Padishah, sometimes rendered as Padeshah or Padshah, is a superlative sovereigntitle of Persian origin. It was adopted by several monarchs claiming the highest rank, roughly equivalent to the ancient Persian notion of "The Great" or "Great King", and later adopted by post-Achaemenid and Christian Emperors.
Historical usage
The rulers on the following thrones - the first two effectively commanding major West Asian empires - were styled Padishah:
, Padishah of the Ottoman Empire. Portrait attributed to Titian The paramount prestige of the title padishah in Islam and beyond becomes clearly apparent from the Ottoman Empire's dealings with the European powers. For example, one of the terms of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774 was that the defeated Ottoman Empire refer to Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, and all other Russian monarchs after her, as a "Padishah" in all official correspondence. This was a symbolic acknowledgement that Christian emperors were in all diplomatic and corollary capacities the equal of the Turkish ruler, who by his religious paramount office in Islam had a theoretical claim of universal sovereignty. The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi is only recorded for two individual rulers:
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 , Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Ayn waffadar Fidvi-i-Senliena, Iqtidar-i-Kishwarsitan Muhammad Akbar Shah Padshah-i-Ghazi, Nizam of Hyderabad
Note that like many titles, the wordPadishah was also often used as a name, either by nobles with other styles, or even by commoners.
Modern usage
There is a large family of Turkish origin using the surname Badi in modern-day Libya. They were originally called "Padishah" due to their Military rank in the Ottoman Army, but the part "shah" was dropped after the Ottoman landing in the North East Libyan town of Misrata, and the pronunciation of "Padi" became "Badi" from the Arabic pronunciation, as there is no p in Arabic. In 2008, a professional cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded. In India, Padishah is often a Muslim surname, from the above-mentioned trend of adopting titles as names by both royalty and commoners.
In Frank Herbert's 1965 novel Dune, the titular head of human space is styled "Padishah Emperor of the Known Universe". In the Pathfinder role-playing game, the ruler of the Empire of Kelesh is styled "Padishah Emperor".
