signify an order or refer to any political affair of the State. A Farmān of the Emperor Shāh Jahān despatched to the Governor of Gwalior, Sayyid Muẓaffar Khān Bārha, proclaims the recovery of Qandahār following ‘Alī Mardān Khān’s defection, while another to the same enjoins him to carry out the royal command of a political nature, and thus embodies the phrase, “ḥukm mī shuvad” [حکم می شود].

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To Fāḍil Khān, a noble of the Court, the same Emperor wrote several Farmāns which form the subject of favour conferred on him for political reasons. The farmāns of this category, therefore, may be denominated as farmān-i-siyāsī, such as those of Akbar to Bayram Khān and Rājī ‘Alī Khān.

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The political farmāns of the Mughal Emperors manifest varieties of literary forms, but in most cases embody a definite style of khiṭāb. The alqāb is spun out in high-flown rhyming titles and complimentary epithets, graded carefully, and ending with the proper name of the addressee which is followed by an assurance of the royal favour, with a du‘ā or without it. A more intimate farmān in fact does not have any specific preamble or address. Sometimes the Emperor addresses more intimately as “farzand-i-arjumand” [فرزند ارجمند].

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Examples:

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1. Akbar’s Farmān to Rājī ‘Alī Khān, the ruling Prince of Khandes:

امارت و ایالت پناه ارادت و عقیدت دستگاه نقاوۀ دودمانِ عِز و علا، عضادۀ خاندانِ مجد و اعتلا، زبدۀ مخلصانِ سعادت کیش و خلاصۀ مختصانِ صواب اندیش مورد الطافِ پادشاهی، مصدرِ آلافِ خیر خواهی، وافر الصدق راسخ البرهان عمدۀ اهل دول راجی علی خان با صناف الطاف پادشاهی و اضعاف اعطافِ ظلِّ الٓهی مستظهر و مستبشر بوده بداند که... ـ

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2. Shāh Jahān’s Farmāns to Fāḍil Khān:

(i) درین مدت آن فرزند ارجمند... ـ

(ii) چون کوکبۀ جاه و جلال آن فرخنده کوکب بر اجلال... ـ

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There is no special cliché indicating a stereotyped ending, but an emphasis (ta’kīd) on the royal command, or a du‘ā ends the text. The Emperor speaks in the Imperative mood and the addressee is remembered in the Third person singular. The usual Demonstrative pronoun “ān [آن]” combining itself with the Compound Nouns borrowed from the alqāb, such as: آن عدالت پناه and, آن شوکت دستگاه illustrates the literary etiquette of the period.

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(b) فرمان ملکی و مالی

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(b) Farmān-i-mulkī va mālī:

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Besides the political and foreign affairs, the Emperor on important occasions dealt himself directly with administrative, religious, commercial and agrarian matters. For example, Akbar introduced some important land reforms recorded in history also, in order to remove the grievances of aymadārs through promulgating a Farmān in the year 986 A.H./1578 A.D., ordering the krōrīs, jāgīrdārs and other officials to assign the madad-i-ma‘āsh lands exclusively independent of the khāliṣa and jāgīr lands.

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Similarly on the requests and representations made by Jain Monks and Christian Missionaries, the Mughal Emperor issued several Farmāns forming the subject-matters of: freedom of worship, construction of churches, protection of temples and dharamsālas, restoration of temples etc.

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Since the Farmāns of this category are issued directly either to the highest official of a particular ṣūba, or to the administrators of the Empire and the provinces, they signify in many cases the order de jure of the Emperor which put the aḥkām-i-dīvānī or the Imperial sanads issued earlier to the grantees into force. In this respect they stand closer to the above chancellery rescripts in literary draughtsmanship and topics with the exception that they were not put to regular office procedure, save in very rare cases.

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The important and distinguishing features of the farmāns under discussion are the following:

(i) They were addressed in many cases directly to the Governor or Dīvān of a particular ṣūba.

(ii) They were endorsed and sealed on the reverse by any Mughal Prince.

(iii) They were delivered through the Prince or the Vizier of the State.

(iv) In some cases they were entered and recorded in the risāla of the Grand Vizier.

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The khiṭāb takes one of the following forms:

(i) حکام و اعمال حال و استقبال صوبۀ گجرات بعنایت بادشاهانه مخصوص و امیدوار گشته بدانند که چون... ـ

(ii) متصدیان مهمات حال و استقبال صوبۀ ... بعنایت بادشاهانه مستمال و امیدوار گشته بدانند که چون... ـ

(iii) امارت و نظارت پناه رفعت و عزت دستگاه محرم محترم اخلاص نشان معتمد خان بعنایت بلانهایت اقدس سرافراز و ممتاز بوده بداند که ... ـ

(iv) حکام کرام و عمال کفایت فرجام و متصدیان مهمات صوبۀ گجرات بعنایت و التفات بادشاهانه مخصوص و مباهی گشته بدانند که... ـ

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(c) فرمان اعلامی

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(c) Farmān-i-i‘lāmī:

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Another variety of farmān belonging to the above category may be classified under the heading of farmān-i-i‘ilāmī, since they proclaim (i‘lām) public ordinances. Such farmāns are issued in the general interest of the subjects or ryots announcing a remission of tamghā or zakāt, abolition of the jizya or the legal perquisites (abvāb-i-mamnū‘a). They are, as is understandable, directed to the officials of the Empire under threat of responsibility to enforce the ordinances. The Farmān of Bābur announcing his renunciation of wine and remittance of the tamghā enjoins upon all, “whether they may be Turk, Tajik, ‘Arab, Hindi or Farsi (Persian)”, to adhere to the ordinances, and to act in compliance with the Farmān.

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Bābur’s Farmān in question composed in the erudite style of Shaykh Zayn Khawāfī, stands higher than the one by the wen of Abu’l-Faḍl on the abolition of zakat, in matters of convincing expressions and religious strain.

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Such ordinances were promulgated through yarlīgh and nishān under the Il-khanids, Timurids and the Turcomans.

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(ii) فرمان بیاضی

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(ii) The Farmān-i-bayāḍī:

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The Farmān issued directly by the Emperor without passing through the elaborate procedure and routine of the daftars, for urgent and important matters demanding an immediate execution, is known as farmān-i-bayāḍī. It was sealed in a particular way and put in a golden cover preventing its confidential contents from being seen, and as despatched forthwith to the addressees through a trustworthy servant of the Court. Abu’l-Faḍl says that the recipient of a farmān-i-bayāḍī had to observe many respectful formalities such as, proceeding a proper distance to receive it and performing various acts of obeisance.

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It does not differ much in literary draughtsmanship from the above categories of farmāns. It was also endorsed and sealed, like the farmān-i-mulkī-va-mālī by a vizier of the Empire.

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Example:

جاگیرداران پرگنات مفصله فی الضمن مرحمت پادشاهی امیدوار بوده بدانند... ـ

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(iii) فتح نامه

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(iii) Fatḥ-nāma:

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(Bābur-nāma [Bev.], tr. i, p.319 [ولایت لرغه و ایماق و احشام غه ; Thackston translates as “to the various provinces and to the tribes and clans”]).

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As the title shows, it is a letter announcing a victory over an enemy or conquest of a territory. It was common practice to despatch accounts of the victory to “all countries, classes, and retainers.”

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Apparently its purpose was to commemorate the glorious occasion sometimes reading it out to the public. The underlying political motive was to strike terror in the hearts of recalcitrant chiefs maturing aggressive plans. It was a practice of contemporary diplomacy to parade the royal prowess before the world through fatḥ-nāmas composed in grandiloquent style with lofty expressions.

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As a rule the kings could not write fatḥ-nāmas to sovereigns of equal status, but the maktūb were used for that purpose. The Mughal Emperors’ despatches to the Rulers of Persia and Turan throw light on their shrewd diplomacy. Ostensibly purporting to open the door of friendliness through “Universal Peace” (ṣulḥ-i-kull), they are meant to celebrate the victories of the Emperors. In a Murāsala addressed to the Shāh of Persia Shāh Ṣafī, the Emperor Shāh Jahān enumerates his political achievements in various conquests of territories in the Deccan, suppressing the formidable chiefs and the submission of the Deccan rulers.

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It was the privilege of kings only to despatch fatḥ-nāmas. If addressed to a noble of the Court or a provincial governor, it then as a rule assumes the name of a farmān, as is called the one proclaiming the surrender of Qandahār following the defection of ‘Alī Mardān Khān, addressed by Shāh Jahān to Sayyid Muẓaffar Khān Bārha. The Field Commanders instead, could despatch their accounts of victories in the form of ‘arḍ-dāshts. The series of ‘arḍ-dāshts submitted to the Emperor Shāh Jahān by Sayyid Muẓaffar announce the latter’s triumph over the Bondēla Chief Prithī Rāj in several engagements about A.H. 1049. A casual reference made by Abu’l-Faḍl in a letter to Khān-i-Khānān, suggests that the nobles also could despatch fatḥ-nāmas to the Capital.

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It demanded great diplomatic insight and literary skill to draft a fatḥ-nāma to produce the desired effect. The Fatḥ-nāma of Bābur, following the victory over the pagan Rāja Rāna Sāngā at Kānwa in A.H. 933, composed in the inshā’ of Shaykh Zayn Khawāfī illustrates the model of his accomplished style and example of the Muslim chancellery practice. It is highly rhetorical and pompous. The predominant Figures of Speech are the tajnīs, īhām and ghulūw (hyperbole) and the Koranic allusions (talmīḥāt) made to the “‘Asharah mubasharah” and to the defeat of “Abraha.”

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(iv) قول نامه و عهد نامه

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(iv) Qaul-nāma and (v) ‘Ahd-nāma:

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A qaul-nāma (Kaool-nāma of the East India Company) is the unilateral executed engagement or a promise for a political purpose. Such qaul-nāmas were very common during the period of the East India Company executed for the local Nabobs or Rajas.

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There are references to the qaul-nāmas given by the Mughal Emperors to the ruling Princes. A qaul-nāma in the form of a preliminary engagement seems to be instrumental to an ‘ahd-nāma. Before the counter-treaty was concluded between the Mughal Emperor Shāh Jahān and the vassal king ‘Ādil Shāh of Bijapur in the year A.H. 1045, both the parties executed the terms of the Treaty, expressing their qaul and ‘ahd formally, the former in his Farmān identical with a kind of qaul-nāma, and the latter in the form of an ‘arḍ-dāsht. The Farmān of the Emperor prescribes the terms of the Treaty in several articles, and his qaul and ‘ahd that in effect would be “as firm and solid as the rampart of Alexander.” The Emperor calls his Farmān as effective as the ‘Ahd-nāma itself (to be included afterwards). It bore the royal signature and the impression of the royal panja. The Farmān of the Emperor, in fact deserves to be called a Qaul-nāma.

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The counter-treaty (‘Ahd-nāma) concluded in the year A.H. 1046, between the Emperor and the ruler of Golcunda Quṭb Shāh, was preceded by a bond of fealty (Inqiyād-nāma) tendered by the former. It is identical with the preliminary ‘Ahd-nāma (i.e. ‘Arḍ-dāsht) executed by the ruler of Bijapur. Both the (counter) ‘Ahd-nāmas finally concluded in the 9th year of Shāh Jahān’s reign are recorded in the Bādshāh-nāma of ‘Abd al-Ḥamīd Lahaurī.

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In the general set-up of literary form they resemble the several Farmāns (a) of the Emperor addressed to them on other occasions. They open with the titles (alqāb) linked with the assurance of royal favours. The Emperor then alludes to their “choice of accepting servitude and fealty” [چون درینولا آن عدالت پناه بیارئ بخت اختیار بندگی و اطاعت نمود]. He prescribes the terms of the Treaty with certain obligations imposed on the vassals in their favour. The concluding parts of the ‘Ahd-nāmas contain the explicit ‘ahd of the Emperor,

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خدا و رسول خدا را شاهد اینمراتب ساخته حکم می فرماییم که مادام که آن عدالت پناه و اولاد و احفاد او بشرط مذکوره عمل نمایند و خلاف آن نکنند ان شاء الله تعالی از ما و از فرزندان کامگار نامدار برخوردار ما و از امرای عالیمقدار ما ضرری بملک آن عدالت پناه نخواهد رسید و خلاف عهودی که درین لوح طلا که در ثبات ثانی لوح محفوظ است منقوش گشته بعمل نخواهد آمد ـ و این قول و قرار نسلا بعد نسل همچو سد سکندر استوار خواهد بود ـ

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“who takes his oath calling God and His Apostle as witnesses to the conditions therein, and declares that until the time the Vassal Kings and their successors act in accordance with the conditions recorded in the ‘Ahd-nāma and do not violate them, no harm whatsoever, God willing, would be afflicted to their Kingdoms by the Emperor, his illustrious sons and the Grandees, and nothing would be produced contrary to the ‘ahd transcribed on the gold tablet (lauḥ-i-ṭilā) which is in firmness only next to the ‘Preserved Tablet’ (lauḥ-i-maḥfūẓ), and that the covenant and agreement (qaul-va-qarār) would stand firm like the ‘sadd-i-Sikandarī,’ generation after generation.”

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A comparative study of the two Mughal ‘Ahd-nāmas with those of the earliest Muslim chancelleries, stands out as inferior in literary as well as legal draughtsmanship. They are plain to the extent of a mere despatch and not full of repeated oaths woven in every sentence as in the case of the ‘Ahd-nāmas drafted by the earliest Munshīs.

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(vi) احکام

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(vi) Aḥkām:

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From the singular ḥukm (the ḥukum of Indian pronunciation) an order as a token of “pluralis majestatis.” The Aḥkam-i-Shāh-Jahānī is a collection of royal missives addressed to foreign sovereigns and nobles of the Mughal Court. The term is, however, uncertain.

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(vii) رمز

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(vii) Ramz:

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It denotes a short note of the Emperor in his own hand.

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(viii) اشاره

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(viii) Ishāra:

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The ramz and ishāra are in fact short notes and points put down by the Emperor himself in his diary, or dictated to his munshīs to be used as materials for the official correspondence, afterwards.

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(ix) کلمه

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(ix) Kalima:

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Similar to the preceding one, the kalimāt are the notes taken down by the Emperor chiefly relating to some public affairs in his own hand. They were later expanded into official orders.

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(x) منشور

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(x) Manshūr:

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“A diploma of approbation conferred on religious authorities or the clergy such as, qāḍīs and muḥtasibs, as a token of reverence accorded to them by the kings.” The many instances of the grants of manshūrs in the past, reveal that the term covers edicts of various natures such as diplomas of investiture conferred by the Caliphs on the Sulṭāns, and letters-patent to religious and administrative offices and in this case issued from the chancellery (manāshīr-i-dīvānī).

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The manshūr of the Mughals, like its counterpart the farmān, appears commonly as an honorary epithet. It is issued sometimes to identify a farmān and in other cases is qualified by another common term the mithāl. There are other such honorary epithets as tauqī‘ and yarlīgh which are used in this context. The last three have, however, definite positions in the chancelleries of other periods prior to the Mughals.

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Under the Mughals, the manshūr, however, signifies a specific term for a royal missive and a mandate in which the mursal-ilayhi is a privileged person belonging to the Royal family or the ruling class. It forms the subjects of congratulations and condolence, fame and privileges, or private and official affairs. The royal missives of Shāh Jahān to his princes are designated Manshūr and Farmān by the letters. Akbar’s Manshūr to his favourite Amīr, Khān-i-Khānān conveys the former’s joy on receiving presents of pigeons from ‘Abd-Allāh Khān Uzbeg. Another Manshūr despatched to Ḥakīm Humām expresses his deep sorrow on the death of Humām’s brother, Ḥakīm Abu’l-Fatḥ Gīlānī. There is again, another Manshūr to Khān-i-Khānān on the death of Rāja Bīr Bar.

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The manshūr, as defined above appears to have been for some time in abeyance, until it emerged, at the turn of history, as a distinct royal order of a sovereign de facto awaiting the ceremony of his coronation. It was during the period of the Fratricidal Civil War at the end of Shāh Jahān’s reign, that the manshūr acquired an unprecedented political and administrative significance as an Imperial Order of Prince Aurangzīb who had become the Ruler de facto, while the Monarch and the heir-apparent were alive and opposing.

