A Survey of the Concepts of Court Documents of Safavid in Iran and Mughals in India

Document Type : Original Research

Author
Mozhgan Esmaili
Associate professor of Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Tourism
Abstract
The administrative system during Iran's Safavid and India's Mughal empires had a complex structure. During that era, writing, recording, and dispatching of royal decrees as well as administrative, judicial, revenue figures, and rulings were carried out by three administrative divisions dealing with composition, execution, and judiciary. Such documents are exiting in two primary and secondary forms and their compositions are varied based on their themes. The components of documents are also distinguished in terms of their header, seal, and monogram. To prevent any type of forgery, they went through lengthy and complicated stages. These documents show the evolution of the bureaucratic system in both dynasties and were issued for purposes such as appointments, grants, exemptions, contracts, treaties, and so on. The research method applied in the present research is based sources extracted from library and archival materials and then the court documents of both Safavid and Mughals were compared and analyzed through the descriptive-analytical method. Research findings show that different administrative units were under the supervision of the minister (vazir), the second powerful figure after the King, who in fact led state, financial and judicial affairs. Although both dynasties had common roots, they created one of the most effective executive systems of their time by upgrading those prevalent in previous empires.

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The International Journal of Humanities
Volume 30, Issue 1
Winter 2023
Pages 1-21