BharatNotes Iqtadar
noun (also rendered Iqtidar / Iqtedar / Iqtidaar)Usage in a UPSC answer
No sooner had the party tasted iqtadar than its lofty pre-election promises of decentralisation quietly evaporated, illustrating how the intoxication of power can erode the very accountability that democratic governance demands.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
iqta (n, related), muqti (n, related), zamindar (n, related Persian compound)
Root
Arabic iqṭāʿ (إقطاع) = revenue allotment; Persian -dār = holder; qaṭaʿa = to cut, to allot
Etymology
From Arabic iqta' (إقطاع, "allotment, grant of land revenue"), from the root qa-ta-a ("to cut, to allot"), combined with Persian -dar ("holder"); the Iqta system originated in the Abbasid Caliphate and was adapted for Indian conditions by Iltutmish.
Memory Hook
Hear "iqt-i-DARE" — only one with real iqtadar would DARE to command; tie it to its cousin "qudrat" (power/nature) from the shared q-d-r root that always signals POWER and the capacity to MEASURE OUT one's will.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
The holder of an iqta under the Delhi Sultanate, also called a muqti, who collected a territory's revenue, maintained troops from it and remitted the surplus. Setting him beside the Mughal mansabdar shows what changed between the two states. The iqtadar's position was defined by the territory he held, so his standing rose and fell with it and he had every reason to entrench himself there, and the sultan's control depended on his practical ability to transfer or resume assignments. The mansabdar by contrast held a personal numerical rank conferred by the emperor, which existed independently of any territory and could be raised or reduced at will, with the jagir merely the source from which his salary happened to be drawn. That shift from territorial office to personal rank is the substantive administrative advance of the Mughal system, and it is why the Sultanate fragmented more readily along the lines of its own assignments.
Don’t Confuse It With
An iqtadar or muqti holds an iqta, a territorial revenue assignment under the Sultanate, whereas a mansabdar holds a personal numerical rank under the Mughals and a jagirdar the assignment funding it. Note a genuine word trap: iqtidar, used in Urdu and Hindi to mean power or authority, derives from an entirely different Arabic root and has nothing to do with the iqta, which is the sense employed in the sentence above. Wali and muqta are further terms for provincial holders in Sultanate usage.
Hindi Meaning
इक़्तादार (iqtādār), the holder of an iqta; इक़्तिदार (iqtidār), meaning power or authority, is an unrelated word.
Common Questions
- How did an iqtadar differ from a mansabdar?
- The iqtadar's position was defined by the territory whose revenue he held, while the mansabdar held a personal numerical rank conferred by the emperor that existed independently of any territory.
- Is iqtadar the same word as iqtidar?
- No. Iqtadar means the holder of an iqta, while iqtidar means power or authority and comes from a different Arabic root altogether.
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