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Section II

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(B) احکام دیوانی

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(B) Aḥkām-i-dīvānī:

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The Mughal Chancellery presents a curious combination of the two chief traditional organs of Muslim political organisation, the dargāh and the dīvān. Under the name of Daftar-khāna-yi-humāyūn, the chancellery worked in concert with almost all the other daftars or record offices at the Capital, most important of which were the following:

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(i) Daftar-i-dīvān-i-mu‘allā: This daftar of the dīvān-i-a‘lā, was officially called the abvāb al-māl, that is the office of public revenue

(ii) Daftar-i-bakhshī al-mulkī: This was also called the taujīh al-taḥāvīl, and contained the accounts of the royal household and kārkhānas etc. It seems that the daftar-i-istīfā’ was attached to this department

(iii) Daftar-i-bakhshī al-mulkī: This was also called the taujīh and contained all entries referring to the pay of the army

(iv) Daftar-i-ḥuḍūr-ashraf: There are references to this Imperial daftar made in the archives of the Mughal period. It seems that records were also maintained in a special register called the siyāha in which were recorded and entered all the orders of the Emperor and reports of the heads of the departments. All papers submitted to the Emperor for the royal perusal, or as per rule of the office procedure, were copied in the siyāha-ḥuḍūr-ashraf or siyāha-yi-aḥkām, such as vājib, iltimās, ḥaqīqat, tajvīz-nāma and so on

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The function of each daftar was two-fold: (i) Siyāq or keeping of accounts and, (ii) Sabāq, that is dealing with correspondence. Each daftar maintained its own register (siyāha), diary (risāla) and ledger (avārja), in which were entered all cognate papers duly endorsed and sealed by the pīshdastān and the mutaṣaddiyān of the principal officials. The official endorsements were distinguished by particular marks called nishānīhā-yi-daftar. Besides, peculiar marks consisting generally of letters of the alphabet were also entered on the verso or recto of the documents put into office procedure.

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Drafting of the aḥkām-i-dīvānī:

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The bureaucratic machinery at the Centre was a complicated net-work and the office routine admitted much red-tape, as under the contemporary Safavids. The elaborate procedure involved in drafting the various types of chancellery orders has been described by Abu’l-Faḍl in great detail, which also emerges from a study of original farmāns now available to us in great abundance.

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The vāqi‘a-nivīs at the Court recorded in his daily book of report (rūznāmacha) every doing and every word which passed on the tongue of the “shadow of God.” This included multifarious affairs relating to the mu‘āmalā-i-mulkī-va-mālī. The diary, having been checked every day by one of the officials at the Court, as submitted to the Emperor, who approved it. The voucher, as it was called, was also signed by the parvānachi, the mīr-i-‘arḍ and by the official who had submitted the report to the Emperor. At this stage the report was termed yād-dāsht (memorandum). An abridgement of the yād-dāsht was then made out and was signed and sealed by the officials concerned. At this stage it was called a ta‘līqa. It was handed over to those who required it. It was sufficient for matters of daily routine and of minor importance to be executed when the document was at the stage of yād-dāsht, or ta‘līqa, for it did not require the royal seal.

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فرمان ثبتی

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Farmān-i-thabtī:

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But in the case of appointments to higher posts such as vakīl, dīvān, qāḍī, and for appointments to jāgīrs with military service (jāgīr-i-tankhwāh, or dāgh-va-maḥallī), or without it (bī-dāgh-va-maḥallī), or for enhancement (iḍāfa) in the manṣab, or for conferring soyūrghāl, the order which was termed farmān-i-thabtī, had to proceed further. Every order of this nature had to pass through the dīvān, the bakhshī, and the ṣāḥib-i-taujīh (military accountant).

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یرلیغ داغ

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Yarlīgh-i-dāgh:

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For example, in the case of a jāgīr grant with military service conferred on a manṣabdār in lieu of a salary (jāgīr-i-tankhwāh), the candidate applied through some noble to the Emperor. The first document in this respect is the iltimās or ‘arḍ-dāsht, and reading it out by the pīshkār, called the farḍ-i-su’vāl. In a tajvīz-nāma, some amīr would sometimes recommend the case of the candidate. After a farḍ-i-ḥaqīqat i.e. office statement about the candidate’s name and place had been prepared in the office of the dīvān-i-tan, it was placed before the dīvān-i-a‘lā. The dīvān-i-a‘lā submitted it to the Emperor.

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داخل واقعه نمایند

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If the Emperor ordered the grant of a jāgīr to the applicant, the dīvān-i-a‘lā endorsed the ḥaqīqat with the following words: dākhil-i-vāqi‘a numāyand (incorporate with the report of events). The attested copy (taṣdīq) served then as a voucher for the relevant office, in this case the dīvān-i-tan, to prepare a siyāha-daul or an estimate of the candidate’s salary fixed in accordance with the dastūr al-‘amal of the emoluments of the ta‘īnatiyān i.e. manṣabdārs, and the name of the pargana (a fiscal unit) from which the grantee had to receive the amount. The siyāha-daul was handed over to the vāqi‘a-nivīs to prepare the yād-dāsht.

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خاصه، و مردم برآورد نمایند

کارگران این شغل چهره نویسی کنند

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After the yād-dāsht reached the stage of ta‘līqa repeating the same procedure as described above, it was sent to the bakhshī with whose office the grant was particularly concerned. He endorsed it either on the back or the corner of the draft with the words: khāṣṣa, va mardum barāvard numāyand; kārgarān-i-īn-shughl chihra-nivīsī kunand.

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When the dārūgha of the dāgh submitted the dāgh-nāma, and the amīn-i-dastak completed the chihra-nāma of the tābīnān, the bakhshī issued a sarkhaṭṭ, while the ta‘līqa was deposited in his office. On the basis of the sarkhaṭṭ, the dīvān-i-a‘lā prepared a report concerning the account of the salary due on it per mensem and per annum, and referred it to the Emperor.

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تعلیقۀ تن بنویسند

ثبت نمایند

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If the Emperor confirmed his previous order to confer a jāgīr on the candidate (sar-afrāz bāshad), the following words were written on top of the report: ta‘līqa-i-tan binavīsand. On the draft of this “certificate of salary,” the dīvān-i-a‘lā endorsed the words: thabt numāyand; it was then sealed by him, together with the bakhshī and the accountant of the dīvān when the Imperial farmān was drafted outside.

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The draft thus completed, was again signed by the dīvān. The ta‘līqa-yi-tan was sent to the ṣāḥib-i-taujīh who inscribed the details of the farmān i.e. order according to the draft made by the munshīs of the dār al-inshā’. The draft being the real farmān for the grant of a jāgīr was sealed and endorsed by all the officials concerned. The royal seal was put near the ṭughrā on the top of the farmān. The two first lines were abbreviated.

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برات

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Barāt (a draft)

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A cheque certificate for cash payment to the workmen of the royal buyūtāt followed the same procedure of an ordinary farmān. After the paper had been signed by the nāẓir, who endorsed with the words naql girifta shud [نقل گرفته شد], it was handed over to the dīvān-i-buyūtāt. After it had passed through the hands of the bakhshīs and the dīvān, it was sealed and signed by the khān-i-sāmān. The usual sign of his daftar was: qalamī numāyand [قلمی نمایند] (let them write it). The paper repeated the same procedure again before it reached the final stage. In some cases of payments to the employees of the khāliṣa-yi-sharīfa, the scale was sanctioned by the madār al-mahāmm (chief minister) with the words: manẓūr dārad [منظور دارد], to which was added by the dīvān-i-buyūtāt: i‘tibār numāyand [اعتبار نمایند].

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Farmāns of land assignments:

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There were various categories of state land-holdings during the period of the Mughals particularly in the forms of (i) royal appanages; (ii) service grants; (iii) in‘ām grants; and (iv) subsistence allowance or suyūrghāl.

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Since the first category of land assignments concerns the Crown lands or khāliṣa-yi-sharīfa, it did not necessarily bring the Mughal Chancellery into motion. Such grants were dealt with by the office of the dīvān-i-khāliṣa and in cases of grievances, by the members of the Royal family who issued ḥukm or nishān to the officials concerned.

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(ii) Service grants:

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(a) جاگیر تنخواه

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(a) Jāgīr-i-tankhwāh:

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As has been described above, a jāgīr-i-tankhwāh was conferred on a manṣabdār in lieu of his salary for a specific period.

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(b) جاگیر بی داغ و محلی

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(b) Jāgīr-i-bī-dāgh-u-maḥallī or Tiyül (toyūl):

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Contrary to the view expressed by H. Blochmann that the holder of a jāgīr without military service had nothing to do with the collection of government taxes of the parganas, there is documentary evidence that such a grant constitutes a counterpart of obligations on the part of the grantee. The assignee of a jāgīr of this nature was ordered to collect the revenue to be transmitted to the royal treasury. In this line we can multiply other kinds of jāgīr grants with counterpart of obligations made in terms of the income by way of zamīndārī, chaudhrā’ī, sardēshmukhī and sometimes in the guise of an in‘ām as nagar-sēthī (headman-ship). In cases, as is understandable, if the grant involved obligations to the Imperial Exchequer and revenue, the dīvānī was the proper office to deal with such assignments.

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(iii) انعام

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(iii) In‘ām-grants:

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A distinction, however, should be made between the various kinds of in‘ām-grants, which in all cases are made in terms of the revenue of a pargana of a fiscal unit in perpetuity.

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جاگیر معافی

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(a) Jāgīr-i-mu‘āfī:

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It was partially rent-free tenure of land-grant in hereditary and perpetual occupation inclusive of the sons and dependents of the original grantee (bā-farzandān) with remission of certain government taxes, such as: bīgār, khāna-shumārī, sar-darakhtī, zīr-darakhtī (?) etc. This exemption was, however, conditional, since the grantee was required to utilise the in‘ām (dām) in public constructions such as, sarāy, pūra, katra etc. In some cases such in‘āms were granted for nānkārī to pargana officials as a maintenance to the them in hereditary [perpetuity].

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(b) ال تمغا

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(b) Al-tamghā:

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A word of foreign importation, it came to mean in India a grant under the red seal of the Emperor, or to which red ink was applied. It was one of the institutes of Chingīz Khān; Jahāngīr, the innovator of such grants in India, says that whenever his ancestors wished to bestow a jāgīr in proprietary right, they used to stamp the grant with the al-tamghā (or āl-tamghā) seal. Such land assignments were reserved for an officer who applied for a grant as state pension in his own home village (ba-jihat-i-vaṭan) in which he was born or desired to settle down.

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A grant of this kind was given in terms of the revenue (dām) of that particular pargana, in the guise of a gift (dar vajh-i-in‘ām) inclusive of (i) the children of the (original) grantee and in perpetuity of the offspring (نسلًا بعد نسلٍ و بطنًا بعد بطنٍ خالدًا ومخلّدًا); (ii) without any restrictions of peasants and partition (بلا قید اسامی و قسمت); (iii) with exemption from such government taxes as are included under the headings of māl-va-jihāt and ikhrājāt, inclusive of the taufīr and increase in the income on good cultivation (بمعافئ توفیر و آنچه از حسن تردّد در جمع آن بیفزاید). Such orders like any other farmān-i-thabtī had to pass through the office routine.

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(iv) سیورغال

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(iv) Subsistence allowance (soyūrghāl):

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It was a practice of all Muslim kings in the past to grant endowments to religious persons and institutions for subvention to subsistence, either in cash or in the form of rent-free tenures of lands. Such orders of grants issued from the chancellery were termed simply as farmān, but more precisely as manshūr, mithāl or farmān-i-ṭughrā. The general term used for the various grants and endowments during the time of the Mughals was the Mongol word soyūrghāl from “soyūrkhal” meaning hereditary grant.

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Allowances paid in cash were termed vaẓīfa, while the land assignments were classified into ayma, madad-i-ma‘āsh or milk. Such grants were intended to last for a lifetime or for more lives than one or were hereditary. The authority for conferring such grants was invested in the office of the chief ṣadr. The procedure through which a soyūrghāl for a land grant had to pass did not differ in details from the ordinary farmāns. After the ta‘līqa was inspected, sealed and signed by the mustaufī, it was handed over to the dīvān-i-sa‘ādat, who was the clerk and in charge of the finance of the office of the ṣadr. After it was sealed by other auxiliary authorities it was sent to the dīvān-i-kull for his seal and endorsement.

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(a) ایمه

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(a) Ayma:

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It is, however, difficult to ascertain the difference between the two identical grants made as madad-i-ma‘āsh and ayma. An ayma-grant was, however, a partially rent-free tenure of land conferred on a religious person or savant as subsidiary allowance, at a low rent or subject to a nominal quit-rent or salāmī. Although the aymadārs enjoyed immunity from certain government taxes, they were required to pay customary and occasional levies such as land tax and behrī (or baḥrī) for the upkeep of public works.

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(b) مدد معاش

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(b) Madad-i-ma‘āsh:

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The madad-i-ma‘āsh grants were made to pious foundations or to persons in consideration of poverty or discharging religious duties. In the first case entire villages (darūbast) were dedicated to the cause of such foundations for their upkeep and maintenance of the trustees (sajjāda-nishīns, mutavallīs etc.). In the case of persons having no means of livelihood from any other source (az muqarr-i-dīgar vajh-i-ma‘īshat) and devoted to prayers, the above grant was made with complete immunity from all government taxes and customary perquisites. Such grants made to ṣadrs, qāḍīs, muftīs, and muḥtasibs were conditional upon service, and as the facts stand were made hereditary.

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(c) وقف نامه

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(c) Vaqf-nāma:

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The royal order granting rent-free tenures of lands and entire villages (darūbast) dedicated to religious institutions such as the khānaqāh, imām-bāra, mausoleum, temple, dharam-sāla, gōristān (Christian cemetery) and the like, represents the vaqf-nāma of the Mughal period. The vaqf-nāma, which had to pass through office procedure like the farmāns of madad-i-ma‘āsh, contains the income of the auqāf in details with the allocation of the funds reserved for the langar-khāna in order to provide food for the inmates فقراء و مساکین و حافظان و طالبعلمان , celebration of the ‘urs, illumination i.e. shab-chirāgh and other recurring expenses. It also included the subsistence allowance of the trustees. All appointments to the trusteeship of Muslim endowments were made in the Imperial farmān, with the consultation of the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr.

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فرمان راهداری

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Farmān-i-rāhdārī:

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The Emperor in special cases issued in the form of a farmān, to facilitate conveyance and free transit and trade to the European travellers and foreign traders a permit (transit-visa), in the names of the ḥukkām (governors), jāgīrdārs, revenue-collectors, road-watchmen and road-guides. Like all other aḥkām-i-dīvānī, a farmān-i-rāhdārī was put to the office procedure; but in exceptional cases it was issued like other administrative farmāns (b), through some Prince or Vizier.

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A farmān-i-rāhdārī of this category is usually addressed to the administrators of the ports such as, the ḥukkām, ‘ummāl and mutaṣaddiyān of the present and future important affairs (muhimmāt) to give safe conduct to the traders and their agents in the territories within their charge. Those privileged and highly placed officials of the state also issued parvāna-yi-rāhdārī, called the dastak-i-rāhdārī in their office parlance.

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Section III

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Form, Language, and Style of the Farmāns:

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In the following pages an attempt is made to delineate the principal features of the original Mughal Farmāns with special reference to the aḥkām-i-dīvānī.

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(A) (i) Sar-nāma, (ii) Ṭughrā, (iii) Muhr, (iv) Alqāb, (v) Du‘ā and thanā’, (vi) Khiṭāb, (vii) Ta’kīd and tahdīd.

(B) Ḍimn
(C) Ta‘ẓīm for the Farmān
(D) Language and Style

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(A) (i) سرنامه

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(A) (i) Sar-nāma:

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The sacramental superscription, such as Huw al-Ghanī, Huwa, Allāhu Akbar or simply “Alif” and many other similar benedictory formulae which figure at the top of farmāns (and parvānachas), allude to the character of the order, craving the indulgence of its reader. Thus the formula Huw al-Fattāḥ, referring to one of the epithets of God makes it clear that the chart is a fatḥ-nāma.

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It is one of the rules of epistolography, as the great exponents have laid down, to begin every epistle with one of the names of Allāh as a token of blessing and benediction. “But the most agreeable device is to conjoin the name “Huwa” with such epithets describing the attributes of God as may be in keeping with the subject of the text”. Religion being the nerve centre of a Muslim’s life, all his human activities, in which he seeks his identification with the Divine Being, gravitates towards it. Judged in this light the consecrated observance of prefixing God’s name in the royal mandates tends to glorify the sovereign as one who is divine and God-like, sharing His attributes. Since he is the master of the world, “this great market place” and the khudāvand on earth, he has the authority for dispensing lands and possessions he owns from the Over-Lord.

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Jalāl al-Dīn Akbar, the founder of the Dīn-i-Ilāhī made a deliberate attempt to assume Divine incarnation by promulgating in his orders and coins ambiguous designs and suspicious formulae such as Allāhu-Akbar (God is Great), or as detractors construed it, “Akbar is Allāh,” and “Jalla Jalālahu” (Glorious is his glory). The formula Allāhu Akbar became almost the official motto f the Mughal chancellery. The author of the Munsha’āt-i-Namakīn, Qāsim Khān Namakīn, who served under Akbar, however, says that it was for the sake of brevity that the above form was used.

