(p.), lit. “head [of] affairs”, a term used in Mug̲h̲al Indian administration and also in the succeeding British Indian domination of the subcontinent.
1. In the structure of Mug̲h̲al provincial government, as elaborated under the Emperor Akbar [q.v.] in 989/1580, there was a hierarchy of the ṣūba [q.v.] or province, under the ṣūbadār [q.v.] (also called sipāhsālār , nāẓim and ṣāḥib-i ṣūba ); the sarkār , or district, under the fawd̲j̲dar [q.v.], who combined both administrative and military functions, corresponding to the two separate officials of British India, t…