section_path: Administration/Military organisation
section_name: Military organisation
paragraph_text: Military organisation
  
  Akbar organised his army and the nobility by means of a system called the mansabdari. Under this system, each officer in the army was assigned a rank (a mansabdar) and assigned a number of cavalry, which he was required to supply to the imperial army. The mansabdars were divided into 33 classes. The top three commanding ranks, ranging from 7,000 to 10,000 troops, were normally reserved for princes. Ranks between 10 and 5,000 were assigned to other members of the nobility. The empire's permanent standing army was small and the imperial forces mostly consisted of contingents maintained by the mansabdars. Persons were normally appointed to a low mansab and then promoted based on merit and the favour of the emperor. Each mansabdar was required to maintain a certain number of cavalrymen and twice that number of horses. The number of horses was greater because they had to be rested and rapidly replaced in times of war. Akbar employed strict measures to ensure that the quality of the armed forces was maintained at a high level; horses were regularly inspected and usually only Arabian horses were employed. The mansabdars were the highest paid military service in the world at the time.