Short answers, pulled from the story.
The mir bakhshi was the chief military administrator of the Mughal Empire, responsible for overseeing the mansabdari system of military ranks. The office was the second-highest in the empire, ranking below only the imperial wazir. Scholars have translated the title in English as 'paymaster general' or 'army minister.'
The mir bakhshi recruited mansabdars, recommended their military ranks, inspected their units, and determined their pay in cash or jagirs. Candidates for appointment were presented to the emperor in open court, and the mir bakhshi's seal endorsed each new position. The office also gathered intelligence from provincial news writers, the waqia-navis, and presented it to the emperor.
Emperor Akbar introduced the bakhshi hierarchy during his reign from 1556 to 1605. He drew on a precedent from the Delhi Sultanate, where Balban had created an office called the diwan-i-arz in the 13th century. Akbar ensured that the mir bakhshi would administer the military but not command it, reserving that authority for the emperor.
Bakhshi derives from the verb bakhshidan, meaning 'to give.' The historian William Irvine interpreted the term as referring to the bakhshi's role in giving access to the army.
Among the recorded holders, Shaikh Farid Bukhari, also known as Farid Murtaza Khan, served under Akbar from approximately the 1590s to 1605. Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung, son of Asad Khan, held the position under Aurangzeb from approximately the 1690s to 1707. Khan Dowran VII is associated with the office around 1713-1719, in the records of Muhammad Shah's reign.
The mir bakhshi shared institutional roots with the Delhi Sultanate's diwan-i-arz, an office Balban created in the 13th century to maintain a separate military administration alongside the vizier. The Ain-i-Akbari also records an earlier prototype called the mir-arz, which William Irvine identified as the immediate predecessor of the mir bakhshi. Akbar adapted the structure but specifically barred the mir bakhshi from commanding the military.