Chitnis, Chitnavis or Chitnavese was a title conferred on one who held the office of Secretary of State or "political secretary" in the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. The post was considered to be of equal status to the post of the council of eight ministers or

Ashta Pradhan Ashta Pradhan (Literal translation, literally, 'Council of Eight') was the Cabinet (government), cabinet of the Maratha Confederacy. The council is credited with having implemented good governance practices in the Maratha heartland, as well as fo ...

although it was not part of that group. The office of the Chitnis was responsible for all political and diplomatic correspondence but like other officers of the state they were also obligated to perform

Military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

service. Deshpande writes : This surname may be found among Deshastha Rigvedi Brahmin ( DRB) and

Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) or historically and commonly known as Chandraseniya Prabhu or just Prabhu is a caste mainly found in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Historically, they made equally good warriors, statesmen as well as writers. Th ...

( CKP) communities.

Notable people

Notable people with the surname include: *

Atul Chitnis Atul Chitnis (20 February 1962 – 3 June 2013) was an Indians in Germany, Indo-German consulting technologist. He was one of the organizers of FOSS.IN (formerly Linux Bangalore), which was one of Asia's free and open source software (FOSS) ...

(1962–2013), German-born Indian technologist * Chetan Eknath Chitnis (born 1961), Indian biologist * Eknath Vasant Chitnis, Indian space scientist *

Leela Chitnis Leela Chitnis (''née'' Nagarkar; 9 September 1909 – 14 July 2003) was an Indian actress in the Indian film industry, active from the 1930s to the 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her lat ...

(1909–2003), Indian actress *

Pratap Chitnis, Baron Chitnis Pratap Chidamber Chitnis, Baron Chitnis (1 May 1936 – 12 July 2013) was a British Liberal political organiser. The son of Chidamber N. Chitnis and Lucia Mallik, he was born in London and educated at Stonyhurst College. He was further educ ...

(1936–2013), British politician * Siddharth Chitnis (born 1987), Indian cricketer * Archana Chitnis, BJP Politician * Khando Ballal Chitnis High-Ranking Diplomat and Chitnis in the

References

{{surname Surnames of Indian origin Surnames of Hindu origin