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• Two ruling groups of Indian origin, the Rajputs and the Indian Muslims
(Shaikhzadas) entered the imperial service from 1560 onwards.
• The emperor personally reviewed changes in rank, titles and official postings.
• Akbar designed mansab system which established spiritual relationships with a
select band of his nobility by treating them as his disciples.
• Some important officials were Mir Bakshi (paymaster general), Diwan-i ala
(Finance minister) and sadr-us-sudur (minister of grants and incharge of
appointing local judges or qazis), etc. The keeping of exact and detailed rewards
was a major concern of the Mughal administration.
• The Mir Bakshi supervised the corps of court writers who recorded all applications
and documents of courts.
• News reports and important official documents travelled across the Mughal
Empire by imperial post which included round-the-clock relays of foot-runners
(qasid or pathmar) carried papers rolled up in bamboo containers.
• The division of functions established at the centre was replicated in the provinces
(subas),
• The local administration was looked after the level of the paragana by three semi-
hereditary officers, the qanungo (keeper of revenue records), the chaudhuri
(incharge of revenue collection) and the qazi.
• Persian language was made the language of administration throughout, but local
languages were used for village accounts.

Jesuit Missionaries in the Mughal Court:

• Mughal Emperors assumed many titles like Shahenshah, Jahangir, Shah Jahan,
etc,
• All conquerors who sought to make their way into the Indian sub-continent had to
cross the Hindukush mountains. Thus, the Mughal tried to ward off this potential
danger, and tried to control Kabul and Qandahar.
• Europe got knowledge of India through the accounts of Jesuit missionaries,
travellers, merchants and diplomats.
• Akbar was curious about Christianity and the first Jesuit mission reached the
Mughal Court at Fatehpur Sikri in 1580.
• The Jesuit accounts are based on personal observation and shed light on the
character and mind of the emperor.

Akbar’s Quest for Religion:

• Akbar’s quest for religions knowledge led to interfaith debates in the Ibadat Khana
at Fatehpur Sikri, between learned Muslims, Hindus, Jainas, Parsis and
Christians.
• Increasingly, Akbar moved away from the orthodox Islamic ways of understanding
religions towards a self-conceived eclectic form of divine worship focused on light
and sun.
• Akbar and Abu’l Fazl tried to create a philosophy of light and used it to shape the
image of the king and ideology of the state. King was a divinely inspired individual