The council of eight ministers during the reign of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was called the:

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (1630-1680), the founder of the Maratha kingdom (Hindavi Swarajya), set up an efficient administration. At the top, he was assisted by a council of eight ministers called the "Ashta Pradhan" ("eight ministers"). Each minister headed a department and was directly responsible to the king. The posts were not hereditary, and ministers could be transferred.

The eight ministers of the Ashta Pradhan were:

• Peshwa (Mukhya Pradhan): the Prime Minister, in charge of general administration and the welfare of the state.
• Amatya (Mazumdar): the Finance Minister, who checked and countersigned the accounts.
• Mantri (Waqia-Navis): kept daily records of the king's activities and court proceedings and looked after the king's personal safety.
• Sachiv (Shuru-Navis): the Secretary, in charge of royal correspondence.
• Sumant (Dabir): the Foreign Minister, who advised on relations with other states and received foreign envoys.
• Senapati (Sar-i-Naubat): the Commander-in-Chief of the army.
• Panditrao: in charge of religious matters, charities and the morals of the people.
• Nyayadhish: the Chief Justice, in charge of civil and military justice.
• All the ministers except the Panditrao and the Nyayadhish were also expected to lead military expeditions when needed.
• Later, under Shivaji's successors, the post of Peshwa became hereditary and the most powerful; the Peshwas became the real rulers of the Maratha empire from the time of Balaji Vishwanath (1713).

Other features of Shivaji's administration:

Revenue: he collected land revenue directly through officials, reducing the power of zamindars, and levied two taxes on neighbouring territories, chauth (one-fourth of the revenue) and sardeshmukhi (an additional one-tenth).

Army: a strong cavalry, infantry and navy, with forts as the backbone of defence.

Shivaji was crowned at Raigad on 6 June 1674 and took the title "Chhatrapati". In 2025, twelve forts associated with the Marathas were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, "Maratha Military Landscapes of India".

Why not the other options?

• ✗Panch Pradhan is not the term for Shivaji's council.
• ✗Navaratna refers to the nine gems of Akbar's (or Vikramaditya's) court.
• ✗Majlis-i-Khas is not Shivaji's council.