Administrative System of the Marathas c23.s1.1

c23.s1.1

Before the foundation of the national monarchy, or as Sabhasad styles it, a ‘Maratha Padshahi,’ Maharashtra had been conquered by the Muhammadans. When Shivaji was enthroned at Raigad with all the pomp of a Hindu *abhisheka*, he positively committed himself not only to the policy of conservation of all the Hindu institutions that might still be in existence, but also to a policy of revival. The immediate result was the reorganisation of his cabinet or council, well-known as the Ashta Pradhan Council, and there is a tradition that he was guided in this work by the old Shastras in general and the Shukranitisara or the polity of Shukracharya in particular. But the Shukraniti is not the only work on polity to advocate the appointment of a council. The step has been commended by all political thinkers of old, though they were not quite unanimous about the number of councillors. Kautilya says, “According to the school of Manu the assembly of ministers shall be made to consist of twelve members; the school of Brihaspati say that it shall consist of sixteen members; the school of Ushanas say that it shall consist of twenty members." But Kautilya himself recommends that the number should be regulated by the needs of the State.¹ Bhishma² held that the king should always consult eight principal ministers, four of whom should be Brahmans, three Kshatriyas and one Suta. In the preceding chapter of the Mahabharata, he is made to say that the king should appoint at least three ministers. According to Manu there should be "seven or eight ministers, whose ancestors have been royal servants, who are versed in the sciences, heroes skilled in the use of weapons and descended from noble families and who have been tried."³ But although we get the number eight in the Mahabharata and the Manu-Samhita there is very good reason to believe that the tradition, we have already referred to, was not altogether without a basis. The author of the Shukraniti, it is true, recommends that there should be ten councillors in all,⁴ *vis.*, the Purodha or priest, Pratinidhi or viceroy, Pradhana, Sachiva, Mantri, Pandit, Pradvivaka or Chief Justice, Amatya, Sumantraka and Duta or envoy, but as Kautilya suggested there was perhaps no hard and fast rule about it for the Shukranitisara itself suggests a council of eight also. If we exclude the Pratinidhi from the second list of the Shukraniti and include in it the Commander-in-chief, we get the Ashta Pradhan Council of Shivaji that consisted of the Mukhya Pradhan or the Prime Minister, the Amatya, the Mantri, the Sumanta, the Sachiv, the Pandit-Rao or Royal Priest, the Senapati or Commander-in-chief and the Nyayadhish or the Chief Justice. The post of Pratinidhi was subsequently created by the second son of Shivaji and that minister had also a seat in the council and the council of eight was thus transformed into a council of nine within a few years of Shivaji's death.⁵