List of Mughal grand viziers
Grand Vizier of Hindustan | |
---|---|
Appointer | Mughal emperor |
Formation | 21 April 1526 |
First holder | Amir Nizamu-d din Khalifa |
Final holder | Asaf-ud-Daula |
Abolished | 21 September 1797 |
The Grand Vizier of Hindustan (Hindustani: Vazir-ul-Mamlikat-i-Hindustan)[1][2] was the highest ranking minister in the Mughal Empire and the chief adviser to the emperor himself. The position acted as the de facto head of government of the Mughal Empire and had responsibility for leading the ministers of the Empire. This is the list of grand viziers (vazīr-e azam) of the Mughal Empire.
History
[edit]The seniormost official under the Mughals, or the Prime Minister, held different titles such as Vakil, Vakil-us-Sultanat, Wazir, Diwan, Diwan-i-Ala and Diwan Wazir under different Mughal emperors.[3] Under Babur and Humayun, the institution of the wazirat was not fully developed owing to a lack of an entrenched nobility and political upheaval. Nonetheless, individuals under both rulers did rise to positions equivalent to the position of prime minister and under Humayun reforms were first attempted to clarify the roles of Vakil and Wazir.[3]
In the early years of Akbar's reign, the position of prime minister was first officially held by Bairam Khan as Vakil-us-Sultanat, and he exercised considerable influence over the emperor. Over time the power of the Vakil gradually declined, and during the reign of his successor Jahangir the role of Wazir replaced the Vakil as the most important officer in government.[3] Mughal wazirs were specifically appointed from the ahl-i-qalam(men of the pen) as distinct from the ahl-i-saif(men of the sword).[4] With the abolishment of the post of Wakil, the post was divided into the two offices of Wazir and Mir Bakhshi, where the chief Wazir was the head of the finance department, while the Mir Bakhshi was the head of the military department.[5] These two offices were made jointly responsible for the administration by a system of signatures and counter-signatures.[6] Until the death of Aurangzeb, the post of Wazir was never a threat to the monarchy as the Wazir could not act too independently. However, after the death of Aurangzeb, the pre-mughal tradition in India of the Wazir being the premier noble at the court and leading counsellor of the king apart from being the head of the financial administration had been re-established.[7]
List of grand viziers
[edit]Portrait | Name | Term of office | Notable events | Emperor | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Amir Nizamuddin Khalifa | 21 April 1526 | 17 May 1540 | 1st Battle of Panipat | Babur (1526 – 1530)
& Humayun (1530 – 1540) | |
Qaracha Khan | 1540 | ? | He was a governor of Qandahar and Humayun appoint him as Grand-Vizier of the Mughal State. | Humayun (1530 – 1556) | |
![]() |
Bairam Khan[3] | 1556 | 1560 | Akbar-i-Azam اکبر اعظم (1556-1605) | |
![]() |
Munim Khan | 1560 | 1561 | ||
Ataga Khan[8] | 1561 | 1562 | He was assassinated by Adham Khan | ||
Muzaffar Khan Turbati[9] | 1575 | 1579 | No Vakil was appointed after his appointment to governorship in Bengal from 1579 until 1589 | ||
![]() |
Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak[10] | 1579 | 22 August 1602 | ||
Sharif Khan[3] | 1605 | 1611 | Jahangir جہانگیر (1605-1627) | ||
![]() |
Mirza Ghias Beg[3] | 1611 | 1622 | ||
![]() |
Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan[3] | 1622 | 1630 | ||
![]() |
Afzal Khan Shirazi[3] | 1630 | 1639 | Shah Jahan شاہ جہان (1628-1658) | |
![]() |
Islam Khan Mashadi[3] | 1639 | 1640 | ||
![]() |
Shaikh Ilam-ud-Din Ansari[11] | 1640 | 1642 | ||
![]() |
Sadullah Khan[12] | 1642 | 1656 |
| |
![]() |
Mir Jumla[13] | 1656 | 1657 | Alamgir I عالمگیر (1658-1707) | |
Jafar Khan[14] | 1657 | 1658 | |||
Fazil Khan[14] | 1658 | 1663 | |||
Jafar Khan[13] | 1663 | 1670 [15] | |||
![]() |
Asad Khan[16] | 1675 | 1707 | ||
Mun'im Khan Khan-i-Khanan[17] | 1707 | 1711 | Bahadur Shah I بہادر شاہ (1707-1712) | ||
Hidayatullah Khan Kashmiri[18] | 1711 | 1713 | Jahandar Shah جہاندار شاہ (1712-1713) | ||
![]() |
Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung[19] | 1712 | 1713 | ||
Mir Rustam Ali Khan[3] | 1710 | 1737 | Farrukhsiyar فرخ سیر (1713–1719) | ||
![]() |
Qutb-ul-Mulk Abdullah Khan Barha[20] | 1713 | 1720 |
| |
![]() |
Muhammad Amin Khan Turani[20] | 1720 | 1721 | Muhammad Shah محمد شاہ (1719-1748) | |
![]() |
Mir Qamar-ud-Din Khan Asaf Jah I[22] | 1721 | 1723 | ||
![]() |
Roshan-ud-Daulah Zafar Khan[23][24] | 1724 | 1733 | ||
![]() |
Mir Fazil Qamar-ud-Din Khan | 1733 | 1748 | ||
![]() |
Safdar Jang[22] | 1748 | 1753 | Ahmad Shah Bahadur احمد شاہ بہادر (1748-1754) | |
Intizam-ud-Daulah[25] | 1753 | 1754 | |||
![]() |
Imad-ul-Mulk Feroze Jung[25] | 1754 | 1760 | Alamgir II عالمگیر دوم (1754-1759) | |
![]() |
(de-facto wazir-i-azam
(Original shahjada-wazir-i-azam |
1760
1760 |
1775
1784 |
Shah Alam II شاہ عالم دوم (1760-1806) | |
Najaf Quli Khan[27] | 1772 | 1791 |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Batra, Ravi (January 2012). The Splendour of Lodi Road. The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). ISBN 978-81-7993-446-3.
