Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s3.40

c8.s3.40

Although there seems to be some apparent resemblance between the Ashta Pradhan Council of Shivaji and the Executive Council of the Viceroy and the Governor-General of India, the principles underlying the two are by no means identical. The Government in India is widely known to be a bureaucracy. The subordinate officers are responsible to the heads of their departments and these departmental heads are mainly responsible for initiating the policy in the particular branches of administration entrusted to them. Although they can and do deliberate upon grave questions affecting departments other than theirs, there is a clear-cut division of duties. The Law Member is never called upon to lead a military expedition, nor is the Commander-in-Chief required to hear a title suit. But six out of the eight members of Shivaji's council had to perform military duties whenever necessary, and all the eight had, as occasions arose, to attend a Hazir Majalasi to hear appeals in both civil and criminal cases. The first Pandit Rao³⁵ had to render diplomatic service, when he was sent on an embassy to Jai Singh. This is not, however, the only difference. The Viceroy, though he can in theory override the decisions of his Executive Council, is in practice expected to be guided by it. But neither his subjects, nor his officers ever expected that Shivaji should always be guided by the wisdom of the Councillors. He was not bound to consult them, unless he felt inclined to do so. The ministers were frequently absent on distant expeditions and some of them were further encumbered with the heavy work of provincial governments. Shivaji's ministers cannot, therefore, be regarded as heads of departments and his Government was by no means a bureaucracy. It was, if anything, an autocracy. But the autocrat, fortunately for his people, was a practical statesman and acted as a "Benevolent Despot." His ministers were his servants, proud to carry out his instructions and his government had more resemblance with those of his Hindu and Muhammadan predecessors than with the British Government of to-day.