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In conclusion it may be submitted that what the opening sūra al-Fātiḥa is to the Koran, the sublime ideal of the Faith comprehending all the majestic qualities of God, the superscription is to the royal mandates.

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(ii) طغرا

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(ii) Ṭughrā:

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An innovation of the Seljuks, it was drawn on manshūrs and mithāls over the initial “bismillāh” by the ṭughrā’ī. The Mongols, as has already been referred to above, introduced their own device, the Turkish formula “sözimiz” or “sözümiz” in imitation of the Mongol “üge manu” (my word). This practice, which was followed by the Tartars and the Turcomans, survived in Persia down to Shāh Ṭahmāsp.

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The ṭughrā which crowns the royal farmāns was used as a visible symbol of the King’s majestic splendour. The name and titles of the Emperor are drawn elaborately in an ornamental style of calligraphy in which the letters are interwoven and the uprights are called “alifhā-yi-ṭughrā-yi-sulṭānī” marshalled in a processional rhythm. Usually a ṭughrā is designed in a square drawn with vermillion (shanjarf) or liquid gold (āb-i-ṭilā).

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(iii) مهر

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(iii) Muhr:

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The practice of using seals and signet rings in order to lend legal authority to documents is very ancient. There are references to it in the Koran and other Scriptures; this must have consecrated the practice of affixing seals to correspondence and social and commercial contracts amongst people. “It was in imitation of the Prophet, that the Caliphs and the ḥukkām sealed their epistles and edicts (makātīb-va-manāshīr).”

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The dīvān al-khātam of the Umayyads, as a distinct department of the royal signet presupposes the existence of the post of Lord Privy Seal. The office of the muhr-dār existed throughout the Muslim rule in India and West Asia, but remained as it seems a subordinate post. The custodian of the imperial seal under the Sultanate, as one of the officials of the court. The farmān-i-ṭughrā for land grants in milk and the aḥkām-i-tauqī‘ or letters patent to appointments, were sealed by the highly ornamented ṭughrā seal and the tauqī‘ of the Sulṭān respectively.

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For soyūrghāl grants and other orders connected with the chancery of Bābur, a large round lineal seal was used containing the name of the Emperor in a ring with the names of his ancestors up to Tīmūr in an outer circle round about.

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The Ā’īn-i-Akbarī, refers to a number of seals used in Akbar’s time. The great seal called muhr-i-muqaddas-i-kalān was used at first only for diplomatic correspondence and later on for all purposes. All grants of land in soyūrghāl were in fact invariably sealed with the great seal, a practice which was followed in the succeeding periods also.

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A small round seal known as the Chaghatā’ī name of ūzuk was reserved for the farmān-i-thabtī (for appointments to higher posts only). The ūzuk seems to have been associated with that dynasty since long as the family signet-ring. It was for this reason given in charge of the royal ladies to be kept in the female apartments of the palace, or to some very highly placed favourite of the Emperor, such as the Amīr al-umarā’.

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راستی موجب رضای خداست
کس ندیدم که گم شد از راه راست

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For other orders a square seal was engraved with the suspicious legend of: Allāhu Akbar Jalla Jalāluhu. A special seal was used for all matters connected with the seraglio, whilst another was cut in a miḥrābī form for judicial transactions. Round the name of the Emperor Akbar, the following verse was engraved: Rāstī mūjib-i-riḍā-yi-Khudā ast; kas nadīdam ki gum shud az rāh-i-rāst.

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The āl-tamghā was of a peculiar stamp introduced by Jahāngīr for special grants of jāgīrs in proprietary right. Some of the original Farmāns of the Emperor issued for soyūrghāl grants bear either the impression of the great seal, or of a rectangular genealogical seal. From a Farmān of Shāh Jahān appointing a qāḍī, it appears that a square seal dynastic in character was reserved for such ecclesiastical matters. In beauty of technique and exquisiteness of calligraphy, the great and the square seals of Shāh Jahān bear witness to his aesthetic sense which was not confined only to sandstones and marbles.

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(iv) القاب , (v) دعا و ثنا

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(iv) Alqāb, (v) Du‘ā and Thanā’

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بابر: فردوس مکانی

همایون: جنت آشیانی

اکبر: عرش آشیانی

جهانگیر: جنت مکانی

شاهجهان: اعلیحضرت فردوس آشیانی، صاحبقران ثانی

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Great formality was observed in the proper and suitable official titles to be used for the Royalty and particular persons. The honorary epithets and complimentary terms were chosen in close identification with the profession, rank and dignity of the addressee. Such was the glorification of the Mughal Emperors (and almost all the Muslim sovereigns and princes) that each of them was designated with interminable chains of supernatural application, divine titles and adulatory epithets. They were remembered by special posthumous titles each “nestling and having his abode in the empyrean or paradise”. Thus Bābur was remembered as Firdaus-makānī; Humāyūn: Jannat-āshiyānī; Akbar: ‘Arsh-āshiyānī; Jahāngīr: Jannat-makānī; and Shāh Jahān: A‘lā-ḥaḍrat Firdaus-āshiyānī, Ṣāḥib-qirān-i-thānī.

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The official titles and complimentary epithets of each official of the State were fixed and entered in the Dastūr al-‘amals. Some of the titles conferred on the “highly favoured amīrs”, as Bābur observes in his Memoirs, “had a permanent stability in Hindūstān”; such as, Khān-i-Khānān and Khān-i-Jahān. During the rule of the Mughals, the title Khān was the most common of all that were conferred on the grandees of the Empire, down to the ordinary manṣabdārs of two hundred commands. Certainly it is the honorary epithet and the complimentary phraseology woven harmoniously into the texture of the titles that distinguish a Khān-i-Khānān from an ordinary Khān. Titles with the suffix “jang” as Fīrūz-jang came to be used with Jahāngīr, while the “daula”, so much popular with the Ghaznavids and the Buyids was instituted by Shāh Jahān. Sulṭān was the official appellation for the Mughal Princes, which seems to have replaced Mīrzā, as the Bādshāh-zādas were commonly styled.

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The Emperors in their Farmāns addressed to the Princes, besides passing parental epithets upon them such as, “qurra(t)-yi-Bāṣira-yi-daulat-va-iqbāl” (the coolness of the eye of Empire and prosperity), “ghurra-yi-nāṣiya-yi-‘aẓamat-va-jalāl” (the star [brightness] on the forehead of grandeur and glory), conferred titles such as “buland-iqbāl” (for Dārā Shikūh), “Bādshāhzāda-yi-jahān-va-jahāniyān” (for Shujā‘) and the like. In the State papers the Princes are usually mentioned thus: “Nuvvāb-i-qudsī-alqāb”, “Jahān-bānī”, “Jahān-sitānī-Shāhzāda-yi-‘ālam-i-‘ālamiyān”.

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Similarly the highest officials and the nobles of the Court were all assigned high-flown titles and Nouns of comparison (ism-i-tafḍīl). Each was likened to a support or prop (i‘tiḍād) of the vault on which rested the Empire. The vizier variously called Jumlat-al-mulkī or Jumlat al-mulk Madār al-mahāmm, being the centre of the important affairs, was accompanied by a retinue of rhyming adjectives such as:

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(i) افادت و افاضت پناه اقبال و اجلال دستگاه اعتضاد السلطنة فرمان روائی و اعتماد الخلافة کشور کشائی مجتهد خواقین سلطنت عظمیٰ مشید ارکان خلافت کبریٰ ناظم امور شاهنشاهی منظم مهام بادشاهی دستور معظم وزیر اعظم نواب جمدة الملکی مدار المهامی علامی فهامی ... ـ

For the Bakhshī al-mulkī:

(ii) سیادت پناه اقبال و اجلال دستگاه عمدة الملک رکن السلطنة العلیة العالیه مؤتمن الدولة الباهره منظم امور شاهنشاهی عالیجاهی بخشی الملکی ... ـ

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The clergy and the saintly-scholars such as qāḍīs, ṣadrs and those belonging to superior ethnical denominations such as sayyids and shaykhs are mentioned with reverence and associated with them is a halo of veneration. Compound adjectives are used to qualify the said persons. For example: Sharī‘at-ma’āb (a home of Muhammedan Law); Faḍīlat-iktisāb (acquiring excellences); Taqvā-shi‘ār (clad in the inner garment of piety); Diyānat-dithār (wrapt in the upper garment of integrity) and the like.

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Hindu subordinates are always remembered thus:

زبدة الاماثل والاقران قابل مرحمت والاحسان مطیع الاسلام

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The Emperor is equally generous in the titles by which he addresses the vassal kings in his farmāns (a). In the farmāns (a) and manshūrs, the thanā’ usually ends with another epithet, an Arabic compound, as Mubāriz al-Dīn or Shujā‘ al-Dīn, which is followed by the proper name of the addressee and an assurance of the royal favours. The du‘ā as a precedent is omitted in the administrative farmāns (b & c) and the aḥkām-i-dīvānī of appointments and land-grants, which is a feature of the farmāns (a) and the manshūrs. On the contrary in the farmāns of soyūrghāls a desire is expressed that the grantee should offer prayers “for the daily increasing fortune” and “the perpetuation of the August Empire.”

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(vi) خطاب

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(vi) Khiṭāb:

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The Mughal Chancellery adopted for its model the chancellery practice of Central Asia and Persia. The aḥkām-i-dīvānī of the Mughals bear striking similarity to those of the Mongols, Turcomans and the Timurids in close adherence to common idioms and forms of expression. The traditional form of the farmān, the conventional phrases and formulae and the clerical style in vogue in those chancelleries were transplanted to India by Bābur and Humāyūn. They gained currency under them and became the standard language of the Mughal Chancellery during the subsequent rulers of that dynasty. It is in the soyūrghāls of the Mughals that parallels in the set-up of terminology and the cliché and harmony in tone are noticeable to a greater degree. The complex procedure employed in the drafting described above followed the practice and pattern of the above chancelleries.

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It was a traditional practice of the Muslim chancelleries that a farmān (or a manshūr) was addressed by the king to his own relatives and officials, such as his brothers, sons, amīrs, ḥukkām, dārūghas, ‘ummāl, mubāshirs of the matters of sulṭānī, mutaṣaddīs of the affairs of dīvānī, a‘yān (dignitaries), ashrāf (nobility), kadkhudās (village headmen), and the rest of the population informing them of his decision, the purpose of the issue of the Imperial order, and enjoining upon them the execution of the royal command accordingly.

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Such preambles of address as appear also in the Turcoman and Safavid documents figure in the farmāns (A & B) of the Mughals, though less carefully graded. From the time of Akbar, the aḥkām-i-dīvānī record a slight departure from the conventions of the chancellery practices. The monotonous tone of the stylized language of the chancellery, and the rigidity of the form of the farmāns gradually took new turns. As new conditions set in, a new office terminology and jargon evolved in the Indian milieu, only to be grafted on to the old ones. It is to be admitted at the same time, that it was only a slight shifting here and there in the arrangement of the arkān (to quote Khwāja Jahān), and such minor changes which gave the Mughal documents a new colour and pattern; on the whole it was a Persian miniature in an Indian setting.

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It is to be noted here that most of the administrative orders such as, farmān-i-mulkī-va-mālī, farmān-i-bayāḍī and even farmān-i-rāhdārī open in the khiṭāb after the style of the edicts of the foreign chancelleries. Examples:

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(i) حکام و عمال حال و استقبال

(ii) متصدیان مهمات حال و استقبال

(iii) حکام کرام و عمال کفایت فرجام و متصدیان مهمات ... ـ

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In the case of most of the aḥkām-i-dīvānī pertaining to land grants etc., the part which contains the Emperor’s address tends to occupy the middle of the text, as was the practice of the earliest Muslim chancelleries, for instance of the Seljuks and the Khwārazmiyān. It is usually linked with the ta’kīd and tahdīd. Such farmāns do not have any specific or common openings, but in most cases they begin thus:

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(i) چون بعرض مقدس رسید ... ـ

(ii) درین وقت حکم فرمودیم

(iii) درین وقت (زمان) فرمان عالیشان (فرمان جهان مطاع واجب الاتباع) شرف نفاذ یافت

(iv) چون بموجب فرمان عالیشان (سعادت نشان) (واجب الاذعان) (سعادت عنوان) شرف صدور و عزِّ ورود یافت

(v) چون (در باب ترویج و رونق لنگر خانه) رعایت و مراقبت حال سالکان مسالک حقیقت و رهروان مناهج تقویٰ و صلاحت ... میدانیم لهذا درینولا فرمان عالیشان مرحمت عنوان ... ـ

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(vii) تأکید و تهدید

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(vii) Ta’kīd and Tahdīd:

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Most of the officials in the Imperial service were paid by means of assignments of the revenue of a specified area, called jāgīr or tiyūl, conferred for a specific time in lieu of salary and with the counterpart of obligations imposed upon the grantee. Farmāns of such assignments, although they stand in contrast to the soyūrghāls and other in‘ām-grants which conferred “immunity”, or were only partially rent free, still embody certain features in the form identical with the latter. The distinction was mainly of procedure. In both cases the local officials under threat of responsibility were required to execute the royal command accordingly and recognise the legal possession as decreed. The ta’kīd and tahdīd assume the same tone in the farmāns of both categories. These become more explicit and emphatic in the administrative farmāns belonging to the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī (b & c) and the aḥkām-i-dīvānī.

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A comparative study of all the farmāns, particularly those relating to soyūrghāl, available in original and copies tell the story of the stereotyped practice of the Mughal chancellery. These farmāns of madad-i-ma‘āsh reflect the monotonous “refrain” of the office jargon, and present such a monochromatic picture that each fits in one and the same rigid frame-work. To analyse one, therefore, is to cover all. The ta’kīd and tahdīd in the soyūrghāl documents, as in the case of other aḥkām-i-dīvānī, for the sake of emphasis (ta’kīd) take the forms of tautological and synonymous expressions. The local officials of the present and future are enjoined:

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(i) To act according to what has been “couched in writing” (ḥasb al-masṭūr).

(ii) They shall observe the continuance and maintenance (istimrār-va-istiqrār) of the most holy exalted order of the Emperor.

(iii) They shall not introduce into its disposition or prescribed rules (qavā‘id) any changes or alterations (taghyīr-va-tabdīl).

(iv) They shall not importune or molest (muzāḥim-va-muta‘arriẓ nabāshad, or muzāḥamat narasānad) or demand (muṭālabatī nakunand) on any account government taxes (māl-va-jihāt) and other demands (sā’ir-jihāt).

(v) But consider them as being exempted in every respect (min-kullī-vujūh-mu‘āf-va-musallam-va-marfū‘ al-qalam).

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(vi) And shall not present any draft for payment (ḥavālāt) of these taxes and imposts.

(vii) They shall not hover around the land of the assignee (pīrāmūn nagardand).

(viii) They shall not go beyond the due limits of what has been ordered (az farmūda dar naguzarand).

(ix) And consider it as obligation (dar ‘uhda sināsand).

(x) They shall not demand every year a new farmān or parvānacha (mujaddad naṭalaband).

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It is to be noted that except in special circumstances, the tahdīd does not prescribe any particular punishment as it appears in the farmāns of the Turcomans and Safavids.

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(B) ضمن

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(B) Ḍimn:

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The verso of the chancellery charts contains the ḍimn by which is meant a résumé of the elaborate office procedure at different stages of the vāqi‘a, the yād-dāsht o the vāqi‘a and the taṣdīq. This gives a technical exposition of the office routine adopted in the drafting and the issue of the order. At the same time, it gives an insight into the inner working of the chancellery, which seems to have co-ordinated the functions of various other offices at the provinces. The following details emerge after a study of original farmāns:

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(a) شرح یادداشت واقعه

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(a) Sharḥ-i-yād-dāsht-i-vāqi‘a:

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(i) The vāqi‘a of such and such date of the month of (Persian calendar) in the Ilāhī year: OR: … the year of the julūs-i-humāyūn: or: mubārak, corresponding to (muvāfiq: or: muṭābiq) the date and day of the month of Hijrī (era);

(ii) recorded in the risāla of the (siyādat-va-niqābat-panāh-va-ṣadārat-dastgāh, in the case of soyūrghāl grants): OR: in the register of the Vizier, Prince or any Noble of the Court (during his duty of the chaukī);

(iii) by the “least amongst the slaves of the Court” (kamtarīn-i-bandagān: or: khānadāzān-i-dargāh), the Vāqi‘a-nivīs … , during his turn (naubat) of the diary day to the effect that;

(iv) the facts of the assignee or the grantee were submitted to the Emperor (ba-‘arḍ: or: ba-naẓar-i-ashraf-aqdas-a‘lā guzasht), and the Imperial order was passed to the effect that (ḥukm-i-jahān-muṭā‘ āftāb-shu‘ā ṣādir shud) …

(v) Résumé of the text of the farmān (on the recto) recorded (qalamī shud) ipsissima verba according to the: taṣdīq-i-yād-dāsht.

