History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c62.248.1

v4.c62.248.1

About the number of members in the council of ministers there has been a great divergence of views from ancient times. Kauṭ. I. 15 and Kām. XI. 67-68 state that according to the Mānava school the council (*pariṣad*) of ministers should be constituted of twelve amātyas, acc. to the Bārhaspatyas of 16, acc. to the Auśanasas of 20, but Kauṭilya's own opinion was that the number is determined by the power or exigencies of the State (*yathāsāmarthyam*). The Bālakāṇḍa (7. 2-3) states that Daśaratha had eight honest and devoted amātyas (who are then named). Manu VII. 54 and Mānasollāsa (II. 2. verse 57) require that the king should select seven or eight ministers who should be hereditary, versed in the śāstras, brave, born of high family and well-tested. This advice was followed by Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha empire, who had a council of eight ministers (*Pradhānas*). Vide Ranade's 'Rise of the Maratha Power' pp. 125-126 where he describes the functions of the eight ministers called 'Mukhya-pradhāna' (Prime minister)', Pant Amātya (Finance minister), Pant Sachiva (General Accountant and Auditor), Senāpati (Commander-in-chief), Mantri (in charge of king's private affairs), Sumanta (Foreign Secretary), Panditrao (in charge of the Ecclesiastical Department), Nyāyādhīsha (Chief Justice). This list was probably taken by Shivaji's advisers from the Śukranītisāra II. 71-72 where almost the same eight are said to be the ministers according to some.