Padishah

Padishah, Badishah, or Badshah is a very prestigious title derived from the Persian word Padshah, which is based on the better-known title "Shah", assumed by several Islamic monarchs, notably these rulers, the first three commanding major Muslim empires :

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• the Shahanshah of Iran (Persia), also recognized by Shia muslims as the rightful Caliph (a claim of universal rule, as their pagan 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, who also claimed the title of Caliph (a claim of universal authority, to be established by holy wars, but only supported by Sunni muslims; his Persian archrival was Shiite).
• over most of the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal Sultan of Delhi as head of the vast (later British Indian) Moghul Empire
• also, on smaller parts of that subcontinent :
• his challenger Tipu Sultan (in full Padshah bahadur) in Khudadad (in fact Mysore and neighbouring conquests), respected by the British as a valid military adversary but crushed (for siding with London's French rivals)
• a former vassal, the former Nawab (i.e. mughal governor, turned hereditary prince) of Awadh=Oudh, who assumed independence at the instigation of the British 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;
• one ruler (predecessor styled Amir i shariat, successors (Khan and) Wali) of the tiny (one valley) Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat from November 1918 to March 1926 - see
• the King of Afghanistan : Padshah i-Afghanistan, not constantly (at other times Emir (Amir al-Momenin) or Malik=King), only under the Mohammadzay segment of the Duranni dynasty - see .

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).

Padishah: History of Islamic monarchies ►



 

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