Login
Login

Subah of Multan

{{Short description|Subah of the Mughal Empire}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2020}}

{{Infobox former country

| conventional_long_name = Multan Subah

| common_name = Multan

| era = Early modern period

| subdivision = Subah

| nation = Mughals

| year_start = 1580

| year_end = 1752

| life_span = 1580–1752

| p1 = Mughal Empire

| s1 = Durrani Empire

| flag_s1 = Flag of Herat until 1842.svg

| image_map = Elaborately illustrated map of the Multan Subah of the Mughal Empire, commissioned by Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil, ca.1770.jpg

| image_map_caption = Elaborately illustrated map of the Multan Subah of the Mughal Empire, commissioned by Jean Baptiste Joseph Gentil, ca.1770

| area_label = 1601

| area_sq_mi = 65832{{Cite book |last=Habib |first=Irfan |url= |title=An Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps with Detained Notes, Bibliography and Index |date=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-560379-8 |language=en|chapter=Table I: Area and ʽJama of the Mughal Empire, c. 1601|author-link=Irfan Habib|pp=xii–xiii}}

| capital = Multan

| today = {{plainlist|

}}

The Subah of Multan ({{langx|pa|{{nq|ملتان دا صوبہ}}|Multān Dā Sūbāh}}; {{langx|fa|{{nq|صوبه ملتان}}|Sūbāh-ey-Multān}}) was one of the three subahs (provinces) of the Mughal Empire in the Punjab region, alongside Lahore and Delhi subahs.{{Cite book |last=Wahi |first=Tripta |title=Irrigation, State and Society in Pre-colonial India |publisher=Nehru Memorial Museum and Library |year=2013 |isbn=9789383650002 |pages=3}} It was also amongst the original twelve Mughal provinces, encompassing southern parts of Punjab, stretching towards parts of the regions of Pashtunistan and Balochistan, bordering Kandahar Province and the Persian Safavid Empire. It was one of the largest and most important provinces of the Mughal Empire.{{Cite book |last=Dasti |first=Humaira Faiz |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kH3jAAAAMAAJ&q=multan+province+of+mughal |title=Multan, a Province of the Mughal Empire, 1525-1751 |date=1998 |publisher=Royal Book |isbn=978-969-407-226-5 |language=en}} The province was annexed by Durrani Empire in 1752, with Ali Mohammad Khakwani as its first Durrani governor.

Geography

The subah of Multan was bordered to the north by the Lahore Subah and Kabul Subah, to the west by the Safavid Empire and for some time the Kandahar Subah, to the east by the Ajmer Subah and Delhi Subah, and to the south by the Thatta Subah.

History

The Subah of Multan was one of twelve administrative divisions created by the Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1580.{{Cite journal|last=Husain|first=Afzal|title=Provincial Governors Under Akbar (1580-1605) |date=1970|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44141074|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=32|pages=269–277|jstor=44141074 |issn=2249-1937|access-date=1 August 2020}} Multan city acted as the capital of the Multan Subah according to the Ain-i-Akbari.

Economy

Under Mughal rule, Multan enjoyed 200 years of peace in a time when the city became known as Dar al-Aman ("Abode of Peace"). During the Mughal era, Multan was an important centre of agricultural production and manufacturing of cotton textiles.{{cite book|last1=Oonk|first1=Gijsbert|title=Global Indian Diasporas: Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory|date=2007|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|isbn=9789053560358|pages=294}} Multan was a centre for currency minting, as well as tile-making during the Mughal era.{{cite book|last1=Chaudhry|first1=Nazir Ahmad|title=Multan Glimpses: With an Account of Siege and Surrender|date=2002|publisher=Sang-e-Meel Publications|isbn=9789693513516|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_fxtAAAAMAAJ&q=multan+eid|access-date=9 September 2017}}

File:Eidgah mosque.jpg dates from 1735 and is decorated with elaborate and intricate Mughal era frescoes.]]

Multan would remain an important trading centre until the city was ravaged by repeated invasions in the 18th and 19th centuries in the post-Mughal era.{{cite news|last1=Levi|first1=Scott|title=Caravans: Punjabi Khatri Merchants on the Silk Road|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-uviBQAAQBAJ&q=multan&pg=PT7|access-date=12 April 2017|agency=Penguin UK|date=2016|publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=9789351189169}} Many of Multan's merchants then migrated to Shikarpur in Sindh, and were found throughout Central Asia up until the 19th century.

Multan was also host to the offices of many commercial enterprises during the Mughal era, even in times when the Mughals were in control of the even more coveted city of Kandahar, given the unstable political situation resulting from frequent contestation of Kandadar with the Persian Safavid Empire.

Administrative divisions

The Multan Subah was divided into sarkars (equivalent to districts), with them being as follows as per the Ain-i-Akbari:{{Cite book |last=Habib |first=Irfan |title=An Atlas of the Mughal Empire: Political and Economic Maps with Detailed Notes, Bibliography and Index |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1986 |edition=reprint |location=New Delhi |pages=sheets 0A and 4A, pages VII–VIII, 8–13}}

class="wikitable"

|+List of sarkars of Multan Subah in 1601{{Efn|The area of the sarkars is based on the years 1595–6/1601. The revenue figures are the official estimates for jama or naqdī as per the Ain-i-Akbari. However, the revenue figures do not take into account the regional variations in price-levels. The jama' is stated in dams (a copper coin). At the time of the Ain-i-Akbari one rupee was worth 40 dams.|group=note}}

!No.

!Name

!Area (sq. mi.)

!Revenue (dams)

1.

|Multan Sarkar

|36,522 mi2

|53,216,318

2.

|Dipalpur Sarkar

|7,930 mi2

|78,562,285

3.

|Bhakkar Sarkar

|21,380 mi2

|18,424,947

colspan="2" |Total for the subah:

!65,832 mi2

!150,203,550

The sarkars were subdivided into pargannahs (equivalent to sub-districts or tehsils).

List of governors

The following is a list of notable governors of Multan subah appointed by the central Mughal government.{{Cite journal|last=Ali|first=M. Athar|date=1970|title=PROVINCIAL GOVERNORS UNDER SHAH JAHAN—AN ANALYSIS|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44141077|journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress|volume=32|pages=288–319|jstor=44141077 |issn=2249-1937|access-date=1 August 2020}}{{Cite book |last=Singh |first=Chetan |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Region_and_Empire/7L0bAAAAIAAJ?hl=en |title=Region and Empire: Panjab in the Seventeenth Century |date=1991 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-562759-6 |pages=64–67 |language=en}}

16th century

17th century

18th century

See also

Notes

{{Reflist|group=note}}

References

{{reflist}}

Category:Mughal subahs

Category:History of Multan

Category:History of Punjab