ABSTRACT
Central to Max Weber’s “ideal type” of patrimonialism, is the intensely personal, man-to-man character of allegiance and the absence of any formal limits to, or conditions of, that allegiance. Patrimonial rulers, in so far as they operate in the interstices of inherited kin or group allegiances, have an interest in seeking legitimation from religious authority: the great Hindu patrimonial empires looked to the Brahman in the context. Weber depicts patrimonial rulers in ancient India as cooperating with Brahmans in order to deny guilds high status and as looking to merchant monopolists of royal creation to counterbalance independent financiers. In many respects the Mughal military system manifested the patrimonial characteristics set out in Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Sometimes Mughal armies were described as armies of Islam and sometimes their opponents were described as unbelievers. Mughal rulers patronized Muslim scholars, jurists and members of the Sufi orders.
