In the Mughal mansabdari system, zat and sawar indicated respectively what?

The evidence points to option A, Personal rank and cavalry obligation. Zat denoted a mansabdar's personal rank and salary status, whereas sawar indicated the cavalry contingent he was required to maintain. Mughal administration linked rank, military obligation and revenue assignment without making every office hereditary. Terms such as mansab, jagir and zabt describe different parts of this structure and should not be treated as interchangeable. The distractors need separate rejection: Infantry and artillery strength belongs to a different institution, context or chronology; Religious rank and judicial power does not perform the function described in the stem; and Land revenue and cash salary fails the required association. The wording of “In the Mughal mansabdari system, zat and sawar indicated respectively what?” is deliberately specific, so the candidate should isolate its operative clue before recalling names. A useful method is to construct a two-step link from the tested term to its function and then from that function to the relevant ruler, text, monument or region. The fact is significant beyond one MCQ because it reveals how medieval institutions worked in practice and how historians classify the surviving evidence. — Personal rank and cavalry obligation”, but also remember the factual reason stated above.