Sultanate and Mughal administration

The Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal empire built two of the most durable administrative systems in medieval India, both centred on a strong monarch, a graded nobility, and revenue drawn mainly from land. The Sultanate created the iqta system, in which officers held revenue assignments in return for military service, while the Mughals refined this into the mansabdari system and the zabt revenue settlement. A concrete example is Akbar's zabt system in the imperial heartland, where measured fields and ten-year average prices fixed the state's demand in cash. Comparing the two systems shows continuity in central control and change in measurement, record-keeping, and the balance between centre and provinces.