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(b) Endorsements:

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(i) Sharḥ ba-khaṭṭ-i-Jumlat-al-mulkī: or: ‘Umdat-al-mulkī Madār al-mahāmm that “let it be incorporated in the record of events” (dākhil-i-vāqi‘a numāyand). (In some cases it is endorsed also likewise by the Ṣadr).

(ii) Sharḥ-i-ḥāshiya in the hand of the Vāqi‘a-nivīs that, “it is according to the vāqi‘a” (muṭābiq-i-vāqi‘a ast).

(iii) Sharḥ in the hand of the Jumlat-al-mulkī Madār-al-mahāmm, i.e. Prime Minister, “let it be submitted again” (ba-‘arḍ-i-mukarrar rasānīd).

(iv) Sharḥ in the hand of one of the favourites of the Court (muqarrab al-ḥaḍrat) that: “it was again submitted (and confirmed)” (mukarrar ba-‘arḍ-i-a‘lā-ashraf rasīd).

(v) Sharḥ in the hand of the Jumlat-al-mulkī Madār-al-mahāmm that: “let them write the august order” (farmān-i-‘ālīshān qalamī numāyand).

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(c) Seals

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Every minister and principal official indicated his respective endorsement by affixing his round seal, containing his name or official title, with an expression of his devotion to the Emperor though such humble words as: fidvī or banda.

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(d) نشانهای دفتر

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(d) Nishānīhā-yi-daftar:

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(i) The personal assistants (pīshdastān) of the ministers and the clerks (mutaṣaddiyān) of the departments also made hieroglyphic entries on the margin of the ḍimn indicated by peculiar marks of distinction, for example the pīshdast of the Prime Minister wrote, “kamā faṣlat” below the endorsement of the latter. Approbation and corrections were indicated thus: ىىص or by such words as “bayḍ” and “ص”. The peculiar sign ۵ : on the recto stands for “faqaṭ.”

(ii) Ṣād-i-khāṣṣ: In order to comply with a personal request made by the Madār al-mahāmm (صاد خاص بنام اعلی مزین شود که فرمان والا شان بدهد ىىص) in the ḍimn, the Emperor endorsed it thus, “ىىص”, which was indicative of the extent of the honour and favour he desired to confer on the grantee of the farmān.

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(e) سباق

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(e) Sabāq:

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In some cases, relevant extracts from cognate sanads issued previously, or other documents such as, iltimās, tajvīz-nāma and ḥaqīqat submitted to the Emperor or to the daftars were incorporated into the ḍimn.

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(f) سیاق

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(f) Siyāq:

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In the case of soyūrghāl and al-tamghā grants, the ḍimn contains detail of the land apportioned to the grantee, or to the beneficiaries if any, with the names of the places and nature of the plots, whether belonging to the khāliṣa or jāgīr lands, of which the grant holder had to take possession. The measurement was made in terms of bīghas and recorded in the siyāq notations.

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(C) Ta‘ẓīm for the Farmān:

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The Mughal Emperor’s power as a ruler was “absolute and indivisible”; his Court was “as magnificent as heaven (āsmān-jāh)”, “an asylum for men (khalā’iq-panāh)”, and his every order was “to be obeyed by the world (jahān-muṭā‘) and obligatory to be obeyed (vājib al-ittibā‘)”. Such were the conventional and time-honoured phrases with which every Imperial order began and “received the honour of penetration” (sharaf-i-nafādh).

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Every farmān of the Emperor commanded great reverence and respect from the recipient. Similarly letters from kings were presented after many formalities, obeisance and salutations made by the envoys in accordance with the customs and usages of respective countries. After the pīshkash was brought and respects were paid, the messenger had to stand a full arrow-shot off to make his obeisance and salutations according to the custom of Hindūstān. He was to make three genuflexions in accordance with the usage of Turan, before he advanced to present the letter brought from his master to the Mughal Emperor.

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In the case of a farmān-i-bayāḍī, and other royal honours, the recipient had to proceed a proper distance outside the town to receive the messenger. Sometimes a vassal prince would receive the farmān (a) in a mansion built for that purpose outside his capital, which was called “farmān-barī” or farmān-bādī. A more anxious or zealous vassal, in order to register his goodwill and obeisance to his over-lord, would be willing to make a thousand salāms in his honour.

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In such a case he was received by the envoy of the Emperor, who would hold grand ceremonies and performed various rituals. The recipient, after making obeisance from a distance to the throne, on which were placed the royal insignia, viz. the Royal Farmān and the sword to signify the presence of the Emperor and the khil‘at from him, advanced bare-footed to make many respectful salāms. He stood there till the Emperor’s envoy placed the farmān on his hands and presented the robe of honour to him. He made several other salutations and obeisance as thanksgiving to the Emperor. After the ceremony was over, a convivial party was held in which betel-leaf (pān) and perfumes were served. At times a recipient would not only place the farmān on his head, but would go so far as making sijda before it.

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(D) Language and Style:

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It appears from the following remark of Khwāja Jahān that the conventions of the chancellery draughtsmanship and epistolary style were so strictly adhered to, that any literary digression, responding to the call of newer literary and social tendencies, was looked upon as an innovation or literary degradation. He notes to his great displeasure a digression from the prescribed rules and form (dastūr-va-uslūb) of epistolary composition; and an unwarranted omission of certain arkān, for instance taḥmīd (praise of God) and ṣalāt (benediction) in the tauqī‘āt, such as farmāns, manshūrs and mithāls. In this context he mentions the mithāls of the viziers which contain a few sentences of compliments thrown at the mursal-ilayhi, and after a short du‘ā, a lapse is made to the royal command.

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بدان که در زمان دولت سلاطین سلف مساطیر وزرا به تعظیمی که ما تحت فرمان است به طریق مذکور مشرّف بود تا عظمت و حشمت وزرا در قلوب عمّال و رعایا متمکّن باشد و به واسطۀ هیبت و عِزّ قوام امور بر وفق مرام وزرا میسّر گردد و از زمان ظهور و خروج چنگیزخان الی هذا الآن اسلوب مذکور متروک است و طریق وزارت بر نمط ازمنۀ ماضِیه غیر مسلوک، چه این زمان در اوّل مثال یکی یا دو فقره در مدح مرسل الیه مثال می نویسند و بعد از آن دعایی و بعد از آن حکمی که مقصود از ارسال مثال آن است و مناشیر سلطانی نیز از ذکر تحدید و صلوات معرّاست و فرامین نیز از اسلوب دستور، و اکثر ارکان مذکور مبرّا و ملاحظۀ فرامین این زمان بر صدق این دعوی شاهد صادق و سند مطابق است. ـ

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Such mithāls of his time, as he says, “stand out as inferior as against those of the viziers of the ancient rulers (masāṭir) and sulṭāns, the dignified style and grandiose diction of which struck awe of the pomp and splendour of the viziers into the hearts of the ‘ummāl and the ra‘iyat.”

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Judging from the standard of Khwāja Jahān’s estimate, and examining in the light of the established conventions and rules of epistolography, epistolary composition as practiced under the Mughals would hardly present a true picture within the traditional frame-work. Omission of arkān and shurūṭ is frequently noticeable in the tauqī‘āt, while the language and style vary according to the nature of a document, it importance and expedition, and of course with the rank, social status and profession of the addressee.

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هر نوع خصوصیّت که مقام (مقتضای آن است، کلام) مشتمل بر آن خصوصیّت باشد، یعنی اگر مخاطَب بلیغ باشد و منکر به قدرِ مرتبۀ انکار مخاطَب کلام مؤکد باشد اگر انکار بسیار باشد، تأکید بیشتر و اگر تأکید انکار کم تر باشد تأکید نیز کم تر، و اگر مخاطب غبی باشد یعنی مدرِک لطافت و بلاغت نباشد فراخور عبادت او کلام ملقی باشد

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“A proper composition (tarkībī-yi-lā’iq) and a super disposition (tartībī-yi-fā’iq) ought to be brought in the thread of interpretation in order of the rank of each person ranging from a sulṭān to a plebeian.” The language and style of the royal orders “ought to conform with the particularity (khuṣūṣiyat), which the occasion calls for. That is, if the addressee (mukhāṭab) is eloquent, but is one who repudiates (munkir) the royal command the language ought to be forceful to the extent of his disavowal (inkār). In the case of a block-headed (ghabī) addressee, who cannot comprehend the delicacies of balāghat, the language ought to be downright.”

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The Mughal Chancellery, it appears, had modulated its tone in language and style according to the temper of the occasion. It assumes a high-flown language, sonorous diction and inflated style in the manshūrs and farmāns (a) to feudatories and subordinates. On the whole the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī composed by the great Munshīs and Viziers of the Mughal Emperors, are verbose, ornate and figurative. In this respect “the form of the composition (ḥilyat-i-‘ibārat) is, what the exponents of the art desire to be, ornamented with the elegance of words and dignity of meaning (jamīl al-lafẓ va jalīl al-ma‘nā).”

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Since there was red tape and tedious procedure through which most of the aḥkām-i-dīvānī passed, they followed a definite tradition of the chancellery. The Mughals could do little to add to the technical phraseology and formulae borrowed from outside India, except a juxtaposition in their arrangement. The aḥkām-i-dīvānī of the Mughals, like those of the Mongols and the Turcomans stand out as inferior in language and style as against the manāshīr-i-dīvānī of the early Muslim chancelleries.

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The erudite styles of Bahā’-al-Dīn Baghdādī and Muntajab-al-Dīn Badī‘ Atābeg al-Juvaynī attain to that standard of inshā’ which is expected in that art by great munshīs. Their compositions are what Shams al-Munshī al-Nakhjuvānī desires to be “adduced with the verses of the Koran, Traditions, histories and annals (akhbār-va-āthār), proverbs, couplets, strange stories, wonderful fables, exhortations (mavā’iẓ), and instructions”. Their writing reflects the religious temper of the age, the ethics of the official life and the morals of society.

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Compared to this the farmāns of the Mughals tend to assume a business-like attitude in the guise of courtly style but under the mantle of vague threats and illusory promises and rewards. The language of the soyūrghāl-farmāns almost in all cases is unctuous, sanctimonious, assuming divine actions. On the whole the style in the aḥkām-i-dīvānī is unimposing. The language of the soyūrghāl-farmāns, for example was ambiguously worded sometimes. In cases where a farmān was met with subterfuge, the subsequent farmāns on these occasions acquire a forceful style.

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The royal phraseology which echoed from the literary vanity and the scratching of the hired pen of the munshīs, was strictly adhered to and jealously guarded by the Emperors. Even the highest nobles of the Empire could not dare to appropriate this prerogative, or presume to begin parvānas or epistles with the phrase, “By the miracle-working command,” for they did not possess the power of working miracles. It was a royal prerogative and as such even those Mughal rulers who were no more than puppets – holding an empire stretching between their tottering throne and the receding waters of the river Jumna could issue then “Farmān-i-‘ālī-shān vājib-al-idh‘ān.”

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To illustrate fully the points discussed so far, subjoined herewith are:

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(i) A Soyūrghāl of Bābur dated A.H. 933 / A.D. 1527, being one of the earliest Mughal documents in original, and

(ii) A Farmān-i-thabtī (letter patent) of Shāh Jahān dated A.H. 1038 / A.D. 1629.

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A Soyūrghāl of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur

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هو الغنی

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Sarnāma: He is Independent

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فرمان ظهیر الدین محمد بابر غازی

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‘Unvān: The royal order of Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur, the Victor in the Holy War

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ظهیر الدین محمد بابر

بن عمر شیخ بن سلطان ابی سعید بن محمد مرزا بن میران شاه بن امیر تیمور

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Seal: (Inner circle) – Ẓahīr al-Dīn Muḥammad Bābur

(Outer circle) – b. ‘Umar Shaykh b. Sulṭān Abū Sa‘īd b. Muḥammad Mirzā b. Mīrān Shāh b. Amīr Tīmūr

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درین وقت فرمان جهانمطاع واجب الاتباع نفاذ یافت که چون موضع سحهرکل بیدوری [؟] از پرگنۀ وتاله که جمع رقمیِ آن مبلغ پنجهزار تنکۀ سیاه است برسم سیورغال تعلق بقاضی جلال قاضیِ پرگنۀ مذکور است پنداشته حالا برهماندستور بدو متعلق شناسند و بعلت مال و جهات و سایر متوجهات مزاحم ومتعرض مشارالیه نشود و تعرض نرسانند و حوالتی ننمایند فرمان [؟] [را] برینموجب مقرر دانسته بتقدیم رسانند و هر ساله بفرمان و پروانچۀ مجدد محتاج ندارند نیز [؟] درین باب بعرض [...] تحریر شد شهر ذی قعده سیزدهم سنه ۹۳۳ ھ

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On this occasion the world-obeyed [and] obligatory to be obeyed order received the honour of penetration [to the effect that] whereas, the village(?) from the pargana Vatala [Batala], the revenue amount of which is a sum of five thousand tanka-yi-siyāh, belongs to Qāḍī Jalāl, the [acting] qāḍī of the said pargana in the manner of hereditary grant (b); having considered [this fact], they [the revenue officials] shall now consider it as belonging to him in the same manner. And they shall neither molest nor oppose the aforesaid on any account of māl-va-jihāt and other mutavajjahāt (c), nor shall they hinder or present a draught [on any account of these taxes and imposts]. They shall carry it out in conformity with this royal order, and shall not need every year a new farmān and parvānacha. In this respect [lacunae]…. Written on the 13, Dhu’l-qa‘da 933 [A.H.].

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Verso (i.e. ḍimn)

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[Several seal impressions and endorsements showing the Chancellery procedure].

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پروانچۀ دستور الاعاظم الصدور العظام بلاد اسلام بین الانام شیخ زین خوافی

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Round seal of: Zayn al-Dīn Khawāfī

[The parvānacha of Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn Khawāfī, the highest priest or great ṣadr of the Islamic cities amongst men]

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A Farmān-i-thabtī (Letter patent) of Shāh Jahān

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الله اکبر

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Sarnāma: God is Great

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فرمان ابی المظفر شهاب الدین محمد شاه جهان غازی صاحبقران ثانی

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Ṭughrā: The Royal Order of Abu’l-Muẓaffar Shihāb al-Dīn Muḥammad Shāh Jahān, the Victor in the Holy War, the Lord of Auspicious Conjunction, II.

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Square seal: (Containing the chain of genealogy up to Amīr-i-Tīmūr, Ṣāḥib-qirān).

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چون بعرض رسید که قضای پرگنۀ ملانوه سرکار لکنو صوبۀ اود بقاضی بایزید مقرر بوده و او فوت شده درینولا حکم جهان مطاع گردون ارتفاع شرف اصدار و عز ایراد یافت که قضای پرگنه مذکور بشریعت مآب فضیلت اکتناب قاضی برخوردار ولد متوفی مذکور متعلق باشد که کتابت بلوازم امر مذکور بتیام و اقدام نموده در قطع و فصل معاملات و مخاصمات و عقود نکحه مع الولی و بلا ولی و قسمت ترکات و کتابت صکوک و سجلات بسرموی از منهاج شرع شریف و ملت حنیف تخلف جایز ندارد. ـ

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Since it reached our hallowed view that Qāḍī Bāyazīd [to whom] was assigned the qāḍīship of the pargana Malānawah in the District of Lucknow of the Province of Awadh, has died; during this time the world-obeyed order high as heaven, reached the honour of issue and glory of bringing proof [to the effect] that the qāḍīship of the said pargana ought to be attached to the aforesaid deceased’s son Qāḍī Barkhūrdār, the Home of Muhammadan Law, the Gain of Excellence. So that having attended to and endeavoured [to fulfil] the requisites [of] the said business like that which is proper; in terminating and settling dealings and differences, settling and deciding lawsuits, contracting marriages with guardian and without guardian, distributing inheritances, drawing up legal sentences and decrees; he shall not hold lawful deviating [even] a hair’s point from the road of the Noble Shar‘ and Orthodox Creed (fiqh).

