At the time of Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal empire was divided into how many provinces (subas)?

At the time of Aurangzeb's death, the Mughal empire was divided into 21 provinces (subas), the largest number in its history.

Growth in the number of subas:

• Akbar (1580): divided the empire into 12 subas, later increased to 15 with the conquest of the Deccan provinces.
• Jahangir: about 17 subas.
• Shah Jahan: about 18 or 19 subas, including Deccan provinces and Kashmir.
• Aurangzeb: 21 subas, after the conquest of Bijapur and Golconda.

Aurangzeb's territorial expansion:

• Under Aurangzeb, the Mughal empire reached its greatest territorial extent, stretching from Kabul in the north-west to the Kaveri in the south (though Mughal control in the far south was weak).
• He annexed the Deccan Sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda in the 1680s.
• He also conquered Assam (temporarily) and Chittagong.

NCERT on Aurangzeb's empire:

• NCERT notes that under Aurangzeb, the empire reached its greatest extent, but the territories were difficult to control.
• It notes that the Mughal empire began to decline in the later years of Aurangzeb's reign.

Administrative structure:

• Each suba was headed by a subadar (governor), with a diwan (revenue), bakhshi (military pay), sadr (religious affairs) and qazi (justice).
• Subas were divided into sarkars, and sarkars into parganas.

Problems of a large empire:

• The large size made administration difficult.
• The long wars in the Deccan drained resources.
• The number of mansabdars increased greatly, and there were not enough jagirs to pay them all.
• Revolts by the Marathas, Jats, Satnamis, Sikhs, Bundelas and Rajputs weakened Mughal control.

After Aurangzeb:

His successors were weak, and governors of provinces such as Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad became virtually independent.

Why not the other options?

• ✗12 and 15 were the numbers under Akbar.
• ✗18 was approximately the number under Shah Jahan.