The Mughals recruited diverse bodies of people in order to run the empire smoothly. Those who joined Mughal service were enrolled as mansabdars.The term mansabdar referred to an individual holding a mansab, meaning a position or rank. It was a grading system used by the Mughals to fix rank, salary and military responsibilities.The mansabdars were assigned to military responsibilities. For this, they maintained a specified number of sawar or cavalrymen. The mansabdar brought his cavalrymen for review, got them registered, their horses branded and then received money to pay them as salary.