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و نیز حکم شد که موازی کمیصد بیگھ زمین افتاده لایق زراعت خار مجمع از پرگنۀ مذکور من ابتدای خریف یلان یل در وجه مدد معاش مشار الیه حسب الضمن مقرر و مفوض باشد که حاصلات آنرا فصل بفصل و سال بسال در وجه معشیت خود خرج و صرف نموده در دعا گویی دوام دولت ابد قرین استعمال مینموده باشد. می باید که حکام و عمال و جاگیرداران و کروریان حال و استقبال به استمرار و استظهار اینحکم اقدس اعلی کوشیده اراضی مذکوره را پیموده و بست کشته بتصرف او باز گذاشته اصلا و مطلقا تغیر و تبدیل بدان را ندهند. ـ

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And it is ordered, also, about a hundred bīghas of fallow-arable land exempted from the [government] revenue (d) from the said pargana ought to be assigned to the above-mentioned [Qāḍī] in the guise of subvention to subsistence [madad-i-ma‘āsh] with effect from the beginning of Kharīf-i-Īlān-yīl (autumnal harvest of the snake year) according to the contents. So that by spending and using the income thereof, from season to season and year to year, he may be engaged in praying for the perpetuity of our eternity-allied Kingdom. It is incumbent on the present and future governors, tax-collectors, jāgīr-holders and krōriyān [of that locality] that, endeavouring [to observe] the continuance and maintenance of this most exalted, most hallowed order, having measured the said land, settled [its] boundaries and left it into his possession, they shall by no means whatever, permit any alterations or changes to [its disposition].

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و بعلت مال و جهات و اخراجاتی مثل قنلغه و پیشکش و جریبانه و ضابطانه و محصلانه و مهرانه و داروغکانه و بیگار و شکار و ده پنجی و مقدمی و صدهایی وقانونگویی و ضبط هر ساله بعد از تشخیص چک و تکرار زراعت و کل تکالیف دیوانی و مطالبات سلطانی مزاحمت نرساند، و درین باب هر ساله فرمان و پروانچه طلب ندارند، و اگر آنکه در محلی دیگر زمین داشته باشد آنرا اعتبار نکنند. از فرموده تخلف و انحراف نورزند. تحریرًا فی تاریخ پانزده شهریور السنة الثانیة. ـ

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And they shall not importune him on any account of [land taxes such as,] Māl-va-jihāt and (e) Ikhrājāt (other imposts) such as, qonalgha, pīshkash, jarībāna, ḍābiṭāna, muḥaṣṣilāna, muhrāna, dārūghagāna, bīgār, shikār, tax of five per-cent, fees of the headman, tax of two per-cent, fees of the qānūngō, cost of annual settlement after the ascertainment of the chak and repetition of the cultivation (in every season, i.e. kharīf and rabī‘ ?), and all civil obligations and government demands. In this respect they shall not request every year a new farmān and parvānacha. If he owns any land at any other place, they shall not take it into account. They shall not swerve or go beyond the limits from what has been ordered. Written on the 15th of the month of Shahrīvar, 2nd Ilāhī Year [1037/1629].

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The Ḍimn

Verso:

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This contains the explanation of the vāqi‘a and the yād-dāsht of the vāqi‘a at the different stages of the drafting of the present Farmān. The résumé of the ḍimn appears on the recto as the text of the Farmān.

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Seals of:

(i) Mūsavī Khān, the Ṣadr-i-kull

(ii) Afḍal Khān

(iii) Ṣādiq Khān

(iv) Rāy Manōhar Dās

(other seals are illegible)

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Commentary:

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Qāḍī Jalāl, the recipient of the Farmān of Bābur held the post of pargana-qāḍī, perhaps since the time of the Lōdīs. As such, he was assigned a village in the pargana of Batala yielding a revenue of five thousand copper tankas in the same pargana in which he held the post, as a soyūrghāl for his subsistence allowance. It seems probable that a change in the personnel of the revenue officials in the new régime, forced the Qāḍī to get renewed and confirmed his legal possession of the old grant and the income thereof, as his hereditary assignment.

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The royal order issued from the Chancellery under the seal impressions of Bābur, his Ṣadr al-ṣudūr and other auxiliary officials upholds the bona fide claim of the assignee by confirming the land grant as of old and the income thereof in the same manner. At the same time it recognizes, though not explicitly, the grantee as the acting qāḍī of the pargnana. It also confers on the grantee “immunity” from all government taxes and other imposts. This settles the nature of the soyūrghāl assigned to him, as one belonging to the category of madad-i-ma‘āsh, presumably with the counterpart of obligations imposed on the Qāḍī. The local officials are emphatically ordered not to molest the recipient of the Farmān and to carry out the royal command accordingly.

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It is interesting to note that, contrary to the general assertion, the Mughal Chancellery was highly developed and organized even during the short-lived reign of the founder of the Mughal Empire, as is shown by the office procedure on the verso of the above document. This document has another historical importance. It was inscribed after four months of Bābur’s glorious victory over Rāja Rānā Sāngā at Kānwa on 25th Jumāda II, 933 A.H., corresponding to 29th March, 1527. He assumed the title of (a) Ghāzī and it was written, as the Emperor says in his Autobiography, amongst his royal titles. Our chart provides a documentary evidence to the Emperor’s statement.

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Single points are as follow:

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(b) سیورغال

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(b) Soyūrghāl:

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The Mongol word certainly came to India in the wake of Bābur, and there is some reason to believe that it is its first documentary appearance in the present chart. It is to be pointed out here that before the Mughals, the equivalent terms for the soyūrghāl were the Idārāt, milk, in‘ām-i-dehhā, in‘ām-i-zamīnhā, vaẓīfa and ayma.

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(c) مال و جهات

متوجهات

(e) اخراجات

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(c) Māl-va-jihāt, Mutavajjahāt and (e) Ikhrājāt:

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آنچه بر اراضیِ مزروعی از راهِ ریع قرار یابد آنرا مال گویند و از انواعِ محترفۀ گزیده جهات خوانند و باقی را سائرِ جهات. و آنچه متفرّع بر مال باشد آنرا وجوهات گویند اگر بدیوان رود ورنه فروعات نامند. ـ

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All the three terms appear in the documents of the Turcomans, the Timurids and the Safavids. The ikhrājāt meaning “occasional disbursements and various levies” is frequently met with in the Tārīkh-i-Jahān-gushāy of Juvaynī. It is closely associated with māl-va-jihāt. According to the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī, the tax imposed on cultivated lands by way of quit-rent is termed Māl, as was the regulation in Īrān and Tūrān. “Imposts on manufactures of respectable kinds are called Jihāt, and the remainder Sā’ir-jihāt. Extra collections over and above the tax if taken by revenue office are Vujūhāt, otherwise they are termed Furū‘āt.” Māl and jihāt, appearing in combined form, simply mean land taxes and revenue charges.

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The mutavajjahāt does not appear in any other Mughal document available to us, and seems to have been replaced by the more frequent terms Sā’ir-jihāt, and the ‘avāriḍāt and the ikhrājāt, though prior to Bābur or more precisely during his period the mutavajjahāt is frequently met with in the Timurid documents. In the Nāma-yi-nāmī, for example, it associates itself with the māl-va-jihāt as in our chart, and is followed sometimes by the term dīvānī, i.e. mutavajjahāt-i-dīvānī (dues) or sometimes is preceded by other terms as ikhrājāt and takālīf.

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Many imposts (vujūhāt) were first abolished by Fīrūz Shāh Tughluq in 1375 A.D. and later by Akbar and his successors. The list of such forbidden imposts under the heading abvāb-i-mamnū‘a or Takālīf-i-mamnū‘a appearing in the Mughal farmāns or simply as the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī says, “the imposts which the natives of Hindūstān include under the term sā’ir-i-jihāt”, include most of the cesses enumerated in the Farmān of Shāh Jahān under the heading of ikhrājāt. The list of such illegal cesses and perquisites is preceded by sā’ir-jihāt, or ‘avāriḍāt, or more often by ikhrājāt, as in the Timurid and Safavid documents. It is inferred therefrom that ikhrājāt meaning occasional expenses or “various levies” denotes like the ‘avāriḍāt, the sā’ir-jihāt of the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī.

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قنلغه

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Qonalgha or Qanalghā:

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This Turkish word which appears in the Farmāns of the Mughals with mutilated spellings sometimes, has given rise to very interesting interpretations. It is included in the abvāb-i-mamnū‘a remitted by Akbar and is coupled with another Turkish term sāvarī in the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī. The meaning of the latter is given by Jarrett as “simply a tax,” while the former appears with a query mark in the text by Blochmann and has been left untranslated by Jarrett, who adds a note saying he could not trace it.

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The qonalgha, which certainly came to India in the wake of Bābur like many other words of Chaghatāy Turkī, occurs twice in his Memoirs, under the year A.H. 935, coupled with ‘ulūfa. It has been translated (i) “daily allowance and lodging of envoys going backward and forward,” and (ii) “allowance and lodging.” The Indian sense of this word as in the farmāns of the Indian Mughals is, “a diet obtained by officers from the ryots.” The author of a “Glossary of the Technical Terms used in the collection of Revenue” says it means “an offering (nadhr) to the ruling suzerain, known in the common parlance as a vessel of large cake (avand-kulī), full of coagulated milk (jughrāt). It was a custom to take such victuals, when a landlord went to pay a visit to the ruler.”

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پیشکش

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Pīshkash:

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It was one of the imposts remitted by Akbar. According to the Mir’āt-i-Aḥmadī, the local officials used to exact from the villagers presents which in the local parlance of Gujarati is called “kacharī.” In one of the Farmāns of Shāh Jahān it is called “pīshkash-i-Sarkār.” The “Pīshkash-i-Ṣūbadārī-va-Faujdārī,” appears regularly in the al-tamghā farmāns.

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جریبانه

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Jarībāna:

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Jarīb was the former land measure, also the measuring instrument in yards, and bīgha was the name applied to jarīb. The suffix “āna” of Persian is added to the Arabic jarīb to denote the rate for defraying the charges of measurement of land with jarīb.

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ضابطانه

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Ḍābiṭāna:

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Fees paid to the assessors and measurers.

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محصّلانه

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Muḥaṣṣilāna:

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Fees of the muḥaṣṣil (tax-gatherer) paid in connection with revenue collection.

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مهرانه

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Muhrāna:

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Like the rusūm, customary perquisites under the Safavids, muhrāna may have been the fee for sealing documents. It may also refer to the marriage-tax (mahrāna) levied by Akbar as has been mentioned by Abu’l-Faḍl. In the context of land grants, it in fact means the fee paid to the qāḍī or the ṣadr in charge of the soyūrghāl. The qāḍī of the locality, according to the old custom charged for imprinting seals on all civil contracts executed in his presence such as, rahn-nāma (mortgage), bay‘-nāma (sale deed), mukhtār-nāma (arbitration deed), hiba-nāma (gift-deed) and nikāḥ-nāma (marriage deed), etc. In the Glossary mentioned above, “muhrāna-yi-ḥākim” has been included in the abvāb-i-mamnū‘a (dākhil-i-abvāb ast). The fee of the qāḍī was called marsūm under the Mongols.

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داروغکانه

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Dārūghakāna:

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It denotes the charges of the superintendent of a locality, and is included, as in the charts of the Turcomans and the Safavids, in the list of forbidden cesses and imposts.

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بیگار و شکار

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Bīgār and Shikār:

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These two rhyming words always appear together. They are not included in the illegal levies abolished by Akbar, but come on the scene from the time of Jahāngīr, as the available documents in original and copies tend to suggest. Since it does not appear in the lists of the Abvāb of Fīrūz Shāh Tughluq and that of Akbar, and neither the Ā’īn nor the Tūzuk-i-Jahāngīrī throw any light, it may be safely assumed that bīgār must have entered India sometime in the wake of the Mughals from its land Turkestan, where it remained as a curse of the serfdom under the despotism of the Khanate till the end of the 19th century. Juvaynī describes a kind of forced labour called “bīgār-i-nafsī” in which the wife of a man in his absence performed the duty in person in his stead. The mass corvée, as relics of the old feudalism in India is taking new turns towards voluntary services for the Community Development.

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Shikār signifies a princely hunting organised in the form of a battue called qamargha, for which thousands of beaters were employed to drive in the game. It, in this case may refer to such obligations on the part of the beneficiary or his servants.

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(d) جمع

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(d) Jam‘:

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It is interesting to note that Indians and Afghans vocalise monosyllabic words of Arabic with an unnecessary vowel substituted for a sukūn or the medial consonant, creating thereby a syllable. Thus the jam‘ ending in two consonants became bisyllabic, i.e. Jama‘, and as such is always spelled like this in other languages of India. This peculiarity of Indian vocalisation did not escape the critical notice of Bābur, who observes that Hindūstānīs pronounce the “b” in anbah (mango) as though no vowel followed it, and sometimes they drop the vowel in certain words such as they say khabr for khabar.

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In India Jama‘ carries three specialised meanings in the office jargon:

(i) a receipt side of a cash as opposed to kharch or expenditure side;

(ii) Demand, or

(iii) Valuation, according to the context used in the revenue administration.

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Chapter III: Classes of Epistles (Contd.)

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توقیعات

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Tauqī‘āt

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Section I

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پروانچه

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Parvānachas:

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The parvānacha of the Mughal period is a substitute for the amthila of the early Muslim chancelleries (amthila-yi-dīvānī). It is the official term for the receipts of the ministers, grandees of the Mughal Empire and the higher officials at the Capital and the Provinces. The parvānacha is, in force, a “little farmān (farmāncha).”

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Abu’l-Faḍl says that a parvānacha differs from a farmān only in two respects. Firstly, it does not require the royal seal and secondly, it is inscribed in the ṭughrā character, but the two first lines are not abbreviated. During the early period of the Mughal dynasty, the parvānacha was used especially for the stipulated salaries of the Bēgams and Princes, for the stipends of the vaẓīfa-holders under the care of the dīvān-i-sa‘ādat, and for the fixed salaries of certain employees. The parvānas which Bābur wrote with his own hand evidently covered a large variety of orders. It, later, however, came to be issued for all such orders which did not require a farmān, but practically, the parvānacha tends to support and supplement the royal orders of the Aḥkām-i-dīvānī.

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The following details emerge from a study of the parvānachas. They are issued in the first case (A) in accordance with a previous order of the Emperor (ba-mūjab-i-farmān, or muvāfiq-i-farmān); or (B) by royal order (ḥasb al-ḥukm, or ba-ḥukm-i-jahān-muṭā‘) and in this respect in accordance with the yād-dāsht-i-vāqi‘a, and lastly (C) in accordance with a counter-order of the ministers (ḥasb al-amr), and in this respect issued by the subordinate officials. There are again the departmental papers of each ministry and the subordinate offices in the provinces and districts, issued at the discretion of the departmental officials. They (D) deal with departmental transactions and routine business.

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To the category (A) belong the parvānachas which form the asnād of the ministers confirming orders in the aḥkām-i-dīvānī of the Emperor. There are references to parvānachas preceding the farmāns in certain cases, but in practice they are issued in due course and almost immediately afterwards to confirm a royal order, in accordance with the terms mentioned on the verso of the farmān. Since their purpose is to supplement or confirm and verify a royal order, we may designate them as asnād-i-aḥkām-i-dīvānī (sing. sanad-i-aḥkām-i-dīvānī).

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The category (B) forms ministerial rescripts conveying the order of the Emperor, in the personal capacity of some minister. They are explicitly called as ḥasb al-ḥukms. These, sometimes tend to supplement as in the former case, certain royal missives belonging to the farāmīn-i-sulṭānī such as, farmāns (b) & (c) and qaul-nāmas etc.

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The last category (C) comprises parvānachas issued to the subordinates to confirm, support and execute the royal orders, or the ḥasb al-ḥukms, or again, in compliance with the orders of their superiors (ḥasb al-amr). Such ḥasb al-amr orders, as we may call them, form the rescripts of the provincial and district officials, and in many cases are the last link in the chain of royal orders (farmāns).

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The departmental papers may be called kāghadhāt-i-daftarī (D). They include the parvānajāt of the ministers and the nuvvābs (local jāgīrdārs and manṣabdārs) issued from their own personal dīvāns (revenue offices) and addressed to their manorial staff and the government officials.

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(A) اسناد احکام دیوانی

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(A) Asnād-i-aḥkām-i-dīvānī:

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The term sanad, according to the definition given in the Ā’īn-i-Akbarī, has a very wide application. In practice it signifies a confirmation and verification of a previous order of land-grant, appointment and commission, any privilege or immunity accorded to the recipient. It may denote a patent, permit, deed, decree or more precisely, a written authority to enjoy a grant of any nature. These sanads are issued either (i) on the plea of the grantee, or (ii) on the plaint, report, or (iii) recommendation of the local officials. The bulk of the asnād of our period shows that, they mostly relate to matters of land-grants and appointments.

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(1) Asnād of land-grants:

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The many instances of confirmations and renewals of the farmāns of land-grants in soyūrghāl and in‘ām-grants, i.e. jāgīr-i-mu‘āfī and al-tamghā; notwithstanding the explicit command of the Emperor therein, that the officials under threat of responsibility “shall not request every year a new farmān or parvānacha,” shows that farmāns in many cases were falsified. Although the tenures of such grants as madad-i-ma‘āsh, in‘ām, ayma and the vaẓīfa (vajh-i-yaumiya) were made in perpetuity, there arose, in the course of time administrative problems due to local feuds or family land disputes through partition, inheritance, alienation and usurpation. These were solved by the highest administrative authorities or the Emperor himself.

