With reference to Mansabdari system, which of the statements is/are correct? 1) Mansabdari system was the official nobility of the state, started by Akbar. 2) Mansabdari was hereditary. Select the correct answer using the codes given below:

Statement 1 is correct. The mansabdari system was the official nobility of the Mughal state, and Akbar formalised it in the 1570s. Every officer, civil or military, was given a numerical rank called mansab, which fixed his salary, the number of troopers he had to maintain and his standing at court. Ranks were expressed as zat (personal) and sawar (cavalry), and the system brought the nobility under direct imperial control.

Statement 2 is wrong. Mansabdari was not hereditary. Mansabs were conferred and withdrawn by the emperor, and a son did not automatically inherit his father's rank. The jagirs assigned against mansabs were also revocable and transferable, which stopped the nobility from becoming a hereditary landed class.

• Option B is wrong because statement 2 is false.
• Option C is wrong because statement 2 is false.
• Option D is wrong because statement 1 is true.

Core concept: a state-controlled bureaucratic-military nobility. For Mains, link this to the Mughal jagirdari crisis of the late seventeenth century, when the mismatch between mansabs and available jagirs weakened the empire.

Trap: Candidates accept statement 2 because they picture Mughal nobility as a hereditary aristocracy like feudal lords. Appointments and jagirs were non-hereditary.