Wikipedia
The 'Mansabdari system 'was the administrative system of the Alauddin Khi/alji
;
Akbar in 1595-96 CE. The word mansab is of Arabic origin meaning rank or position. The system, hence, determined the rank of a government official. Every civil and military officer was given a ‘mansab’ and different numbers which could be divided by ten were used for ranking officers. It was also meant for fixing the salaries and allowances of officers.
It was a system whereby nobles were granted the rights to hold a jagir, which meant revenue assignments (not land itself) for services rendered by them but the authority bestowed upon them was not unbridled but with the direct control of these nobles in the hands of the king. Abul Fazl has mentioned 66 grades of mansabdars but in practice there were not more than 33 mansabs. During the early reign of Akbar, the lowest grade was ten and the highest was 5,000.
Towards the end of the reign it was raised to 7,000. According to Badauni, it was fixed at 12,000. Higher mansabs were given to princes and Rajput rulers who accepted the suzerainty of the emperor.