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There arose also occasions when a change in sovereignty, or the personnel of local officials, forced the grant holders of land in soyūrghāl and in‘ām to produce their title-deeds for inspection to the provincial ṣadr, or to the Emperor himself in person. In actual practice subsequent sanads came into force for verification of previous documents quite frequently. A study of the collections of documents relating to particular families and religious institutions in India, yields interesting details of renewals, confirmations and verifications in farmāns, nishāns and sanads issued sometimes under the same ruling Emperor.

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The fact that the farmān of land grant was not a de facto order in the first instance, is proved by the subsidiary orders of the princes (i.e. nishāns), grandees or the ministers following in the wake of the original farmān. It is that auxiliary order that signifies an order de jure and puts the farmān into force. In the cases of renewals of land grants in soyūrghāl, the same Emperor might issue another farmān to that effect; but in most cases, it is issued to confirm a previous grant as of old or with changes in its disposition on the bases of numerous farmāns and sanads issued in the previous reigns.

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پیموده و چک بسته بتصرف گذارند

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For immediate confirmation of a fresh grant made in the farmān, the most convenient instruments were the sanads of the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr and dīvān-i-a‘lā, both of them referred to as asnād-i-dargāhī. As the facts stand, these two sanads go hand-in-hand and initiate other subsequent sanads issued by the provincial ṣadrs, dīvāns and local nuvvābs. The sanad-i-dargāhī is addressed to the local officials enjoining them to execute the royal command accordingly by putting the grantee in possession of the land assigned (paymūda va chak basta ba-taṣarruf-i-ū guzārand).

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(i) سند صدارة العلیة العالیة

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(i) Sanad-i-ṣadārat al-‘ullīyat al-‘āliya:

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The first link in the land grants in soyūrghāl, was without exception the chief ṣadr, who had special authority in matters of madad-i-ma‘āsh and ayma grants, and his confirmatory order was the most requisite.

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The sanad issued under the seal impression of the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr in favour of the grantee confirming the land grant for subsistence allowance in the preceding farmān, is called sanad-i-ṣadārat al-‘ullīyat al-‘āliya. They are issued in the following cases:

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(a) A fresh grant: In the first instance it is issued in pursuance of a farmān ordering a fresh grant in soyūrghāl in accordance with the practice of the Mughal Chancellery. The farmān in question is released after the completion, with the permission (parvānagī) or according to the parvāna of the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr.

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(b) A previous grant: In the case of renewal of a previous grant made in a fresh farmān, the ḍimn (verso) directs the dīvān-i-ṣadārat to issue a sanad (صدر الصدور سند بدهد) on the recommendation of the provincial ṣadr or the executive official (nuvvāb), or on the plea of the original grantee or his beneficiary expressed in his written permission (iltimās or ‘arḍī) submitted by him in person or through his vakīl. The ṣadr-i-ṣudūr is also requested to certify the grant as of old (تصدیق اراضی مسطور [از] محلقدیم بدستور سابق) on the authority of the previous documents shown to him in original or in copies (certified by the local qāḍī). The ḍimn in this respect contains the contents of the above-mentioned petition, or refers to the representation made by officials. The sanad of the chief ṣadr records on the verso the description of the land, prepared from the siyāha (account register) kept in his office.

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(c) He renew, confirms and verifies a previous grant on the authority of the following instruments: (i) Previous sanads of the ṣadrs, (ii) tajvīz-i-ṣadr-i-juz’, (iii) ḥukm-nāmas and other administrative orders of the officials, and (iv) yād-dāsht-i-vāqi‘a i.e. ḥasb al-ḥukm.

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(d) His confirmatory order was the most requisite, (i) after partition among the heirs of the original grantee, (ii) for restoration of an old grant claimed by the heirs substantiated with reliable evidence, (iii) for reappropriation of an old grant amongst the heirs, and (iv) for mutation of a land grant in favour of the heirs.

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(e) He also confirmed such madad-i-ma‘āsh grants as made by way of in‘ām of an entire village (dar-u-bast) and without any restrictions on its disposition (بلا قید اسامی و قسمت).

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(f) In the case of a ṣadr-i-ṣudūr enjoying unlimited authority in matters of soyūrghāl; he could renew or confer it arbitrarily without the royal sanction. Such orders are issued independently.

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(ii) سند امارت

حکم

حکم نامه

پروانچه

پروانه

پروانۀ درگاهی

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(ii) Sanad-i-imārat, Ḥukm, Ḥukm-nāma, Parvānacha, Parvāna or Parvāna-yi-dargāhī:

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Under one of these titles appears the sanad of the dīvān-i-a‘lā or any other dignitary (amīr) o the State, which purports to confirm, support and execute a preceding farmān or a sanad (of the chief ṣadr) pertaining to a soyūrghāl or royal privileges.

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Such ḥukms, ḥukm-nāmas or parvānas, in practice were issued by the authorities at the Court and the provinces on subsequent occasions to verify, confirm and settle previous grants to descendants or beneficiaries of the original grantee, and in all cases on the authority of the previous deeds. The confirmatory orders (sanad or parvāna) of the dīvān-i-a‘lā are issued in the following cases:

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(a) Soyūrghāl: It is issued in all cases of fresh grants or renewal of previous grants (i) in pursuance of a farmān or (ii) in the wake of the sanad-i-ṣadārat al-‘ullīyat al-‘āliya, or (iii) in accordance with the royal command (i.e. ḥasb al-ḥukm), or (iv) on the plea of the madad-i-ma‘āsh-holder.

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(b) Service grants: In the case of jāgīr-i-bī-dāgh-u-maḥallī, the sanad of the dīvān-i-a‘lā directs the pargana officials, the chaudharīs, qānūn-gōs and the muzāri‘ān to acknowledge the grantee’s authority in matters of government taxes and fees of the dīvānī.

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(c) In‘ām-grants: He was the consulting authority in all matters of al-tamghā grants, and in this respect his confirmatory order was deemed most requisite. All mu‘āfī grants were invariably confirmed by the dīvān-i-a‘lā.

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(d) Vaṭan: With the rise of the Mughal power in the Deccan and Maharashtra, a new agrarian innovation in the form of vaṭan grant for the services of sardēshmukhī, dēshmukhī, dēshpandē and other similar rural posts came into force. The dīvān-i-a‘lā confirmed, verified, restored and renewed such vaṭan in‘āms.

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(e) His confirmation was also required in the case of a restoration of a grant of madad-i-ma‘āsh and vaẓīfa. He thus issued a parvāna-yi-baḥalī.

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(f) In some cases of a madad-i-ma‘āsh or ayma grant the chak-bandī was settled on the authority of his confirmatory order. It was the duty of the provincial dīvān to supervise the ayma lands.

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(iii) پروانۀ درگاهی

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(iii) Parvāna-yi-dargāhī:

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Under this heading may be included such other orders of the grandees at the Court as are mentioned above, which tent to supplement or represent the Chancellery issues relating to soyūrghāl grants. They are issued in consultation with and under the seal of the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr. The sanad-i-dargāhī does not, however, differ much from the following two rescripts i.e. sanad-i-ḥukkāmī of the provincial or district authority and the parvāna-yi-nuvvāb.

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(iv) سند حکامی

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(iv) Sanad-i-ḥukkāmī:

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To continue the story of the fresh grant made to the recipient of the farmān and the sanad-i-dargāhī obtained at the Capital, the recipient of these documents had now to bring the provincial administrative machinery into action. The sanad-i-dargāhī refers to another sanad to be granted by the district dīvānī to the recipient, in due course. Such a sanad drawn in favour of the recipient is known as sanad-i-ḥukkāmī. If the grantee had already obtained another required sanad from the provincial or district ṣadr, the matter was referred to the officials of the specified pargana, whither the grant was made. Otherwise, the pargana officials were instructed in the sanad-i-ḥukkāmī to cause him to execute a muchalkā to the effect that he would obtain the same within the prescribed period from the office of the ṣadr-i-sarkār (i.e. district ṣadr).

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(v) سند صدر صوبه

سند صدر سرکار

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(v) Sanad-i-ṣadr-i-ṣūba and Sanad-i-ṣadr-i-sarkār:

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In all cases of land grants in madad-i-ma‘āsh, whether conferred without a counterpart of obligations, or with that, such as to discharge the duties of a qāḍī, the recipient of all the above sanads had to apply to the provincial (ṣadr-i-juz’) or the district ṣadr to confirm, and hence to execute the grant in his favour. The sanad-i-ṣadr-i-sarkār repeats the same order contained in all the documents and by virtue of which, the pargana officials proceed with the matter.

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(vi) چک نامه

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(vi) Chak-nāma:

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In all cases of a fresh grant or renewal of a previous grant as of old, or with changes in its disposition, the recipient had to obtain the parvāna or ḥukm-nāma from the local nuvvāb or the amīr, or the minister under whose jurisdiction or jāgīr the land thus granted was situated, before the local officials settled its details and put him in possession thereof. In some cases of chak-bandī, a nishān of the prince would act as the final authority for the execution of the grant. The recipient, therefore, with all the auxiliary documents mentioned above, had to deal with the officials of the specified locality such as the qāḍī, the amīn, the faujdār and the shiqdār, and those directed in the documents in his possession.

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The documents evidently do not specify the position of the land of which the grant-holder had to take possession. This fact is significant of all the grants in soyūrghāl except the in‘ām-grants which are made in terms of the revenue (dām) of a certain pargana. The same applies to a grant in tiyül (bī-dāgh-u-maḥallī) and other service grants made in terms of the income of the holding. It was the duty of the local officials to find out a suitable plot for that purpose. It might take years to find out the land and settle its details. Since as a rule all soyūrghāl lands consisted of some portion of tilled and some of arable land, it was not therefore, always possible to hold the land in one contiguous plot.

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The confirmatory orders in all cases direct the amīn, the faujdār and the shiqdār to proceed with the order. The shiqdār or the agents of the nuvvāb (gumāshtagān) appointed the ḍābiṭān, viz., munṣīf, kārkun and jarīb-kash who measured the land accordingly with the help of the cultivators with the prevalent yard (gaz-i-ilāhī) in most cases and settled the boundaries showing from every side the corners where it would abut on the lands of others or Government possessions. Every minute detail was registered in a chart with statistics and descriptions of growing and adjoining things and places. Those who supervised the survey or took part in the execution of the order on the spot included the dīvān, dēsāī (village head), muqaddim, qānūngō and the chaudharī. The chak-nāma was then sealed by the qāḍī and the official surveyors, and signed by the witnesses.

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This chart was entrusted to the grant-holder, so that it forms a legal proof (ḥujjat bāshad), should a necessity arise to present it in court. It was the duty of the revenue-collector to ascertain the correctness of the chak-nāma. The chak-nāma records on the top (sar-nāma) the reference to the feudal-lord under whose manor the grant was made, for example: (i) نواب صدر جهان (ii) میر صدر جهان . The most important feature of the chak-nāma is the declaration of the actual possession given to the grantee who accepts it and takes it into his possession.

ـ (در موضع مذکور چک بسته حواله مشار الیهم نمودند و ایشان در قبض و تصرف خود آوردند) ـ

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(vii) پروانه یا حکم نامۀ نواب

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(vii) Parvāna or Ḥukm-nāma of the Nuvvāb:

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The great nobles of the Court were assigned by virtue of their manṣabs or offices, or on account of their meritorious services, large magnitudes of lands and villages as jāgīrs (in lieu of their salaries), tiyüls or iqṭā‘s, and in‘ām-grants. Another characteristic feature of the agrarian life of Mughal India was the zamīndārī as a differing kind of tiyül. The zamīndārs constituted as if a definite clan of feudal society.

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These iqṭā‘s were usually managed by the manorial staff (gumāshtagān) of the nuvvābs. In the agrarian sector of Mughal India, the most convenient way to pay the appointees was to assign them fallow-arable lands by way of in‘ām excluded from government revenue (khārij az jam‘). Another category of in‘ām signifies such grants as made to the favourites of the nuvvāb who wanted to settle down (vaṭan) at a particular place within the territory of the former.

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Lands were also assigned for the development or founding of villages and constructing of public buildings. A more generous nuvvāb would portion out a patch of land from his own assignment in favour of a local family devoted to piety by way of madad-i-ma‘āsh or nadhrāna. He would sometimes lease out his lands to contractors (mustā’jirs) stipulated for a specified period and sum of money. In all these cases, the grantor issued confirmatory orders in the names of the local officials (mutaṣaddiyān) and his own agents (gumāshtagān). The fief-holders are instructed in the parvānas of the nuvvāb to make great effort (jahd-i-balīgh) towards material prosperity by increasing cultivation and developing villages.

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(viii) روبکار

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(viii) Rūbakār:

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As a common term used in the office parlance for proceedings, it serves as an official order of the dīvānī issued in the names of the local authorities announcing a royal mandate regarding the confirmation of land grants made in the previous farmāns of the Emperors.

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(ix) تصحیحه (a) سند حیّ و قائمی

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(ix) Taṣḥīḥa, (a) Sanad-i-ḥayy-va-qā’imī:

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The fact that the tenure of such rent-free grants in soyūrghāl was only “during pleasure” of the Emperor and his successors, is well attested by a study of the confirmatory documents coming into force even in the lifetime of the original grantor, i.e. the Emperor. The grant-holders were exposed to vexations, by the revenue officials of the locality, the jāgīrdārs, and even were encroached upon by unprincipled persons. Occasional inspection of the title-deeds by the ṣadr and the revenue collectors was the order of the day. Those who could produce their documents had their grants ratified, otherwise fresh sanads (i.e. taṣḥīḥas) from the Emperor (viz., farmān), or the prince (viz., nishān), or the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr only could reinstate them in their possessions. The ratification document is variously called taṣḥīḥa, taṣḥīḥ or taṣḥīḥa-nāma.

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A taṣḥīḥa was originally drawn up by the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr on the authority of the previous sanads including that of the provincial governor. The last mentioned might in case grant his ḥukm-nāma in accordance with the sanads of the former authorities and confirm and settle the grant after the verification and confirmation of the local qāḍī. Whereas the taṣḥīḥa (a) is issued whenever occasion demanded to verify the grant, it also appears to originate under different conditions. It is when the original grantee died, that his descendants had to lay down their claim of title. The fact that the soyūrghāl grants in land were hereditary, is proved by the renewals of them in fresh farmāns or sanads by the subsequent rulers and authorities drawn in favour of the beneficiaries. The practice in force shows that the same procedure more or less followed in this case also.

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(b) سند استحقاق و ملکی

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(b) Sanad-i-istiḥqāq-va-milki:

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It appears that in all cases of verification of an old grant, involving occasional or administrative, and legal implications, the grantees or their beneficiaries were required to present their cases in the form of an iltimās submitted to the Emperor, the chief ṣadr, the minister or vazīr al-mamālik in person or through his vakīl. Akbar had ordered that every heir claiming his bona fides should apply to His Majesty in person.

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هرچه حکم

از مقرّ دیگر وجه معیشت ندارد

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The district ṣadr might recommend the applicant’s case in his tajvīz submitted to the dīvān al-ṣadārat al-‘ullīyat al-‘āliya. He, sometimes endorsed the fard-i-ḥaqīqat of a farmān or parvāna with the words “har chi ḥukm.” After an enquiry made from the residents of the locality (mardum-i-muqarr) or, on the documentary evidence (shuhūd-i-mu‘tabar) viz. the taṣḥīḥas of the previous ṣadr or the sanads of the previous dīvāns of the jāgīrāt, testifying his title (istiḥqāq) and worthiness (ahliyat); and when it became evident that he, alive, living, possessing and occupying was the same person, and that he did not have any other means of livelihood from any other source (az muqarr-i-dīgar vajh-i-ma‘īshat nadārad), the matter was referred to the dīvān-i-ṣadārat.

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If a fresh farmān, nishān or a parvāna of the minister came into force, otherwise on the authority of the earlier sanads or records (fard-i-ḥaqīqat), the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr confirmed and verified the original grant as of old (اراضیِ مذکوره را از محلِّ قدیم بدستورِ سابق بسط و قبض و تصرف) in favour of the original grantee, or his heir on his right of succession. The sanad which only verifies the possession, may be called: sanad-i-ḥayy-va-qā’imī, and that which recognises the right of possession to the heir after the demise of the original grantee or the previous grantees (mutavaffīn), because of its relevant contents may be designated as sanad-i-istiḥqāq-va-milkī.

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On the authority of the fresh taṣḥīḥa thus issued, the dīvān-i-a‘lā issued a parvāna in the form of the previous sanads, that is the sanad-i-imārat or parvāna-yi-dargāhī to that effect. The taṣḥīḥas, like other categories of asnād are usually directed at the local officials (گماشتهای جاگیرداران و کروریان حال و استقبال) but, in some cases they are only purported simply to certify a ratification made in the old grant, and hence do not bear the address (khiṭāb).

