Question

If zat determined a mansabdar’s rank and salary, sawar indicated his_______.

Answer 1

Hint: Mansabdar refers to an individual who holds a mansab, a rank or position. It was a grading system used by Mughals to fix three things which were-rank, salary and military responsibilities.
Complete answer:
It was originally used by Babur and Humanyun but Akbar later reformed the system.
Under this grading system, the rank and salary were determined by a numerical value known as zat. The higher the zat, the more prestigious was the position of the noble in the court. It was a group of elites appointed and dismissed directly by the emperor. The military responsibilities of the mansabdars required him to maintain a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen. The mansabdar was required to bring his cavalrymen in the court for review, got them registered and their horses branded and then they received money to pay them as salary.

Mansabdars received their salaries in the form of jagirs and naqdi. They themselves remain on-field and their servants were required to collect their salaries. During Akbar’s reign, he had 29 mansabdars, their jagirs were carefully examined so that their revenues were roughly equal to the salary of the mansabdar. By the time of Aurangzeb, he had appointed around 70 mansabdars which resulted in delays and long waits in the salary.

Note: Zat indicated a mansabdar’s rank or position and sawar indicated his cavalry of men that he maintained. Mansabdars who were paid in cash were known as Naqdi and those who were paid in the land were known as jagirs.