Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s4: 5. The Duties of the Pradhans
Administrative System of the Marathas c8.s4
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5. The Duties of the Pradhans
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A detailed statement of the duties of the eight pradhans will further confirm the above conclusion. And nothing will serve our purpose better than the kanujabta (memorandum) drawn up in the first year of the coronation (Abhisheka) era and published by Rao Bahadur Kashinath Narayan Sane. All that is required here is to reproduce the paper in full.
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SHRI.
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"The Kanu Jabta of the year 1 of the coronation era the Sambatsar being Ananda by name, Tuesday, the thirteenth day of Jestha.
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The Mukhya Pradhan should perform all works of administration. He should put his seal on official letters and documents. He should make expeditions with the army and wage war and make necessary arrangements for the preservation of the districts that may come into (our) possession and act according to the orders of the king. All military officers should go with him and he should proceed with them all. In this manner (should he work).
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The Senapati should maintain the army and make war and expeditions. He should preserve the (newly) acquired territories, render an account of (the spoils), and act according to the orders (of the king). He should make known (to the king) what the men of the army had to say. All military officers should go with him.
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The Amatya should look after the account of income and expenditure of the whole kingdom. The Daftardar and the Fadnis should be under him. He should carefully estimate the writing work (to be done). He should put his sign (or seal) on the letters from the Fadnis's and the Chitnis's office. He should (render) military service in (times of) war. He should look after the districts and be guided by (our) orders.
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The Sachiv should carefully look into the royal correspondence and make (necessary) correction of the contents, whenever a letter is omitted. He should serve in war, preserve the (newly) annexed districts, and behave according to (our) orders. On royal letters (and official documents) he should put his seal as a sign of his approval.
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The Pandit Rao should have jurisdiction over all religious questions. He should punish (all offences) after judging what is right and what is wrong. He should put his sign of approval on all papers relating to custom, conduct and penance. He should receive good scholars of reputation He should perform, when occasion arises, charity and shanti (performances to appease offended deities) and celebrate other religious performances.³⁸
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³⁸ The late Justice Telang, summarised the duties of the Pandit Rao in the following manner :-"It states that the Pandit Rav's duties are to exercise all the ecclesiastical powers of the State, and to order punishment to be inflicted after investigating into what is and is not in accordance with the religious law. He is to receive learned persons on behalf of the State, and countersign all documents that may be issued from the Sovereign relating to Achara, Vyavahara, and Prayaschitta, that is to say, rules of conduct, civil and criminal law, and penances, the three departments of the Dharmashastras. He is also to look after the performance of Shantis and other ceremonials, and the distribution of the royal bounty." Ranade, R. M. P., p. 261.
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The Nayadhish should have jurisdiction over all suits in the kingdom and try them righteously after finding out what is right and what is wrong. On the judgment paper, he should put his sign of approval.
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The Mantri should carefully conduct the political and diplomatic affairs of the kingdom. The invitation and the intelligence departments are under him. He should look after the districts and serve in war. He should put his sign of approval on official documents.
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The Sumanta should have the charge of foreign affairs. He should receive and entertain ambassadors from other kingdoms when they come. He should serve in war and put his sign of approval on state documents and letters."
