•   Originally it had a form similar to cavalry based army of central Asia.

•   Its essential form and structure was established by Akbar (third Emperor of Mughal Empire).

•   The army had no regimental structure and the soldiers were not directly recruited by the emperor.

•   Instead, individual officials such as nobles or local leaders would recruit their own troops, referred to as a mansab, and contribute them to the army.

•   Akbar restructured the army and introduced a new system called the mansabdari system.

•   Therefore, the essential structure of the Mughal army started from the reign of Akbar.

•   Mughal emperors maintained a small standing army, numbering only in thousands.

•   The officers called mansabdars provided much of the troops.

•   There were four branches of the Mughal army: the cavalry (Aswaran), the infantry (Paidgan), the artillery (Topkhana) and the navy.

o  Cavalry: The cavalry was the most superior branch of the Mughal army. An officer had to keep men and horses in a ratio of 1:2. The horses had to be carefully verified and branded, and Arabian horses were preferred. Mughal cavalry also included elephants, normally used by generals.

o  Infantry: The infantry was recruited either by Mansabdars, or by the emperor himself. They were normally ill-paid and ill-equipped, and also lacked discipline. This group included bandukchi or gun bearers, swordsmen, as well as servants and artisans.

o  Artillery: The artillery was an important branch of the Mughal army. It was used extensively by early Mughal rulers like Babur, who used it to establish the Mughal Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Mughal artillery consisted of heavy cannons, light artillery, grenadiers and raketies. Heavy cannons were very expensive and heavy for transportation, and had to be dragged by elephants into the battlefield.

o  Navy: The navy was the weakest and poorest branch of the Mughal military. The Empire did maintain warships, however they were relatively small. The fleet also consisted of transport ships. The Navy's main duty was controlling piracy, sometimes used in war.