Nawab (

Balochi Balochi, sometimes spelt in various other ways, may refer to: * Balochi language, a language of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjective for something related to the Baloch people, an ethnic group of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan * an adjecti ...

: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब;

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a British Th ...

: ਨਵਾਬ; Persian,

, Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, is a Royal title indicating a

sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'. The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...

ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the

Kings of Saxony The Kingdom of Saxony (german: Königreich Sachsen), lasting from 1806 to 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. The kingdom was formed from the Electorate of Saxon ...

to the German Emperor. In earlier times the title was ratified and bestowed by the reigning Mughal emperor to semi-autonomous

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

rulers of subdivisions or princely states in the Indian subcontinent loyal to the Mughal Empire, for example the

Nawabs of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, ...

. The title is common among Muslim rulers of South Asia as an equivalent to the title Maharaja. "Nawab" usually refers to males and literally means ''Viceroy''; the female equivalent is " Begum" or "''Nawab Begum''". The primary duty of a Nawab was to uphold the sovereignty of the Mughal emperor along with the administration of a certain province. The title of "nawabi" was also awarded as a personal distinction by the paramount power, similar to a British peerage, to persons and families who ruled a princely state for various services to the government of British India. In some cases, the titles were also accompanied by

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

grants, either in cash revenues and allowances or land-holdings. During the British Raj, some of the chiefs, or sardars, of large or important tribes were also given the title, in addition to traditional titles already held by virtue of chieftainship. The term ''" Zamindari"'' was originally used for the ''

subahdar Subahdar, also known as Nazim or in English as a "Subah", was one of the designations of a governor of a Subah (province) during the Khalji dynasty of Bengal, Mamluk dynasty (Delhi), Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Mughal era ( of India who w ...

'' (provincial governor) or viceroy of a ''

subah A Subah was the term for a province (State) in the Mughal Empire. The word is derived from Arabic and Persian. The governor/ruler of a ''Subah'' was known as a '' subahdar'' (sometimes also referred to as a "''Subeh''"), which later became ''subed ...

'' (province) or regions of the Mughal empire.

History

Nawab is a

Hindustani Hindustani may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Hindustan (another name of India) * Hindustani language, an Indo-Aryan language, whose two official norms are Hindi and Urdu * Fiji Hindi, a variety of Eastern Hindi spoken in Fiji, and ...

term, used in Urdu, Hindi, Bengali and many other North-Indian languages, borrowed via Persian from the Arabic honorific plural of ''naib'', or "deputy." In some areas, especially Bengal, the term is pronounced ''nobab''. This later variation has also entered English and other foreign languages as nabob. Asif musicians 1812

The term "Nawaab" is often used to refer to any Muslim ruler in north or south India while the term " nizam" is preferred for a senior official—it literally means "governor of region". The

Nizam of Hyderabad The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

had several nawabs under him: Nawabs of Cuddapah, Sira, Rajahmundry, Kurnool, Chicacole, et al. "Nizam" was his personal title, awarded by the Mughal Government and based on the term "Nazim" as meaning "senior officer". "Nazim" is still used for a district collector in many parts of India. The term "nawab" is still technically imprecise, as the title was also awarded to Hindus and

Sikh Sikhs ( or ; pa, ਸਿੱਖ, ' ) are people who adhere to Sikhism, Sikhism (Sikhi), a Monotheism, monotheistic religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Gu ...

s, as well, and large zamindars and not necessarily to all Muslim rulers. With the decline of that empire, the title, and the powers that went with it, became hereditary in the ruling families in the various provinces. Under later British rule, nawabs continued to rule various princely states of

Amb AMB may refer to: * Active magnetic bearing * Advanced Memory Buffer, used in Fully Buffered DIMM memory * Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one of the armed sections of the Palestinian Fatah movement * Ambergate railway station, abbreviation used in the ...

, Bahawalpur, Balasinor, Baoni, Banganapalle, Bhopal, Cambay, Jaora, Junagadh,

Kurnool Kurnool is a city in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. It formerly served as the capital of Andhra State (1953–1956). The city is often referred to as "The Gateway of Rayalaseema".Kurnool is also known as The City of Gem Stones. It also se ...

(the main city of Deccan), Kurwai, Mamdot, Multan, Palanpur, Pataudi, Radhanpur, Rampur, Malerkotla, Sachin, and Tonk. Other former rulers bearing the title, such as the nawabs of Bengal and Awadh, had been deprived by the British or others by the time the Mughal dynasty finally ended in 1857. Some princes became Nawab by promotion, e.g. the ruler of Palanpur was "diwan" until 1910, then "nawab sahib". Other nawabs were promoted are restyled to another princely style, or to and back, e.g. in Rajgarh a single rawat (rajah) went by nawab. The style for a nawab's queen is '' begum''. Most of the nawab dynasties were male

primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

s, although several ruling Begums of Bhopal were a notable exception. Before the incorporation of the Subcontinent into the British Empire, nawabs ruled the kingdoms of Awadh (or Oudh, encouraged by the British to shed the Mughal suzerainty and assume the imperial style of Badshah), Bengal, Arcot and Bhopal.

