The bakhshī was, in Mughal times, the officer in charge of the management of the empire's manṣabdār s (lit., holders of rank) and of intelligence gathering ( manṣab means "rank" and indicated the position of its holder in the official hierarchy, by means of two numerals, one of which (suwār) denoted the number of armed cavalrymen under his command (50, 500, 5,000); the other ( dhāt , literally "essence, personage") was a measure of the personal rank and salary of a Mughal dignitary). There were three main bakhshī s in the