what was the role of the zamindars in mughal administration
Zamindar During the Mughal Empire, zamindars belonged to the nobility[1] and formed the ruling class. Emperor Akbar granted them mansabs and their ancestral domains were treated as jagirs.[2] Under British colonial rule in India, the permanent settlement consolidated what became known as the zamindari system. The British rewarded supportive zamindars by recognizing them as princes. Many of the region's princely states were pre-colonial zamindar holdings elevated to a greater protocol. However, the British also reduced the land holdings of many pre-colonial aristocrats, demoting their status to a zamindar from previously higher ranks of nobility.
Baji Rao I Bajirao succeeded his father as Peshwa of the Maratha Empire.By the time Baji Rao became the Peshwa, Chhatrapati Shahu was the ruler of Maratha Emperor. The Maratha confederacy was run in his name, but the real power lay in the hands of the Peshwa. By the time of Baji Rao's appointment, Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah had recognized Marathas' rights over the territories possessed by Shivaji at his death. In 1719, the Mughals had also recognized the Maratha rights to collect taxes (chauth or chauthaii and sardeshmukhi) in the six provinces of Deccan. Bajirao believed that the Mughal Empire was in decline and wanted to take advantage of this situation with aggressive expansion in north India. Sensing the declining fortune of the Mughals, he is reported to have said, "Strike, strike at the trunk and the branches will fall off themselves."[10][11] However, as a new Peshwa, he faced several challenges:[6]