Ruling nawab families

Families ruling when acceding to India

* Nawab of Akbarpur - Asmatara Farida Begum * Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, the 7th

* Nawab of Ashwath * Nawab Babi of Balasinor * Nawab of Banganapalle, previously Masulipatam * Nawab of Baoni * Nawab of Lucknow, Late Nawab B.B Agnihotri * Nawab of Basai, Nawab Khwaja Muhammad Khan * Nawab of Berar styled Mirza of Berar (under the

) * Nawab of Bhikampur and Datawali (Aligarh) *

Nawab of Bhopal The Nawabs of Bhopal were the Muslim rulers of Bhopal, now part of Madhya Pradesh, India. The nawabs first ruled under the Mughal Empire from 1707 to 1737, under the Maratha Empire from 1737 to 1818, then under British rule from 1818 to 1947, an ...

(female rulers were known as Nawab Begum of Bhopal) * Nawabs of Cambay (Kambay) * the former Nawabs of the Carnatic, restyled Princes of Arcot * Nawab of Dujana *

Nawab of Farrukhabad Farrukhabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Farrukhabad tehsil. The city is on the banks of river Ganges and is from the national capital Delhi and from the state capital Lucknow. ...

* Nawab of Jaora * Nawab Sahib of Junagadh * Nawab of Maler Kotla * Nawab of Muhammadgar * Nawab Sahib of Palanpur (till 1910 styled Diwan) *Nawab of Awadh * Nawab of

Pathari Pathari is a town in Vidisha district, Many tourist attractions in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. Geography Pathari is located at . It is located close to a lake on a hillock with an elevation of 550 metres. There are ancient ruins ...

* Nawab of Radhanpur * Nawab of Rampur * Nawab of Sachin *

Nawab of Sardhana The Nawab of Sardhana is an honorary Muslim title bestowed upon the descendants of the Afghan warlord and statesman Jan-Fishan Khan, for services to the British Raj – both in the failed British Anglo-Afghan War, Afghan campaigns, as well as during ...

* Nawab of Tonk, India * Nawab of Ghazipur

Former dynasties of princely states in India abolished before independence

* Nawab of Kurwai * Nawab of Pataudi * Nawab of Savanur * Nawab of Mamdot * Nawab of

Tarakote State Tarakote formerly Shergarh-Tarakote Estate was a quasi princely state in Korei, Odisha which was established under the Mughal Empire as a Sarakaar and was later reduced to an intermediary princely estate during the subsequent Maratha and the Br ...

Nawab of Farukhnagar Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Noba ...

Nawab of Jhajjar Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

* Nawab of Surat

Families ruling when acceding to Pakistan

* Nawab of Kalabagh *

Nawab of Amb Amb or Kingdom of Amb also Feudal Tanawal (Urdu/ Persian: ''ریاست امب,'' romanized: ''Riyasat-e-Amb'') was a princely state in the present day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan. It was a monarchy ruled by the Tanolis, a tribe of th ...

* Nawab of Bahawalpur * Nawab of Dir * Nawab Sahib of Junagadh * Nawab of Kharan * Nawab of Maler Kotla

Families ruling when acceding to Bangladesh

Nawab of Bengal The Nawab of Bengal ( bn, বাংলার নবাব) was the hereditary ruler of Bengal Subah in Mughal India. In the early 18th-century, the Nawab of Bengal was the ''de facto'' independent ruler of the three regions of Bengal, Bihar, ...

* Nawab of Dhaka * Nawab of Longla (Sylhet)

Former dynasties which became political pensioners

* Padshah-i-Oudh, formerly

Nawab Wazir Nawab ( Balochi: نواب; ar, نواب; bn, নবাব/নওয়াব; hi, नवाब; Punjabi : ਨਵਾਬ; Persian, Punjabi , Sindhi, Urdu: ), also spelled Nawaab, Navaab, Navab, Nowab, Nabob, Nawaabshah, Nawabshah or Nobab, ...

of Awadh, :: also imperial

Wazir Wazir often refers to: * Vizier or wazir, a high-ranking political advisor or minister Wazir may also refer to: Places * Wazirabad, a City in Punjab, Pakistan * Waziristan, a region in tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan * Wazir Akbar K ...

