Zamindars, Tribals and the Mughal State in Seventeenth Century

The Mughal Empire as it consolidated itself over most of the subcontinent in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries came into contact and in conflict with a wide range of political formations and regional power groupings. The most prominent amongst them were the Rajputs, who were assimilated within the Mughal political edifice by the end of the sixteenth century. Similarly, the Deccanis and the Marathas emerged as important groups through the course of the seventeenth century. The success of the Mughal system depended primarily on their success in carefully balancing the ambitions of Mughal nobles and imperial mansabdars on one hand, and the interests of various regional and local magnets on the other. Thus, certain levels of administrative systematization went along with creating a new theoretical basis of sovereignty. The present study at one level aims to focus on the interface between the local zamindars in the region of Gujarat and the tribal inhabitants in the region. Their combined attempt to resist and then find avenues of assimilation within the Mughal system is the area which this paper also attempts to survey