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Besides the duties enumerated above, three of the eight pradhans were in charge of extensive provinces.³⁸ When they were away from the metropolis, their agents resided at the court. Sabhasad says that this apparently clumsy arrangement was made in response to the demand for good government. "The kingdom was extended on four sides. How to carry on the governance of the kingdom? Then in Moro Pant Peshwa's charge were placed the country from Kalyan and Bhivandi, including Kolawan up to Salheri, the country above the Ghats and the Konkan. Lohagad and Junnar with the twelve Mawals from the pass of Haralya (were placed) under the Peshwa. The Konkan from Chaul to Kopal, including Dabhol, Rajapur, Kudal, Bande, and Phond, was placed under Annaji Datto. The Warghat (country above the ghats) from Wai to Kopal on the Tungabhadra (was) the province placed under Dattaji Pant Waknis. Dattaji Pant was stationed at Panhala. In this manner was the kingdom placed under three Sarkarkuns. Besides these, a few (five to seven) Brahman Subhedars were stationed in the Mughal provinces. They were kept under the orders of the Peshwa. The Sarkarkuns were to enquire into the needs and welfare of the forts and strongholds. But what Killedar and Karkuns were to be appointed, the Raja himself should appoint after personal scrutiny. If the Sarkarkuns found any serviceable soldier, they should enlist him in excess of the fixed number of the quota (tainat). The agents of the Sarkarkuns should remain with the Raja. The Sarkarkuns should come to see the Raja (once) every year with the accounts and the revenue of their provinces.³⁷ When Shivaji made this division of his territories and placed them under three of his principal ministers, we do not know, for Sabhasad does not give any date. But that the pradhans had still some districts under their charge and had to leave their agents or mutaliks at court during their absence in their respective provinces or on a distant expedition, even after the coronation and the reorganisation of the council, can be proved by the following entry in the memorandum already quoted. "The darakhdars appointed for (the management of) districts and market cities placed under the eight pradhans, and to assist them when on a military expedition, should all work in the name of the Huzur and carry on their correspondence in the same manner (as the pradhans) when they would go on an expedition; the mutaliks appointed for them should continue all their work. They should stay at the court."³⁸
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³⁸ Annaji Datto, for instance, is styled in a Portuguese letter as Subedar-mor or Governor General of Konkan. (Reis Visinhos, Vol. I, fol 2.)
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³⁷ Sabhasad, pp. 77-78. Sen, Sivachhatrapati, pp. 106-107.
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³⁸ Sane, P. V. B. p. 359. The Portuguese letter, already mentioned in a previous note also proves that the Sachiv held the office of Governor General of Konkan in January, 1679 when the letter was written.
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Before we take leave of the eight pradhans it should be noted here that they could not select their own subordinates. These were invariably appointed, as in the Peshwa period, by the supreme head of the state. Even the mutaliks, who were apparently expected to act on behalf and in the interests of an absent minister, were not appointed by him, but by the king. We do not know whether on such occasions the approval of the officer affected was sought or not. This practice was evidently borrowed from the Muhammadans. The Muhammadan rulers of Delhi required the provincial governors and generals on active service to leave their agents or wakils at the imperial court during their absence on duty. These agents acted in the same manner as the mutaliks of Shivaji's pradhans, but they generally considered it their first duty to safeguard the interests of their immediate masters.
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The number of councillors was by no means fixed. From Sabhasad's list already quoted, it appears that there were nine of them at the time of Shivaji's coronation as the Amatya's office was jointly held by two brothers, Naro and Ramchandra. Sambhaji dismissed, decapitated and imprisoned many of his father's old servants. Sambhaji had a council in name only, he ruled as he liked, and did not care to consult any one except his notorious favourite Kavi Kalush or Kavji, a Kanojia Brahman. He has been styled as Chhandogyamatya in contemporary papers The Pandit Rao in Shivaj's time was entitled to the additional designation of Chhandogyamatya. It has been suggested that Kavi Kalush was not Sambhaji's Pandit Rao.³⁹ Kalush enjoyed so much influence and so much power that he was for all practical purposes the prime minister of Sambhaji. When the Rajmandal was revived under Rajaram, a new member was added, who superseded all others both in status and in pay. Pralhad Niraji was appointed Pratinidhi or the king's vicegerent at Jinji during the struggle for national existence.⁴⁰ Henceforth the Pratinidhi always held the first seat in the council, until the rise of the Peshwas revolutionised the constitution of the Maratha empire.
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³⁸ Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal—Varshik Itivritta (1887), III-13.
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³⁹ The Ashta Pradhan Council was certainly not a cabinet as a detailed examination of its constitution (in the text) shows. Prof. Sarkar, however, seems to hold a different view when he writes
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⁴⁰ "Pralhad Niraji, on whom the high title of Regent (Pratinidhi) was conferred and who thus stood *outside and above the cabinet of eight ministers (Ashta Pradhan)*" (History of Aurangzib, Vol. V, p. 26). The opinion of so distinguished a scholar certainly deserves more than a passing notice, but we have been spared the task of refuting him, as he seems to have reconsidered the question and changed his view when he writes at another place, "To provide posts for all his most influential servants, the normal council of eight ministers was expanded by adding two more men. The *Hukumat Panah* and the *Pratinidhi*." (History of Aurangzib, Vol. V, p. 195), Thus he admits that it was a council and the number of councillors was by no means rigidly fixed.