of all Mughal India, both hereditary *

, as Nawabs of Murshidabad * Nawab of Marauli * Nawab of Patna * Nawab of Surat * Nawab of Longla (Sylhet)

Rohilla Confederation

All of these states were at some point under the authority of the Nawab of Rohilkhand, later made the Nawab of Rampur. Most of these states were annexed at the close of the First Rohilla War. * Nawab of Badaun * Nawab of Moradabad * Nawab of Bareilly * Nawab of Najibabad * Nawab of Philibit *

* Nawab of Bisollee

Miscellaneous nawabs

Personal nawabs

The title ''nawab'' was also awarded as a personal distinction by the paramount power, similarly to a British peerage, to persons and families who never ruled a princely state. For the Muslim elite various Mughal-type titles were introduced, including nawab. Among the noted British creations of this type were Nawab Hashim Ali Khan (1858–1940), Nawab

Khwaja Abdul Ghani Nawab Bahadur Sir Khwaja Abdul Ghani (30 July 1813 – 24 August 1896) was the second Nawab of Dhaka and the first to assume the title of Nawab as hereditary, recognized by the British Raj. He introduced the panchayat system, gaslights, ...

(1813–1896), Nawab Abdul Latif (1828–1893), Nawab Faizunnesa Choudhurani (1834–1904), Nawab Ali Chowdhury (1863–1929),

Nawaab Syed Shamsul Huda Syed Shamsul Huda (1862–1922) was a Muslim political leader of the Bengal Executive Council. He became the first British Indian Muslim President of the Legislative council in 1921. Huda was born in Gokarna, palace known as Gokarna Nawab ...

(1862–1922),

Nawab Sirajul Islam Nawab Sirajul Islam (1845-1923) was a Bengali lawyer during the British rule of India, a Muslim activist, and education reformer. He was the second Muslim from Bengal Presidency to complete graduation studies. Early life Islam was born in 1845 in ...

(1848–1923), Nawab Alam yar jung Bahadur, M.A, Madras, B.A., B.C.L., Barr-At-Law (1890–1974). There also were the Nawabs of Dhanbari, Nawabs of Ratanpur, Nawabs of Baroda and such others.

Nawab as a court rank

''Nawab'' was also the rank title—again not an office—of a much lower class of

nobles—in fact retainers—at the court of the

and Berar State, ranking only above

Khan Bahadur Khan Bahadur – a compound of khan ('leader') and bahadur ('brave') – was a formal title of respect and honor, which was conferred exclusively on Muslim and other non-Hindu natives of British India. It was one degree higher than the title of K ...

and Khan, but under (in ascending order) Jang, Daula, Mulk, Umara and

Jah Jah or Yah ( he, , ''Yāh'') is a short form of (YHWH), the four letters that form the tetragrammaton, the personal name of God: Yahweh, which the ancient Israelites used. The conventional Christian English pronunciation of ''Jah'' is , even th ...

; the equivalent for Hindu courtiers was Raja Bahadur.

Derived titles

Nawabzada

The Navab's arrival before Clive's position

This style, adding the Persian suffix ''-zada'' which means son (or other male descendants; see other cases in prince), etymologically fits a nawab’s sons, but in actual practice various dynasties established other customs. For example, in Bahawalpur only the nawbab's heir apparent used ''nawabzada'' before his personal name, then ''Khan Abassi'', finally ''Wali Ahad Bahadur'' (an enhancement of Wali Ehed), while the other sons of the ruling nawab used the style

sahibzada Sahib or Saheb (; ) is an Arabic title meaning 'companion'. It was historically used for the first caliph Abu Bakr in the Quran. The title is still applied to the caliph by Sunni Muslims. As a loanword, ''Sahib'' has passed into several langua ...

before the personal name and only Khan Abassi behind. "Nawabzadi" implies daughters of the reigning nawbab. Elsewhere, there were rulers who were not styled nawbab yet awarded a title nawabzada to others.

Naib (Ottoman, Iranian, Arabic title)

The word ''naib'' ( ar, نائب) has been historically used to refer to any

suzerain Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...

leader, feudatory, or regent in some parts of the Ottoman Empire, successive early modern Persianate kingdoms ( Safavids, etc.), and in the eastern Caucasus (e.g. during

Caucasian Imamate The Caucasian Imamate, also known as the Caucasus Imamate ( ar, إمامة القوقاز, translit=Imamat Al-Qawqaz), was a state established by the imams in Dagestan and Chechnya during the early-to-mid 19th century in the North Caucasus ...

