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 Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

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

Ashta Pradhan Ashta Pradhan (literally, ''Modern council of ministers'') was a system /topic/Ashta-Pradhan, title = Ashta Pradhan | Marathi council The council is credited with having implemented good governance practices in the Maratha heartland, as well ...

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. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

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

DRB Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha Bra ...

) and

Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) is a caste group mainly found in Maharashtra. Historically, they made equally good warriors, statesmen as well as writers. They held the posts such as Deshpandes and Gadkaris and according to the historian, ...

(

CKP Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) is a caste group mainly found in Maharashtra. Historically, they made equally good warriors, statesmen as well as writers. They held the posts such as Deshpandes and Gadkaris and according to the histor ...

) 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 Chetan Eknath Chitnis is an Indian scientist in the field of malaria research. He is the head of the ''Malaria Parasite Biology and Vaccines Unit'' at the Institut Pasteur in Paris and an elected fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (2009) as ...

(born 1961), Indian biologist *

Eknath Vasant Chitnis Eknath Vasant Chitnis is an Indian space scientist and a former member secretary at the Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR), which evolved into the present-day Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). He is also a former di ...

, 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 1930s to 1980s. In her early years she starred as a romantic lead, but she is best remembered for her later role ...

(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 educa ...

(1936–2013), British politician *

Siddharth Chitnis Siddharth Chitnis (born 6 May 1987 in Bombay) is an Indian cricketer. He has played for Kings XI Punjab Punjab Kings (PBKS) are a franchise cricket team based in Mohali, Punjab, that plays in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Established in ...

(born 1987), Indian cricketer *

Archana Chitnis Archana Chitnis (born 20 April 1964) is a Bharatiya Janata Party politician from Madhya Pradesh. She is a member of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly representing Burhanpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) and has served as Minister of Education o ...

BJP The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Politician * Khando Ballal Chitnis High-Ranking Diplomat and Chitnis in the

References

{{surname Surnames of Indian origin Surnames of Hindu origin