Safdarjung was appointed the Chief Minister of the Mughal Empire. He was given the title of 'Wazir ul-Mamalik-i-Hindustan', though, by then the empire had considerably shrunk to just northern India. His fame and power were, unfortunately, short lived as court politics overtook him and he was dismissed by the new emperor.
- ^ Experts, Disha (July 2020). Amazing Uttar Pradesh. Disha Publications. p. 49. ISBN 978-93-90486-72-4.
Wazir ul-Mamalik-i-Hindustan, Asaf Jah, Jamat ul-Mulk, Shuja ud-Daula, Nawab Abu'l Mansur Khan Bahadur, Safdar Jang, popularly known as Safdarjung was the second Nawab of the Awadh dynasty.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Sharma, Gauri (2006). Prime Ministers Under the Mughals 1526-1707. Kanishka, New Delhi. ISBN 8173918236.
- ^ Satish Chandra (2005). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II. Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 978-81-241-1066-9.
- ^ Abdul Qadir Husaini (Saiyid.) (1952). Administration Under the Mughuls. the University of Michigan.
- ^ Jagadish Narayan Sarkar (1984). Mughal Polity. University of Michigan. p. 132.
- ^ Gauri Pandit (2004). Status And Role Of Prime Ministers Under The Mughals 1526 To 1707. Panjab University, Chandigarh. p. 60.
- ^ Collier, Dirk (March 1, 2016). The Great Mughals and their India. Hay House, Inc. ISBN 9789384544980 – via Google Books.
- ^ Satish Chandra (2005). Medieval India: From Sultanat to the Mughals Part - II. Har-Anand Publications. p. 136. ISBN 978-81-241-1066-9.
- ^ Alfred J. Andrea, James H. Overfield (1998). The Human Record: To 1700. Houghton Mifflin. p. 476. ISBN 978-0-395-87087-7.
Abul Fazl(1551-1602), the emperor's chief advisor and confidant from 1579 until Abul Fazl's assassination at the instigation of Prince Salim, the future Emperor Jahangir(r. 1605-1627)
- ^ Abraham Richard Fuller (1990). The Shah Jahan Nama of 'Inayat Khan: An Abridged History of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan). University of Michigan. p. 602. ISBN 978-0-19-562489-2.
- ^ Adolf Simon Waley (1927). The Shah Jahan Nama of 'Inayat Khan: An Abridged History of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, Compiled by His Royal Librarian : the Nineteenth-century Manuscript Translation of A.R. Fuller (British Library, Add. 30,777). Constable.
- ^ a b Indian Institute of Public Administration (1976). The Indian Journal of Public Administration: Quarterly Journal of the Indian Institute of Public Administration, Volume 22. The Institute.
- ^ a b Indian History Congress - Proceedings: Volume 42. Indian History Congress. 1981.
- ^ Indian History Congress Proceedings: Volume 42. Indian History Congress. 1981.
- ^ Krieger-Krynicki, Annie (2005). Captive Princess: Zebunissa, Daughter of Emperor Aurangzeb. University of Michigan. ISBN 0195798376.
- ^ Kaicker, Abhishek (3 Feb 2020). The King and the People: Sovereignty and Popular Politics in Mughal Delhi. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0190070687.
- ^ William Irvine (1971). Later Mughals. p. 128.
- ^ John F. Richards, The New Cambridge History of India: The Mughal Empire (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993), p. 262
- ^ a b Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. (2009). Britannica Guide to India. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. ISBN 978-1593398477.
- ^ C. K. Srinivasan (1962). Baji Rao I, the Great Peshwa. p. 22.
- ^ a b Disha Experts (17 Dec 2018). The History Compendium for IAS Prelims General Studies Paper 1 & State PSC Exams 3rd Edition. Disha Publications. ISBN 978-9388373036.
- ^ Praveen Kumar (2017). Complete Indian History for IAS Exam. Educreation Publishing. p. 267.
- ^ Satish Chandra (1999). Medieval India: Mughal Empire, 1526-1748. Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 978-81-241-0522-1.[dead link]
- ^ a b Khwaja, Sehar. "Fosterage and Motherhood in the Mughal Harem: Intimate Relations and the Political System in Eighteenth-Century India." Social Scientist 46, no. 5-6 (2018): 39-60. Accessed August 7, 2020. doi:10.2307/26530803.
- ^ Bhatia, O. P. Singh (1968). History of India, from 1707 to 1856. Surjeet Book Depot.
- ^ Rima Hooja (2006). A History of Rajasthan. the University of Michigan. p. 737. ISBN 978-81-291-0890-6.