Padishah (; ) is a superlative sovereign title of Persian origin.
A form of the word is known already from Middle Persian (or Pahlavi) as pātaxšā(h) or pādixšā(y).
["pad(i)shah ." The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology
]
Middle Persian
pād may stem from
Avestan paiti,
and is akin to Pati (title).
Xšāy 'to rule' and
xšāyaθiya 'king' are both from
Old Persian.
It was adopted by several monarchy claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to the ancient notion of "Great King", and later adopted by post-Achaemenid and the Mughal emperors of India. However, in some periods it was used more generally for autonomous Muslim rulers, as in the Hudud al-'Alam of the 10th century, where even some petty princes of Afghanistan are called pādshā(h)/ pādshāʼi/ pādshāy.
The rulers on the following thrones – the first two effectively commanding major empires – were styled Padishah:
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The Shah of Iran, originating mainly with the Safavids
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The Padishah of the Ottoman Empire
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The Mughal emperors of Hindustan, used by the Mughals
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Some Seljuk rulers, like Seljuk Empire Ahmad Sanjar (as , a translation of the Arabic King), Sultan of Rum Kaykhusraw I (as Padishah of Islam), and Sultan of Rum Kayqubad I (as ).
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Mongol ilkhanate Ghazan took the title Padshah-i Islam after he converted to Islam in 1295, possibly in order to undermine the religious prestige of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt.
[Charles Melville, " Padshah-i Islam: the conversion of Sultan Mahmud Ghazan Khan ", Pembroke Papers I, ed. C. Melville, Cambridge: Middle East Centre, 1990: p. 172.] The title Ilkhan, that came into use –1265, may be an equivalent of Padishah, if it is taken to mean 'sovereign khan' (and not 'subordinate khan' as often posited).
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Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud (predecessor styled Amir-i shariat, successors Khān Wali) of the North-West Frontier state of Swat, who called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926.
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Ahmad Shah Durrani, who founded the Durrani Empire in 1747 with the title Pādshah-i Afghanistan in Persian and Badcha Da Afghanistan in the Pashto language. The Sadduzai were overthrown in 1823 but there was a brief restoration by Shah Shujah in 1839 with the help of British India. The title became dormant from his assassination in 1842 until 1926 when Amanullah Khan resurrected it (official from 1937) and was finally abandoned 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').
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The last Pasha bey of Tunisia, Muhammad VIII al-Amin (proclaimed bey on 15 May 1943), adopted the sovereign style padshah 20 March 1956 – 25 July 1957.
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The female monarch Razia Sultana of the Delhi Sultanate used the masculine title padshah.
The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi ('Victorious Emperor') is only recorded for two individual rulers:
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Ahmad Shah Durrani, Emperor of the Durrani Empire ()
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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, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Ayn waffadar Fidvi-i-Senliena, Iqtidar-i-Kishwarsitan Muhammad Akbar Shah Padshah-i-Ghazi, Nizam of Hyderabad ()
Like many titles, the word Padishah was also often used as a name, either by nobility with other (in this case always lower) styles, or even by commoners.
Padshah Begum is the title of consorts of padishahs.
Ottoman Empire
In the Ottoman Empire the title padishah was exclusively reserved for the Ottoman emperor, as the Ottoman chancery rarely and unwillingly addressed foreign monarchs as padishahs. The Habsburg emperors were consequently denied this title and addressed merely as the "kings of Vienna" (
beç kıralı).
With the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606, it was the first time that the
Sublime Porte recognized Rudolf II as equal of the padishah.
The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774, gave similar concessions to the
Russian Empire.
In Ottoman sources
According to
Taceddin Ahmedi's
İskendernâme, one of the earliest Ottoman sources, alongside the titles
sultan and
Bey,
Orhan and
Murad I bore the title padishah as well.
Notes
External links
