Faujdar

Faujdar was a military officer (whatever might be the rank) in charge of an army under the command of a chief during the pre-Mughal period. But in the Mughal period, akbar first systematised the rank and position of the faujd'a'r as a provincial officer. He divided the empire into provinces, called sub'a'hs, each subah was under the administrative control of a subahd'a'r (also called sip'a'h s'a'l'a'r, later n'a'zim). Each province or subah was again divided into sarkars and parganas. The officer posted over the administration of the sark'a'r was called a faujdar. The system continued till the end of the Mughal period. In the ain-i-akbari' the duties and functions of the faujdar have been enumerated. [Abdul Karim] [Karim, Abdul former Vice Chancellor, Chittagong University]