Subdivisions of the Mughal Empire

A Subah is a term for a province or state in several South Asian languages. It was introduced by the Mughal Empire to refer to its subdivisions or provinces; and was also adopted by other polities of the Indian subcontinent. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a Subah was known as a subahdar (sometimes also referred to as a "Subeh"), which later became subedar to refer to an officer in the Indian and Pakistani armies. The subahs were established by Padishah (emperor) Akbar during his administrative reforms of the years 1572–1580; initially, they numbered 12, but

Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mahal as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empires. Mughal Empire was divided into Subah (Suba) or province headed by a Subahdar, which were further subdivided into sarkars or tarafs, which in turn were further subdivided into groups of villages known as parganas or Mahallas (Mahal). Depending on the size, the parganas may or may not be further subdivided into pirs or mouzas which were the smallest revenue

historical administrative unit, mostly in the Mughal states of India

Old administrative division of India