The Mughal province of Lahore: jurisdiction, local authority and a moving court

Province and region are different scales

Under Akbar, the Mughal Empire organised provinces, or subas, in 1580. Historian M. Athar Ali describes Lahore and Multan as separate subas in the region, while Sirhind belonged to the suba of Delhi. These names identify imperial administrative units in a particular period, not the borders of today’s Indian and Pakistani Punjabs.[3]

The Mughal province of Lahore should be distinguished from Lahore city and from later definitions of Punjab. Chetan Singh makes his geographical scope explicit: the region examined in his study includes the whole Mughal suba of Lahore and parts of the provinces of Multan and Delhi. A history written about Punjab can therefore cross provincial jurisdictions. The administrative unit named in a source must remain visible when comparing its account with another period or a modern map.[1]

Local offices did not form a fixed grid

Ali describes a general administrative scheme in which a suba was divided into sarkars and then parganas. A governor was appointed by the emperor, while other provincial officers reported to their own superiors at the centre. This outline helps readers identify the terms in official records; it should not be mistaken for a precise map of every officer’s powers on the ground.[3]

Singh’s notes also reveal why local authority cannot be reduced to one uniform hierarchy. Discussing the faujdari, he records scholarly disagreement about its relation to a pargana or sarkar. His examples include charges covering more than one area and combinations of offices. References to Sialkot and Gujrat concern places in different sarkars, despite their regional connections. An officer’s appointment needs its own date, title and jurisdiction; it does not automatically establish the boundary of an enduring district.[1]

A provincial centre within imperial journeys

Lahore also served as an imperial capital during Akbar’s long stay in the northwest. Ali dates this period to 1585–1598, in the context of imperial attention to Kashmir, Kabul and the northwestern frontier. The imperial court’s presence in the city was a specific phase, separate from the longer history of the province.[3]

Purnima Dhavan places Lahore within the repeated journeys of Mughal courts towards Kashmir and back to the plains. Campaigns on the northwestern frontier also drew on the city. Provincial importance was therefore reinforced by the movement of the imperial household, officials and military resources. Lahore’s political role was more varied than the presence of one governor or a permanent royal residence.[2]

The same setting attracted Persian scholars and supported local families already connected with imperial service. Dhavan follows a circle including Munir Lahawri, Chandar Bhan and the Kanbu brothers, whose correspondence linked learning, patronage and careers. Their writings illuminate the province through people moving between its city and the wider empire. They preserve a cultivated elite’s perspective, while leaving many other experiences outside the surviving account.[2]