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(x) محضر نامه

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(x) Maḥḍar-nāma:

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Before the matter was finally settled in favour of the heir, in view of some dispute that might crop up in regard to his title, the jāgīrdār or the nuvvāb of the pargana executed a document attested by the qāḍī and other witnesses to bear testimony to the confirmed possession of the old grant in favour of the recipient of the relevant documents. It was just like a public recognition of the possession by the heir thereof.

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For the purpose of ascertaining the extent of the old possession, the local officials with the help of the cultivators, civilians and other community members examined, measured and ascertained the ground. The details were recorded in the form of a maḥḍar-nāma which was attested by the seal of the qāḍī and signed by the witnesses.

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(2) اسناد خدمت

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(2) Asnād-i-khidmat:

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All appointments to higher posts at the Capital and provinces (for example to the post of a nāẓim or provincial governor, qila‘dār and faujdār-i-ṣūba), were made by the Emperor himself in the farmān-i-thabtī; whereas all other appointments to district and pargana posts were made by the ministers in their respective departments, but with the approval of the dīvān-i-a‘lā, in the ḥasb al-ḥukm letters patent. Salaried posts of pargana officials such as involving land assignments by the Emperor like the post of qāḍī, originated only in the farmān-i-thabtī. The appointment was later confirmed by the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr in his confirmatory order (parvāna or sanad) in accordance with the farmān.

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(B) حسب الحکم

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(B) Ḥasb al-ḥukm:

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The ḥasb al-ḥukm orders of the ministers covered a large variety of state and administrative matters, along with those the Emperor desired to convey through them. The dīvān-i-a‘lā evidently had to deal with orders of more importance and sometimes of political significance, following in the wake of the farmāns, for the sake of emphasis or additional injunctions. In fact most of the asnād-i-dargāhī referred to above are also issued by order of the Emperor (ḥasb al-ḥukm) in order to confirm a grant of vaẓīfa, land in soyūrghāl and in‘ām such as, dēshmukhī, jāgīrdārī and al-tamghā.

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(i) اسناد خدمت (حسب الحکم) ـ

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(i) Asnād-i-khidmat (of ḥasb al-ḥukm):

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(a) The letters patent appointing officials to posts in the provinces and districts and which did not require a farmān of the Emperor, but his verbal order (ḥukm-i-mushāfaha), issued from the dīvān’s office is known as sanad-i-khidmat.

(b) All appointments to posts of religious significance at the pargana such as dārūghakī-yi-‘adālat, muḥtasib, and khāṭib were made by the ṣadr-i-ṣudūr in his parvāna (i‘lām) issued in accordance with the royal command.

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The ḥasb al-ḥukms followed the same principles in procedure as the aḥkām-i-dīvānī but less elaborately. For instance for appointment to provincial posts, a fard-i-ḥaqīqat (statement of facts) was prepared (in the office of the dīvān-i-tan) in that respect, which was later reported by the dīvān-i-a‘lā to the Emperor for his approval. The sanad-i-khidmat was then issued from the office of the dīvān-i-khāliṣa.

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(ii) دستکات

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(ii) Dastakāt:

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A dastak has various forms of documents relating to state and administrative orders. In departmental transactions, a dastak is known after the topic it purports to deal with, such as dastak-i-dāgh, dastak-i-chaukī as so on. Such departmental dastakāt do not signify more than a permit, a voucher or a certificate issued by the respective ministries, and belong in other cases to the kāghadhāt-i-daftarī.

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(a) دستکات خدمادت

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(a) Dastakāt-i-khidmāt:

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Certain appointments to minor posts in the parganas and the ministries were made by the ḥasb al-ḥukm-letters patent called the dastakāt-i-khidmāt. The dīvānī, for instance issued the dastakāt-i-khidmāt for the posts of dārūgha, taḥvīldār and mushrif. The bakhshī al-mamālik and the khān-i-sāmān likewise dealt with their own departmental appointments. In each case the written order of the vizier was necessary.

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The dastakāt-i-khidmāt issued from the dīvānī to the provincial and local officials in the name of the “clerks of the important affairs (mutaṣaddiyān-i-muhimmāt),” tend to illustrate administrative orders proclaiming (i‘lām) the new appointment made in accordance with the “world-obeyed order (of the Emperor)” in favour of the appointee, so that he “having attended to the requisites and conditions (lavāzim-va-marāsim) of the said office with uprightness and integrity, shall not fail to observe minutely matters of attention and vigilance.” The local officials are likewise enjoined in the asnād-i-khidmāt “to strengthen the hand of the coming before (dast-i-taḍaddī) in the performance of affairs related (umūr-i-muḍāfa) to his post. They shall consider it an extreme command (ta’kīd-i-nihāyat).”

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(iii) دستک راهداری

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(iii) Dastak-i-rāhdārī:

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Besides the authorised officials at the Court, the office of the dīvān, was, it seems, the only Consulat d’état de permit, to issue a permit by royal order to a foreign traveller or trader, or to any servant of the State proceeding on a journey on official business or State mission. It is issued in the names of the officials of every territory through which the bearer had to pass, and records the name and nature of the business. It opens generally with the preamble of address to the “commissioners of the jāgīr-holders, land-lords (zamīndārān), watchmen (chaukīdārān), road-guides (rāh-dārān), highway-patrols (guzar-bānān)”, and those concerned such as the officers of the customs and tolls.

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They are enjoined “to conduct the bearer safely through their territories, to escort him on dangerous places, and should by no means whatsoever abandon him (mu‘aṭṭal) and if, God forbid, should any mishap befall him in anyone’s boundaries, he shall be held to account for it. Let them consider it the command (qadaghān) to that effect.” It is also called a parvāna-yi-rāhdārī.

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(C) حسب الامر

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(C) Ḥasb al-amr:

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The orders issued by superiors, either in accordance with a farmān, or ḥasb al-ḥukm, or again directly from them at their own discretion for which the Emperor’s sanction was not necessary, find expression in the rescripts of the provincial and district officials. It refers in this respect to the authorities’ and the superiors’ orders it purports to proceed with, convey or execute. In most cases they are issued in accordance with the “amr-i-jalīl al-qadr (the counter-order of the high in dignity),” or “amr-i-‘ālī” of the vizier, or their own immediate superiors. They cover in this respect all orders issued from the Capital in the name of the “clerks of important affairs” (متصدیان مهمات) of the jāgīrs, parganas, and the sarkārs.

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In the case of land grants, the sanad-i-ḥukkāmī, the sanad-i-ṣadr-i-sarkār and the parvāna of the provincial governors or the local jāgīrdārs, form the link in the chain of the farmān, the sanad-i-dargāhī and the parvāna-yi-dargāhī. Similarly on the authority of the asnād-i-khidmāt and the dastakāt-i-khidmāt issued from the daftar-i-mu‘allā, the provincial dīvānī issued its own letters patent repeating the same orders verbatim to the appointee and those enjoined in the superiors’ orders (i.e., the ministers). Such asnād-i-khidmāt and the dastakāt-i-khidmāt of the provincial or the district officials, are not confirmatory orders, but they only tend to proclaim to the local officials in particular and the public in general, the order from the Capital.

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The provincial officials could make appointments in the parganas for local posts, only when their recommendations (tajvīz) submitted to the dīvān-i-a‘lā, were approved.

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(D) کاغذات دفتری

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(D) Kāghadhāt-i-daftarī:

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The Mughal rule has been described as a “paper government”. The enormous transit of the routine papers to and from departments and servants of the State, shows the volume of business transacted. This is borne out also by the highly developed office terminology borrowed from outside India in most cases, to which India still adheres closely. Most of the departmental papers do not signify more than receipts, vouchers, certificates or statements and reports of office accounts. Every rescript, though issued independent of the Emperor’s immediate sanction, professed to be On His Majesty’s Service.

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(1) پروانجات مالی

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(1) Parvānajāt-i-mālī:

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Since the dīvān-i-a‘lā was the head of the exchequer and finance, and the chief executive of the State, the orders issued from his office cover a large variety of topics. They relate to departmental transactions of the exchequer and revenue, but generally to administrative orders issued in accordance with the requests of the ‘ummāl. They concern in most cases, the complaints (istighātha) from cultivators, regular salaries (tankhwāh-i-mavājib) of the servants (ahl-i-khidmāt), cash salaries of the bādshāhzādas (tankhwāh-i-naqdī) in terms of the income of certain parganas assigned to them, and other fiscal and revenue matters.

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(a) Another category of the parvānajāt-i-mālī forms the subject-matter of the grant of dēshmukhī made in terms of the dām of the income of certain parganas in consideration of a stipulated pīshkash presented to the Emperor. It was a kind of in‘ām, which was hereditary in character and peculiar to Maharashtra and the Deccan only. The grantee of the vaṭan enjoyed certain privileges and rights called, “lavāzim-va-marāsim.” His duty was to collect the “māl-i-vājibī” and the “ḥuqūq-i-dīvānī.” This kind of in‘ām does not differ much from the jāgīr-i-bī-dāgh-u-maḥallī or tiyül. The important features of the dēshmukhī and jāgīrdārī in‘āms are the following:

سبیل مومی الیه آنکه (۱) در ازدیاد آبادانی و معموری آن [محال] [موضع] و (۲) کثرت زراعت [مساعی جمیله] [نوعی سعی] بکار برد .... ـ

دیس موکهان و دیس پاندیان و رعایا و مزارعان پرگنه مال واجبی و حقوق دیوانی را از قرار واقع و راستی مطابق ضابطه و معمول بمشار الیه (۳) جو گفته باشند و از سخن صلاح و صوابدید حسابی او بیرون نروند ... ـ

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(b) الواصل

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(b) al-Vāṣil:

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It is a treasury receipt issued by the khizānachī of the State treasury (khizāna-yi-‘āmira) of the pīshkash presented by the dēshmukh of a certain pargana. It begins thus:

در وجه تحویل ... خزانچی خزانۀ عامره پیشکش

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(c) راضی نامه

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(c) Rāḍī-nāma:

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It is a kind of petition submitted by the muqaddims, chaudharīs and the cultivators (muzāra‘ān) to the dīvānī declaring their willingness and satisfaction with the “good behavior” (ḥusn-i-sulūk) of the dēshmukh.

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The dīvānī also handled matters of land disputes arising from: (i) partition, (ii) usurpation, (iii) confiscation or escheat. The administrative orders in this respect relate to: (a) reappropriation of land to the heirs, (b) restoration from confiscation and usurpation, (c) readjustment of lands, (d) mutation of lands and (c) chakbandī.

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(ii) دستکات دفتری

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(ii) Dastakāt-i-daftarī:

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Under this heading come all other dastakāt issued from the dīvānī in the name of the provincial and local officials, concerning the exchequer, and tankhwāh of the mutaṣaddī of the treasuries.

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There are other nuskhajāt-i-dīvānī, or the records of certificates and office statements which deal with the revenue account, and for that reason do not belong to inshā’ but to the muḥāsabāt.

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(2) کاغذات دفتری بخشی الممالک و بخشیان دیگر

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(2) Kāghadhāt-i-daftarī of the bakhshī al-mamālik and other bakhshīs:

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The nature of the State business transacted in the office of the bakhshī al-mamālik and his assistant bakhshīs, shows that the department had the control over the entire service of the Empire. Every order (farmān-i-thabtī) passed through his office, and most of the grants and appointments, such as jāgīr-i-tankhwāh of manṣabdārs were particularly concerned with that office. He also issued a farmāncha or parvānacha in the form of a rank and pay certificate to aḥadīs on consolidated salaries.

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The bakhshī al-mamālik made appointments for the provinces by issuing dastakāt-i-khidmāt for the posts of amīn, dārūgha, mushrif and chaukī-nivīs of the mounting guard, branding and verification (dāgh-va-taṣḥīḥa). The provincial bakhshī attached to the nāẓim combined the duty of the vāqi‘a-nivīs also, and sent regularly the news-letters (akhbārāt) to the headquarters. The other routine papers issued from the office of the bakhshīs concern the recruiting of the army, postings of the manṣabdārs at the Court (ḥāḍir-rikāb) and, on duty elsewhere (ta‘īnāt), guard-mounting (chaukī) at the palaces, salaries of the manṣabdārs and other business coming under the domain of that department. The functioning of the bakhshī’s office in regard to the papers dealt with, can be best appreciated with the description of a manṣabdār’s entry in the Imperial service.

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(i) تجویزنامه و التماس

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(i) Tajvīz-nāma and Iltimās:

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A petition for a grant of a manṣab submitted by a candidate, was sometimes recommended by a noble of the Court in his tajvīz-nāma. It in most cases begins thus:

تجویزنامۀ منصب باسم ... بمنصب [صدی] [هزاری] ذات و ... سوار ... بنابران تجویز نموده که بمصب سربلند باشد. ـ

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(ii) فرد حقیقت

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(ii) Fard-i-ḥaqīqat:

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It was an office statement prepared regarding the grant of the manṣab. The manṣabdārs were paid either in cash (naqd) or, in the form of a jāgīr-i-tankhwāh (i.e. dāgh-va-maḥallī). In the first case, the ḥaqīqat of the jāgīr was certified by the dīvān-i-a‘lā, while in the second instance, it was the bakhshī who issued the certificate, i.e. taṣdīq.

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(iii) تصدیق

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(iii) Taṣdīq:

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It served as an attested copy for further orders in that regard, and repeated the stages of the yād-dāsht and the ta‘līqa. It was then sent to the office of the bakhshī for inspection.

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(iv) سیاهه دول

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(iv) Siyāha-daul:

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In the case of provinces, the office statement or daul of the fixed salary (muqarrara tankhwāh) of the candidate prepared according to the Rules (muvāfiq-i-ḍābiṭa) was endorsed by the nā’ib-i-niẓāmat and sent to the headquarters.

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(v) دستک داغ

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(v) Dastak-i-dāgh:

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On the basis of the above papers and vouchers, the office of the bakhshī issued a permit for branding and drawing up of the descriptive rolls. The dastak contained the names of the tābīnān, living and deceased (fautī and farārī); in the case of an increment in the manṣab (i.e. iḍāfa-yi manṣab), the head of horses (ra’s) were mentioned under the headings of saqaṭī and bar-āvardī for the necessary verifications or substitutes (‘īvaḍ).

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(vi) چهره نامه و عرض چهره

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(vi) Chihra-nāma and ‘arḍ-i-chihra:

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The descriptive rolls of the manṣabdārs and their horses, with the details of personal appearance and peculiar marks (khāl-va-khaṭṭ) were drawn up by the chihra-nivīsān, before the Emperor on the appointed day. The duty of the amīn was to compare the descriptions. The descriptive roll was then countersigned by the officers in charge, and the amount of their salaries entered in the chihra-nāma. After it was certified by the Emperor, it was signed by the vāqi‘a-nivīs, the mīr-i-‘arḍ and the commander of the guard.

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(vii) داغ نامه

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(vii) Dāgh-nāma:

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On the authority of the certified chihra-nāma, the dārūgha-yi-dāgh branded the horses and the signs were described in the descriptive roll. A copy of the dāgh-nāma was sent to the office of the bakhshī al-mulkī. The official concerned endorsed it thus: “vaqafta ‘alayhi.”

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(viii) سرخط

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(viii) Sar-khaṭṭ:

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On the day of the muster when the horses were branded, the bakhshī took the ta‘līqa and issued a sar-khaṭṭ specifying the amount of the monthly salary of the manṣabdār.

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(ix) تصحیحه

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(ix) Taṣḥīḥa:

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On the day of the muster scheduled for the manṣabdārs of both the categories, those paid in cash or in jāgīr, the periodical verification of their tābīnān (contingent) was compulsory. The muster certificate, verifying the horses, arms and armours maintained by them, is known as taṣḥīḥa. It was signed by the dīvān and the bakhshī.

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(x) دستک تعیناتی

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(x) Dastak-i-ta‘īnātī:

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The order of posting a manṣabdār with his troops under the command of some other higher manṣabdār to some place, was issued in the name of that manṣabdār enjoining him to pay due obedience.

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(xi) دستک چوکی

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(xi) Dastak-i-chaukī:

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The chaukī is a Hindi word which means in the office parlance a mounting of a guard. The army at the Capital had four divisions and seven parts, each of which was stationed for one day in attendance about the palace. The office of the bakhshī issued the order in accordance therewith, which was called dastak-i-chaukī. It also maintained a siyāha-chaukī or daily ledger of guards which was endorsed by the bakhshī thus: “ba-naẓar dar āmad.”

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(xii) دستک محله

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(xii) Dastak-i-maḥalla:

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It was an order issued for periodical mustering.

