Question

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj had a council of ______ ministers called “Ashta pradhan”.

A) Seven

B) Eight

C) Nine

D) Ten

Answer 1

Hint: Ashta Pradhan was a system of delegation of ministers in the Maratha empire. The council is credited for having put into place good governance practices in the Maratha heartland and for achieving successes of the military campaigns against the Mughal empire.

Complete step by step answer: 

Chhatrapati Shivaji was crowned in the year 1674 at the fort of Raigad in the state of what we call Maharashtra in India at present. On that particular occasion, he formalized the formation of an institution of eight ministers to guide the administration of his newly formed state.

The eight officials were called:

i) Pantpradhan or Peshwa also called Mukhya Pradhan, was the council’s senior member and was in charge of the state’s general administration and held the state seal.

ii) Amatya- also called Mazumdar, he dealt with finance and accounts.

iii) Waqia-Navis- managed internal affairs especially reports related to intelligence and espionage

iv) Samant- he was the foreign minister and managed relations with other sovereigns

v) Sachiv- he was the secretary and his job was to prepare royal edicts

vi) Pandit Rao- he was the highest priest who managed internal religious matters.

vii) Sar-i-nabuat- he was the Commander-in-chief and managed the forces and defences of the state.

viii) Nyayadhish- he was the Chief Justice who dispensed justice on various civil and criminal matters.

These designations were drawn from the Sanskrit language and each minister was given one role in the administration.

Let us look at the given options.

Option A) Shivaji had formed a council of a total of eight ministers to take care of the administration of the state. So, this is an incorrect option.

Option B) Ashta Pradhan means the council of eight heads. Shivaji had appointed Ashta Pradhan on the occasion of his coronation to oversee the important matters of the empire. Thus, this is the correct answer.

Option C) Akbar had nine gems of Navratnas who had nine different qualities from various backgrounds. Shivaji had formed a team of eight ministers to assist him in the reign. This is a wrong answer.

Option D) Shivaji never had any team of ten ministers in his Ashta Pradhan as the term Ashta means eight. Hence, it is the wrong option.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: Shivaji’s son Sambhaji actually undermined the importance of this council, the Ashta Pradhan. Thus, this council got scattered. Over time, the positions got hereditary having nominal powers. It was never revived and discharged its functions as it did till the last decade of Shivaji’s reign.