Subahdar

Subahdar viceroy or governor of a subah of the Mughal empire. For governance, the Mughal empire was divided into a number of Subahs (provinces). The head of a subah was variously called: subahdar, nazim, sahib-i-subah, faujdar-i-subah etc. The governor of the Subah Bangala was called 'Subahdar'. He was also often addressed as Nazim. Like the two principal ministers at the centre, the diwan and the mir bakshi , the provincial governors were generally appointed from amongst officers holding the highest ranks or Mansabs. Sometimes Mughal princes also were appointed subahdars of important provinces.

In fact, the subahdars formed the hard core of the ruling aristocracy. Normally, the most trusted members of the imperial family and the bureaucracy were appointed subahdars. Being the civil and military head of the subah, the subahdar held a very crucial post. A rebellion on the part of a subahdar was sure to have a telling effect on the imperial authority as well as on the territorial integrity of the empire. Shortly after the death of the last Mughal in 1707, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the nawabs of Oudh and Bengal (all actually subahdars) became autonomous chiefs of their respective subahs rendering the empire a ridiculous fiction.

The jurisdiction and powers of a subahdar were elaborately defined in the procedures of imperial administration. He was directly appointed by, and responsible to, the emperor. Constitutionally, he had no power to transgress the limits set by the emperor. In balancing his powers, the provincial diwan, who was again appointed directly by the emperor, was assigned with supreme powers as regards revenue administration. As regards finance, the subahdar had no control over the diwan nor had the diwan over the subahdar as regards administration. They were mutually independent of each other. While Prince azim-us-shan, the subahdar of Bengal once made an attempt to influence murshid quli khan (the diwan) to sanction him money irregularly, the diwan complained to the emperor pointing out the irregularity. The emperor censured the subahdar and appreciated the stand of the diwan. This is an instance of duality of powers in the Mughal provincial administration.

Chronology of Bengal Subahdars (1575-1770 AD).

Subahdars	Tenure
Khan-i-Khanan Munim Khan	1575
Khan-i-Jahan Hosen Quli Beig	1576-76
Ismail Quli (Acting)	1578-79
Muzaffar Khan Turbati	1579-80
Khan-i-Azam Mirza Aziz Kokah	1583
Wazir Khan	1583
Shahbaz Khan	1583-85
Sadiq Khan	1585-86
Shahbaz Khan (2nd term)	1586
Wazir Khan	1586-87
Syed Khan	1587-94
Raja Mansingh	1594-1606
Qutubuddin Khan Kokah	1606-07
Jahangir Quli Beig	1607-08
Islam Khan Chishti	1608-13
Sheikh Hosanga (Acting)	1613-14
Qasim Khan Chishti	1614-17
Ibrahim Khan Fath-i-Jang	1617-24
Darab Khan (when Bengal was occupied by Shahjahan)	1624-25
Mahabat Khan	1625-26
Mukarram Khan Chishti	1626-27
Fidai Khan alias Mirza Hedayetullah	1627-28
Qasim Khan Juyini	1628-32
Azam Khan Mir Muhammad Baqr	1632-35
Islam Khan Mashhadi	1635-39
Saif Khan (Acting)	1639
Prince Shah Shuja	1639-60
Mir Jumla alias Khan-i-Khanan Muazzam Khan	1660-63
Dilir Khan (Acting)	1663
Daud Khan (Acting)	1663-64
Shaista Khan	1664-78
Fidai Khan alias Azam Khan Koka	1678
Prince Muhammad Azam	1678-79
Shaista Khan (2nd term)	1680-88
Khan-i-Jahan Bahadur	1688-89
Ibrahim Khan	1689-97
Prince Azimuddin (Azim-us-Shan) mostly in absentia, Farrukh Siyar and Khan-i-Alam being the deputies in succession	1697-1712
Farkhunda Siyar (infant son of Farrukh Siyar, in absentia, Murshid Quli Khan was the deputy)	1713
Mir Jumla alias Muzaffar Jang (in absentia, Murshid Quli continued as the deputy)	1713-16
Murshid Quli Khan	1717-27
Shujauddin Muhammad Khan	1727-39
Sarfaraz Khan	1739-40
Alivardi Khan	1740-56
Sirajuddaula	1756-57
Mir Jafar Ali Khan	1757-60
Mir Qasim	1760-63
Mir Jafar Ali Khan (2nd term)	1763-65
Nazimuddaula	1765-66
Saifuddaula	1766-70

But even then, the subahdar was the chief of the province and responsible for its defence and good governance. For political consideration, the Mughal Court did not approve of long terms for subahdars, and generally transferred or recalled them, with exceptions, after their tenures of two to three years. But compared to subahdars of other provinces, Bengal subahdars, however, had always enjoyed much longer tenures. On an average, Bengal subahdars stayed in office uninterruptedly for more than six years, whereas in other provinces the tenure was, generally, below four years.

Between 1704 to 1717, the centre appointed several subahdars, but those appointments were more rhetorical than real, because none of the incumbents came to Bengal to assume their office. During the period, virtual ruler of the subah was Murshid Quli Khan, the founder of the nawabi regime. From Murshid Quli Khan to sirajuddaula, all subahdars, who were commonly known as 'nawab' in Bengal history, were self-proclaimed and later confirmed by the centre theoretically. [Sirajul Islam]