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(xiii) سقط نامه

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(xiii) Saqaṭ-nāma:

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A certificate from the inspector explaining the casualty of the horse of a manṣabdār or an aḥadī.

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(xiv) رخصت نامه

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(xiv) Rukhṣat-nāma:

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A permit of casual leave.

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(xv) بیماری نامه

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(xv) Bīmārī-nāma:

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A medical certificate.

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(xvi) برطرفی نامه

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(xvi) Barṭarafī-nāma:

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A certificate of discharge.

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(xvii) فوتی نامه

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(xvii) Fautī-nāma:

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The document stating the death of an employee in the army either on account of a natural death, or on active service or in action. In the first case, half pay and in the second, full pay was disbursed as a rule to the heir who produced a vārith-nāma (certificate of heirship) attested by a qāḍī. It begins thus:

فوتی باسم ... شرح دستخط از فهرست برآرند

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(xviii) الواصل

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(xviii) al-Vāṣil:

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A pay bill of salary paid to an employee (ta‘īnātī) and his followers (tābīnān).

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(xix) پروانۀ تنخواهی

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(xix) Parwāna-yi-tankhwāhī:

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A final order of the bakhshī was issued to the provincial bakhshī and other officials concerned regarding the Imperial order of the grant of a manṣab to a nau-sar-afrāz and contained the following details: (a) His fixed salary (muqarrara tankhwāh), (b) the name of the jāgīr with its income in terms of dams, and (c) contingent i.e. dhāt and suvār of his tābīnān.

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(xx) فقره

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(xx) Fiqra:

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It denoted an office-note recorded by a subordinate or dictated to him by the bakhshī al-mulkī, regarding an order to be executed further through proper Chancellery issues:

فقرۀ نوشتۀ سیادت و نقابت پناه بخشی الملکی ... ـ

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The following papers were required from the provincial offices and individual employees in the army.

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(i) تصدیقات حاضری

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(i) Taṣdīqāt-i-ḥāḍirī:

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A document certifying the ta‘īnātiyān serving in the provinces. The bakhshī endorsed it with the words: “manẓūr dārand.”

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(ii) تصدیق رسالۀ نوکری

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(ii) Taṣdīq-i-risāla-yi-naukarī:

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It was an attested copy of a mandate at that stage of office procedure i.e. taṣdīq, regarding an appointment noted in the records of the commander at the royal Court. It was endorsed by the bakhshī thus: “dākhil-i-vāqi‘a numāyand.”

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(iii) مچلکا

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(iii) Muchalkā (from the Turkish müchülgā):

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A written bond executed by a newly recruited (nau-sar-afrāz) manṣabdār to the effect that, he would get the horses of his retainers branded within the prescribed period. A muchalkā was also executed by a regular employee posted at some fort regarding his salary. It was sealed and signed by witnesses.

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(iv) تمسّک ضامنی

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(iv) Tamassuk-i-ḍāminī:

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It was a security bond executed by the manṣabdār who held a jāgīr-tankhwāh to the effect that, he would have his retainers’ horses branded within the prescribed period, failing which he would be liable to the payment of a penalty of chauthā’ī. The bakhshī endorsed it thus: “manẓūr dārand.”

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(v) حاضر ضامنی

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(v) Ḥāḍir-ḍāminī:

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It was a security bond executed by a manṣabdār newly recruited (ba-manṣab nau-sar-afrāzī yāfta) holding himself responsible for the personal appearance of his retainers at the ordered time, or in case of their leave without the permission of the Government clerks (bī-rukhṣat-i-mutaṣaddiyān-i-sarkār jā’ī beravad ḥāḍir sāzam). It begins thus:

غرض ازین نوشته آنکه منکه بندۀ درگاه خلایق پناه ... ام، بنابران مشار الیه را حاضر ضامن شدیم [کذاء] مومی الیه ... را حاضر کنم، اگر حاضر کردن نتوانم از عهدۀ آن [او] جواب گویم. ـ

It contains a “zanjīra-yi-ḍāmin” of the manṣabdār.

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(3) کاغذات دفتری خان سامان

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(3) Kāghadhāt-i-daftarī of the Khān-i-sāmān:

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The khān-i-sāmān was technically the comptroller of the Royal Household, director general of the kārkhānajāt, and the minister for public works, trade and industry. All appointments to the posts at the Capital and provinces were made by him at his own discretion, except for the higher offices which required the ḥasb al-ḥukm orders.

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(a) دستکات و پروانجات

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(a) Dastakāt and Parvānas:

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The permits and orders issued from his office relate to departmental transactions and State affairs. The following papers were either issued from his office or requisitioned from the provincial offices. They relate to the Royal cattle.

(i) Dastak-i-in‘ām
(ii) Dastak-i-dāgh
(iii) Dāgh-nāma
(iv) Taṣḥīḥa (same as in the case of the bakhshī)

He also issued permits allowing the nobles of the State for temporary lodging in government houses; replying to the inquiries made by the provincial buyūtāt and so forth.

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(b)

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(b) The following papers were requisitioned from the employees such as the skilled artisans:

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(i) Taṣdīqāt-i-ḥāḍirī: (attestations of the attendance) of the dārūghas.

(ii) ‘Arḍ-dāshts from the kārkhānajāt.

(iii) Tamassuk-i-māl-ḍāminī: bonds for money security from the menials (shāgird-pīsha).

(iv) Chihra-nāma: of the menials.

(v) Qubūḍ: a receipt for the article given from the kārkhānajāt. On the qabḍ al-vuṣūl, the dīvān-i-buyūtāt wrote the following words according to the nature of the receipts: “I‘tibār numāyand”; “Saranjām numāyand”; Sarbarāh numāyand”; or “Manẓūr numāyand.”

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(4) قبالات شرعیه

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(4) Qabālāt-i-shar‘iyya of (A) the Maḥkama-yi-‘adālat, and (B) Maḥkama-yi-shar‘iyya:

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The dignity of the chief ṣadrs of the Mughals had dwindled into insignificance. The ṣadr-i-jahān of the period of the Sultanate was the head of the ecclesiastical and judiciary departments and had unlimited authority in matters of grants, variously called idrārāt, milk, madad-i-ma‘āsh, in‘ām, vaqf and vaẓīfa, to learned men and, for benevolent purposes. The Emperor Akbar curtailed the authority of the ṣadr-i-kull in soyūrghāl grants, who henceforth had to consult the dīvān. His duties as the chief justice to try criminal and civil cases, and the duties of qāḍī al-quḍāt of the Sultanate and other Muslim periods such as, imāmat, khiṭābat and iḥtisāb, and supervision and enforcement of religious law as described in the old manshūrs, were delegated to a separate office of the qāḍī al-quḍāt.

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Nevertheless, for appointments to the posts of qāḍīs, muḥtasibs, ṣadrs, mutavallīs for charitable foundations, imāms and mu’adhdhins for the mosques in the provinces, districts and parganas, it was the chief ṣadr who issued sanads as confirmatory orders. Similarly as head of the ecclesiastical department and as the royal almoner, it was he who supervised, confirmed and verified all grants as soyūrghāl. It was he, who issued administrative orders on the grievances of aymadārs and madad-i-ma‘āsh-holders.

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The provincial and district ṣadrs were likewise delegated with powers for issuing and checking title-deeds of the qāḍīs, khāṭibs, mutavallīs, imāms and mu’adhdhins, and for issuing parvānas, barāt (cheques) for the stipends and daily allowances of the ‘ulamā’ and other needy persons. The duties of the ṣadr-i-juz’ included (i) investigation of intestate (fautī) and abandoned (farārī) properties in soyūrghāl, (ii) escheat, and (iii) redemption (bāzyāft) of such grants. (iv) He was instructed to send every year the corrected copy (nuskha-yi-munaqqaḥ) of the soyūrghāl accounts to the dīvān al-ṣadārat for audition. (v) It was also his duty to appropriate lands lapsing to the Government for the khāliṣa-yi-sharīfa. (vi) The provincial ṣadr dealt primarily with all matters of soyūrghāl and tried cases of land disputes falling under his jurisdiction.

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Professors and learned men in law were generally appointed to the office of the chief justice. He was consulted by the Emperor on controversial and important religious matters. He composed the khuṭba in eloquent inshā’ to be read in the name of the Emperor as a token of validity to his succession. In the provinces and the districts, he was represented by the qāḍīs, who were assisted by other officials such as, dārūgha-yi-‘adālat, muftīs and mīr-i-‘adls. Since there was no ṣadr in the pargana, the local qāḍī officiated in that capacity also in matters of land grants in the soyūrghāl. His attestation was necessary for the finally settlement of madad-i-ma‘āsh papers, such as the chak-nāma (of the apportionment of the grants to the heirs). Most of the legal deeds and civil contracts were either drawn up by him or executed in his presence.

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There seem to have been combined posts of qaḍā’ and khiṭābat in one person from the beginning of the Mughal régime. The duties of the qaḍā’ covered practically all matters of religious importance (mu‘amalāt-i-dīniya) and law disputes (qaḍāyā-yi-shar‘iya). These include, as described in the letters patent, settling affairs, deciding law-suits and disputes (mukhāṣamāt), contracting marriages with a guardian or without it, distributing inheritances, drawing up of legal sentences (ṣukūk i.e. ḥadd-va-ta‘zīr) and decrees (sijillāt) according to the Canon Law. He was also assigned the investigation of buried treasures and property of the orphans (aytām), the appointment of trustees thereof, and executors of will (auṣiyā). He also seems to have encroached on the domain of the iḥtisāb, although there existed the traditional office of the muḥtasib as distinct from that of the qāḍī, till the downfall of the Mughal Empire.

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Nirkh-nāma:

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As muḥtasib, he regulated all matters concerning prohibition and drugs, fixing of the price rates in the bazaar and sending therewith the price bulletin i.e. nirkh-nāma of the current rates of market prices to the Capital; enforcement of the observance of proper weights and standards of measurement. The qāḍī maintained an avāraja for keeping a daily inventory of prices.

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The residents of the locality were directed to consider him as the custodian of law and absolute judge, to whom they referred in all religious and civil transactions. The muftī assisted him as jurisconsult in cases for which there was no provision in the Koran or the Ḥadīth.

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(A) محکمۀ عدالت

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(A) Maḥkama-yi-‘adālat:

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The extant documents of the Mughal period enable us to trace the important stages of the civil procedure adopted in the suits of land disputes in soyūrghāl and fief-holding.

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Institution of suits:

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The first authority in this respect was the nuvvāb or the jāgīrdār who summarily disposed of all cases of madad-i-ma‘āsh and ayma lands situated within the limits of his jurisdiction, or disputes arising out of his sub-infeudation on the complaint (istighātha) or petition (‘arḍī) of the plaintiff (mustaghīth) seeking redress from him.

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Trial at the maḥkama of the qāḍī:

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In cases of civil disputed involving legal implications, the usual practice of the nuvvāb was to refer the case to the Judiciary. He issued a parvāna in the name of the faujdār of the locality, who summoned the litigants to appear before the court. At the preliminary stage, after the parties and the witnesses were examined, the matter was referred to the qāḍī to frame and decide the issues arising out of the pleadings. The qāḍī interrogated the plaintiff and the defendant, examined the witnesses and inspected the legal documents (qabālāt-i-shar‘iya) which the parties of the suit put before him in evidence. Disputable matters relating to legal titles in property or inheritance were referred to the muftī for his legal opinion, who returned his verdict with his remarks under his own seal.

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(i) دستک عدالت

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(i) Dastak-i-‘adālat:

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The following important papers belong to the maḥkama-yi-‘adālat: It is a summon issued in the name of the defendant in a law-suit: دستک باسم ... ـ .

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(ii) کیفیّت یا صورت حال

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(ii) Kayfiyat or Ṣūrat-i-ḥāl:

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Statements and findings of the qāḍī and the muftī, or a brief of the history of disputes with objections to the statements of witnesses in the court.

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(iii) مثل مقدمه

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(iii) Mithl-i-muqaddama:

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A file or record of the case.

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(iv) صکوک و سجلّات

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(iv) Ṣukūk and Sijillāt (legal sentences and decrees):

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(a) فیصل یا فیصله

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(a) Fayṣal or Fayṣala:

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In a suit if it appears that the parties are not at issue on any question of law or of fact, the qāḍī pronounces his fayṣala on the authority of the documents in the possession or power of the plaintiff referred to in his petition and produced in the maḥkama-yi-sharī‘at.

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(b) سجلّ

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(b) Sijill:

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A sijill is the judgment of a bench of qāḍīs and a muftī acting as jurisconsult bearing the seal impressions of the bench and attestations of the witnesses. It contains a concise statement of the case, the points of determination, the particulars of the claim, the decision thereon and the reason for such decision (fayṣala).

Begins:

(1) ذکریست در بیان آنکه واقعه تاریخ ... ـ

(2) باعث تحریر این سطور آنکه درمیان سیادت مآب ... و مشیخت مآب بواسطۀ موضع

Verdict:

(1) الحال هیچ دعویٰ مدعیان مذبور از وجه مذبور نماند، این چند کلمه نوشته شد که وقت حاجت حجت باشد فی التأریخ ... ـ

(2) حکم شد که بدستور سابق قابض و متصرف باشد تحریر تاریخ ... ـ

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(c)

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(c) Execution of decrees and orders:

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(v) فیصل نامه

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(v) Fayṣal-nāma:

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It seems that notwithstanding the jurisdiction of the maḥkama-yi-sharī‘at to try all cases of civil indictments, the verdict was not de facto in itself to reinstate a lawful owner into possession of his usurped or alienated land. This was done only by the executive authority, the nuvvāb of the locality. On the authority of the documentary evidence and the verdict (sijillāt) regarding the proper title of ownership, the nuvvāb issued his fayṣal-nāma, or administrative order as the case may be. In accordance with the orders contained in the fayṣal-nāma, the officials remeasured and delimited the disputed land in the presence of arbitrators (thālithān) appointed by the shiqdār. The last mentioned also executed the deed of demarcation with the help of the agents of the nuvvāb. A fayṣal-nāma is identical with a chak-nāma.

Begins:

باعث تحریر این سطور آنکه چون بجهت ... موضع من اعمال پرگنه ... ـ

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(vi) حکم نامه

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(vi) Ḥukm-nāma:

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As a court order of the qāḍī, it executes the final settlement of the chak-bandī.

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(d)

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(d) Documents relied on in plaint and suit:

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(vii) محضر نامه

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(vii) Maḥḍar-nāma

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A maḥḍar-nāma does not necessarily originate under given conditions described above; in fact, it can be operated as an effective instrument for invoking justice, equity and conscience of the public in all cases of disputes of lands, inheritance, civil contract or a local quarrel. There are instances of this ethical apparatus producing desired effects on the authorities concerned, sometimes resulting in a royal order, or a verdict of the jurists.

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In the maḥḍar-nāma, a wronged person “asks and summons evidence (su’vāl mī-kunad va isishhād mī-khwāhad)” from the residents (ru’asā’) in general and, the noble sayyids, mashā’ikh, ‘ulamā’ and the gentry in particular. Those who are aware of the authenticity of the fact and veracity of the statement (bar ṣiḥḥat-i-īn ḥāl-va-ṣidq-i-īn maqāl) are appealed to testify to the true fact preferred therein, by apposing their seals and attestations in accordance with the Koranic legend “for [the sake of] Allāh” (حسبة لله), so that they may be recompensed before God and acknowledged publicly (عند الله مأجور و عند الناس مشکور). In most cases it opens with the Koranic verse [2:283]:

وَلَا تَكْتُمُوا الشَّهَادَةَ ۚ وَمَن يَكْتُمْهَا فَإِنَّهُ آثِمٌ قَلْبُهُ

[Do not conceal evidence: anyone who does so has a sinful heart]

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As a summary of evidence with public attestation, a maḥḍar-nāma serves the following objects: (i) As a legal document for proof, (ii) a public recognition of a bona fide claim, and (iii) a documentary evidence in an indictment.

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(viii) سؤال، سؤال نامه، استشهاد نامه ؛ یا صورت حال

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(viii) Su’vāl, Su’vāl-nāma, or Istishhād-nāma; or Ṣūrat-i-ḥāl:

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Belonging to the category of the maḥḍar-nāma, there are different other forms of “summary of evidence” with public attestations submitted for a jury report variously called, a su’vāl, su’vāl-nāma or istishhād-nāma. It is mentioned as ṣūrat-i-ḥāl also.

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In some cases, before an appeal is made to the élite and gentry of the locality and the vicinity (qurb-u-juvār), and to those who know the true facts, a deponent is required to undertake a written testimony (guvāhī-nāma) before a bench of jurists (qāḍīs and muftīs). The su’vāl follows the guvāhī:

از دل صدق و راستی بحضور شما گواهی ادا کند اظهارًا ... ـ