Bihar Subah

The Bihar Subah (Persian: صوبه بهار) was a province (suba) of the Mughal Empire that was formed in 1575. It was one of the original twelve subas established by Emperor Akbar. Its seat was in the city of Patna which was also known as Azimabad. The seat of Azimabad was named after the Mughal prince, Azim-ush-Shan who was the son of Emperor Shah Alam I.^[2]

Bihar Subah
1575–1733
The Suba of Bihar situated between Awadh and Bengal
Capital	Patna
Historical era	Early modern period
• Established	1575
• Disestablished	1733
Area
• 1601	55,478[1] sq mi (143,690 km2)
Preceded by Succeeded by Sur Empire Bengal Subah
Today part of	India

The suba was bordered to the west by the subas of Illahabad and Awadh and to the east by Bengal Subah.^[3]

History

The suba of Bihar functioned as a link between Hindustan and Bengal. On its northern boundary, it reached into the foothills of the Himalayas although this border was poorly defined as it was covered by the forested Terai. Under Emperor Akbar, Bihar was divided into seven sarkars which were:^[2]

• Bihar
• Monghyr
• Champaran
• Rohtas
• Hajipur
• Saran
• Tirhut

Much of the region was now fully integrated into the Empire, particularly around Monghhy and Khokhrah where it was said that "the laws and commands of the provincial administration could be ignored without incurring too many problems." The sarkar of Purnea was not fully integrated into the suba of Bihar but was under an independent faujdar known as the Faujdars of Purnea which acted as a small military frontier between Bihar and Bengal.^[2]

In 1733, Emperor Muhammad Shah granted the suba of Bihar to the subadar of Bengal, Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan at which point Bihar and Bengal were merged with one another.^[2]

Zamindars

Main article: Zamindars of Bihar

Much of Bihar Suba during this time was under the control of semi-autonomous zamindars. Within Bihar, the Zamindars had both economic and military power. Each zamindari would have their own standing army which was typically composed of their own clansmen. Some notable zamindaris include:^[4]

• Hathwa Raj
• Tekari Raj
• Kharagpur Raj
• Bettiah Raj
• Khokhra Chieftaincy
• Jagdishpur estate
• Dumraon Raj
• Raj Darbhanga
• Cheros of Palamu
• Gidhaur Raj

Notable subahdars

Notable Subahdars of Bihar include:^[5]

• Mirza Aziz Koka (1580–1583)
• Saeed Khan Chaghta
• Mirza Yusuf Mashhadi (1585–1587)
• Man Singh I (1587–1594)
• Jahangir Quli Beg (1605–1607)
• Islam Khan I (1607–1608)
• Afzal Khan
• Zafar Khan
• Ibrahim Khan Fath-i-Jang
• Jahangir Quli Khan II (1618–1620)
• Rustam Mirza Safavi (1626–1627)