). In the Sultanate of Morocco, the Naib was the Sultan's emissary to the foreign legations in Tangier between 1848 and 1923, when the creation of the Tangier International Zone led to its replacement by the office of the Mendoub. Today, the word is used to refer to directly elected legislators in lower houses of parliament in many Arabic-speaking areas to contrast them against officers of upper houses (or Shura). The term Majlis al-Nuwwab ( ar, مجلس النواب, literally ''council of deputies'') has been adopted as the name of several legislative lower houses and unicameral legislatures. "Naib" has also been used in the Malay language (especially of the Malaysian variant) to translate the component of "deputy" or "vice" in certain titles (e.g "Vice President" - ''Naib Presiden'') aside from ''timbalan'' and ''wakil'' (latter predominant in the Indonesian variant).

"Nabob", derived colloquial term

In colloquial usage in English (since 1612), adopted in other Western languages, the transliteration "nabob" refers to commoners: a merchant-leader of high social status and wealth. "Nabob" derives from the Bengali pronunciation of "nawab": bn, নবাব ''nôbab''. During the 18th century in particular, it was widely used as a disparaging term for British merchants or administrators who, having made a fortune in India, returned to Britain and aspired to be recognised as having the higher social status that their new wealth would enable them to maintain. Jos Sedley in Thackeray's ''Vanity Fair'' is probably the best known example in fiction. From this specific usage it came to be sometimes used for ostentatiously rich businesspeople in general. "Nabob" can also be used metaphorically for people who have a grandiose sense of their own importance, as in the famous alliterative dismissal of the news media as "''nattering nabobs of negativism''" in a speech that was delivered by Nixon's vice president Spiro Agnew and written by William Safire."nattering nabobs of negativism"
, PoliticalDictionary.com. Retrieved 7 April 2015.

Gallery

File:Major-General the Hon. Arthur Wellesley being received in durbar at the Chepauk Palace Madras by Azim al-Daula Nawab of the Carnatic 18th February 1805.jpg,

Azim-ud-Daula Azim-ud-Daula (1775 – 2 August 1819) was the Nawab of Carnatic from 1801 to 1819. He was the eldest son of Amir ul-Umara and nephew of Umdat ul-Umara. Treaty of 1801 He ascended the throne upon his uncle's death in 1801. As soon a ...

File:Oziashumphrey.jpg, Hyder Beg Khan of Awadh File:CheetahHunt.jpg, Nawabs hunting a blackbuck with their

Asiatic cheetah The Asiatic cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus venaticus'') is a critically endangered cheetah subspecies currently only surviving in Iran. It once occurred from the Arabian Peninsula and the Near East to the Caspian region, Transcaucasus, Kyzylkum D ...

File:Javanbakht.jpg, Nawab of Awadh File:Cheetahs nawab oudh1844.jpg, Nawabs and cheetahs File:Nawab of Kalabagh Malik Amir Mohammad khan.jpeg,

Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan Malik Amir Mohammad Khan (; 20 June 1910 – 26 November 1967) was the Nawab of Kalabagh and a prominent feudal lord, politician, the chief or sardar of the Awan tribe, and of his tribal estate Kalabagh, in Mianwali District of north west ...

The Nawab of Kalabagh and chief of the Awan tribe File:A Nawab of Awadh, Lucknow, India. 19th century.jpg, Afsharids and a

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

nawab File:Stinger Lawrence and Nawab Wallajah.JPG, Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah the Nawab of Carnatic File:Nawab shuja ud daulah.jpg, Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh File:Shujah ud-Daulah and his sons shoberl.jpg, Shuja-ud-Daula and his sons and relative File:The Third battle of Panipat 13 January 1761.jpg, Nawabs in battle during the Battle of Panipat (1761) File:Death of the Nabob of the Carnatic by Paul Philippoteaux.jpg, Nawab of the Carnatic in battle File:A Nawab of Mughal dynasty, India, 17th-18th century.jpg, A nawab, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...

File:Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan.jpg, Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan the

File:Muhammad Anwaruddin.jpg, Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan the Nawab of the Carnatic File:Nawab of Bengal.jpg,

Indian states formerly ruled by Nawabs

* Amb (Tanoli) * Arcot * Awadh * Bahawalpur * Balasinor * Banganapalle * Baoni * Bengal * Berar (nominally under Nizam of Hyderabad) * Bhopal * Cambay * Dir * Farrukhabad ( Uttar Pradesh, India) * Farrukhnagar * Hyderabad * Jaora * Junagadh * Ghazipur *

* Kurwai * Kalabagh * Malerkotla *

Mamdot The Nawab of Mamdot was the title of the hereditary rulers of Mamdot, a princely state, near Firozpur, in the Punjab region of British India. Background In 1794, Nizamuddin and his younger brother Qutbuddin, established themselves as rulers of Kasu ...

* Manavadar * Warcha * Palanpur ( Gujarat, India) * Pataudi * Radhanpur * Rampur * Sachin * Tonk