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Padishah, Padshah, Padeshah, Badishah or Badshah (Persian پادشاه Pādishāh) is a very prestigious title, which is composed from the Persian words Pati 'master' and the better-known title Shāh "King", which was adopted by several Islamic monarchies claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to Christian Emperors or the Ancient notion of Great King.

History of Islamic monarchies

The rulers on the following thrones, the first three effectively commanding major Muslim empires, were styled Padishah:

• The Shahanshah of Iran (King of Kings of Persia), also recognized by some Shia Muslims as the rightful Caliph (a claim of universal rule, as their Zoroastrian Sassanid predecessors did often express by inserting in their title 'of Iran and Aniran (i.e. the rest of the world)').
• The Great Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, also claiming the title of Caliph (the highest religious authority, as successor to the Prophet Mohammed), recognized by most Sunni Muslims; his Persian arch-rival was Shiite).
• Over most of the Indian subcontinent (where there also was a Sanskrit version, Patisaha), the Mughal Sultan of Delhi as head of the vast (later British Indian) Moghul Empire. The title was also used by Muslim rulers over smaller parts of that subcontinent:
• His challenger Tipu Sultan (in full Padshah bahadur; the addition bahadur, originally Mongolian for 'brave', always signifies a slightly higher rank, implicitely proclaiming himself the Mughal's superior) in Khudadad (in fact the realm of Mysore, which his father and he took over from the Hindu Maharaja, and neighbouring conquests), respected by the British as a valid military adversary but crushed (for siding with London's French rivals). He was killed in 1799.
• A former vassal of Delhi, the former Nawab (i.e. Mughal governor, turned hereditary prince) of Awadh=Oudh, who assumed independence at the instigation of the colonial paramount power, who in turn established a protectorate over him, ended the Mughal rule (by then merely nominal) and finally would claim imperial rank in chief of India for their own royal dynasty;
• Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud (predecessor styled Amir i shariat, successors (Khan and) Wali) of the tiny (one valley) Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926.^[1]
• In Afghanistan, Ahmed Shah Duranni founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian Dari, then De Afghanistan Bacha in the Pashto language. The Sadozai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a brief restoration by Shoja Shah in 1839. The title went dormant after his assassination in 1842 until 1926 when Amanullah Khan resurrected it (official from 1937) and was finally laid to rest with the abdication of Mohammed Zahir Shah in 1973 following a coup; at other times the Afghan monarchy used the style Emir (Amir al-Momenin)'' or Malik=King. ^{http://www.rulers.org/rula1.html}
• The last Basha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad (VIII) al-Amin (ruling since 15 May 1943), adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 - 25 July 1957.

The paramount prestige of this title, in Islam and even beyond, is clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empire's dealings with the (predominantly Christian) European powers. As the Europeans and the Russians gradually drove the Turks from the Balkans, Central Asia, and the Caucasus, they insisted—even at the cost of delaying the end of hostilities—on the usage of the title 'Padishah' for themselves in the Turkish versions of their treaties with the High Porte, as acknowledgement that their Christian emperors were in all diplomatic and protocollary capacities the equal of the Turkish ruler, who by his religious paramount office in Islam (Caliph) had a theoretical claim of universal sovereignty (at least among Sunnites).

The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi 'Victorious Emperor' is only recorded for two individual rulers:

• H.M. Ahmad Shah Bahadur, Padshah-i-Ghazi, Dur-i-Durran ('pearl of pearls'), Padshah of Khorasan (today Afghanistan) 1747 - 1772
• H.H. Rustam-i-Dauran, Aristu-i-Zaman, Asaf Jah IV, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Farkhunda 'Ali Khan Bahadur [Gufran Manzil], Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Ayn waffadar Fidvi-i-Senliena, Iqtidar-i-Kishwarsitan Muhammad Akbar Shah Padshah-i-Ghazi, Nizam of Hyderabad 1829 - 1857

Note that as many titles, the word was also often used as a name, either by nobles with other (in this case always lower) styles, or even by commoners

Fictional usage

In Frank Herbert's Dune series, the Padishah Emperor, also commonly referred to as "Emperor of the Known Universe" or "Emperor of a Million Worlds", was the supreme ruler of humanity, whose power was checked by the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit and the Landsraad, until Paul-Muad'dib took control of Arrakis as the Mentat Emperor.

Sources and references

• RoyalArk – Select present country, then choose dynasty from its menu
• WorldStatesmen idem; more cases but less thorough
• Bartbleby.com Dictionary&Etymology

See also

• Shah
• Shahanshah
• Sultan