''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

as a title and form of address. It is also appended after a devotee's name, for example "Madhava Prabhu". In

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, especially in

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

nese, Javanese, and

Sundanese Sundanese may refer to: * Sundanese people * Sundanese language * Sundanese script Standard Sundanese script (''Aksara Sunda Baku'', ) is a writing system which is used by the Sundanese people. It is built based on Old Sundanese script (' ...

culture, the term "Prabu" is used as a part of royal titles, especially to address Kings such as Prabhu Siliwangi, Prabu Kiansantang (the son of Prabu Siliwangi), etc.

As a surname

A common surname among people across the

Konkan Coast The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, from

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

and.

As a title

"Prabhu" is a Sanskrit word, it is predominantly used to refer to a supreme being or god. My Indian languages associate the word for someone they have devotion for especially for Hindu gods like Lord Krishna and Rama. According to historian Anant Ramkrishna Sinai Dhume, Prabhu was a title accorded to the representative of the main village of the ''

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

'' (district) committee. The Prabhus may have also occupied official posts in the central administration, without prejudice to their original posts which were hereditary. Traditionally, a Prabhu was a village chief, Ministers, Zamindars, administrators, landlord and as such a master to the many agricultural labourers that were needed to cultivate his lands. "Prabhu" as a title is mainly found among

Saraswat Brahmin The Saraswat Brahmins are Hindu Brahmins, who are spread over widely separated regions spanning from Kashmir in North India to Konkan in West India to Kanara (coastal region of Karnataka) and Kerala in South India. The word ''Saraswat'' is de ...

Karhade Brahmin Karhaḍe Brahmins (also spelled as Karada Brahmins or Karad Brahmins) are a Hindu Brahmin sub-caste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra, but are also distributed in states of Goa, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh. Classification Along w ...

s and

Prabhu communities The Prabhu communities are a group of distinct Hindu castes found in Maharashtra, India. There are four such castes, all having different ritual and social status within the caste system of Maharashtra. They are Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu, Path ...

and

. In

, ''rajas'' (kings) are given the title "Prabhu", such as Prabhu Siliwangi king of the

Sunda Kingdom The Sunda Kingdom ( su, , Karajaan Sunda, ) was a Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Centra ...

Prabu Kiansantang ''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...

(son of Prabhu Siliwangi), Prabhu Bratasenna king of

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

who ruled in the

8th century The 8th century is the period from 701 ( DCCI) through 800 ( DCCC) in accordance with the Julian Calendar. The coast of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula quickly came under Islamic Arab domination. The westward expansion of the Umayyad Empi ...

, and other numerous kings.

Notable people

* Prabhu Dasamuka, Indonesian ( Javanese and

nese) name addressed for

Ravana Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations. In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...

which means "The king with ten heads"

First name

Prabhu (actor) Prabhu Ganesan (born 25 December 1956), known professionally as Prabhu, is an Indian actor, businessman and film producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan. He is popularly known as ''Ilaya Th ...

(born 1956), Indian actor *

Prabhu B. Patil Prabhu B. Patil is an Indian bacterial geneticist and a senior scientist at the Institute of Microbial Technology. Known for his studies on bacterial genetics, genomics and metagenomics, Patil has published his research findings by way of a numb ...

, Indian bacterial geneticist *

Prabhu Chauhan Prabhu Bamala Chauhan (born 6 July 1969) is an Indian politician who is the current Minister of State for Animal Husbandry Department of Karnataka from 20 August 2019 in B.S.Yediyurappa cabinet. Later he has also sworn in as cabinet minister on ...

(born 1969) *

Prabhu Chawla Prabhu Chawla (born 2 October 1946) is an Indian journalist. He was born in Dera Ghazi Khan, Punjab, British India. He is alumni of Deshbandhu college University of Delhi. He started his career as an economics lecturer in Delhi University. He ...

(born 1946), Indian journalist *

Prabhu Dayal Balmiki Prabhu Dayal Balmiki ( hi, प्रभु दयाल बाल्मीकि) is an Indian politician and a member of the 16th Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh of India. He represented the Hastinapur constituency of Uttar Pradesh and ...

(born 1963), Indian politician *

Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka Prabhu Dayal Himatsingka (16 August 1889 – 2 June 1991) was an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India, from Godda, Bihar as a member of the Indian National Congress The Indian Nat ...

(1889–1991), Indian politicianCongress *

Prabhu Dayal Katheria Prabhu Dayal Katheria (born 22 August 1952) is an Indian politician and agriculturist. He was former member of parliament from Firozabad Firozabad is a city near Agra in Firozabad district in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. It is the ...

(born 1952), Indian politician and agriculturist *

Prabhu Dayal Nigam Prabhu Dayal Nigam is an Indian interventional cardiologist, medical academic and the founder of the department of cardiology at Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi. Holder of multiple master's degrees in medicine, he was a senior consulta ...

, Indian interventional cardiologist *

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

, Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer, and actor *

Prabhu Goel Prabhu Goel (born 1949) is an Indian American researcher, entrepreneur and businessman, known for having developed the PODEM Automatic test pattern generation and Verilog hardware description language. In 1970 Goel graduated as an electrical engi ...

(born 1951), an Indian American researcher, entrepreneur and businessman *

Prabhu Jagadbandhu Prabhu Jagadbandhu was a religious leader of Bengal. He spent much of his life meditating and preaching in the Sri Angan ashram in Faridpur, British India (present day Bangladesh). His teachings inspired the founding of a revival movement wit ...

(1871–1921), Hindu Saint of Bengal *

Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar Prabhu Lal Bhatnagar (8 August 1912 – 5 October 1976), commonly addressed as P. L. Bhatnagar, was an Indian mathematician known for his contribution to the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook operator used in Lattice Boltzmann methods (LBM). Bio ...

(1912–1976), Indian mathematician *

Prabhu Lal Saini Prabhu Lal Saini is a Rajasthani politician. He is a former cabinet minister in the government of Rajasthan led by Vasundhara Raje. He is a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party. He serves in the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from Tonk distr ...

(born 1954), Rajasthani politician *

Prabhu Mundkur Prabhu Mundkur is an Indian film actor who hails from Manipal. He started his career with Kannada television soap ''Kulavadhu'' in 2016. His movie debut happened in 2017 through ''Urvi'', a critically acclaimed movie in the Kannada film indus ...

(born 1988), Indian model and actor *

Prabhu Narayan Singh Prabhu Narayan Singh (26 November 1855 – 4 August 1931) was ruler of the Benares State ( Royal House of Benares), an Indian princely state, from 1889 to 1931. Prabhu Narayan Singh would reign for 42 years as Maharaja; in 1891, he was knigh ...

(1855–1931), ruler of the Indian Princely State of Benares State from 1889 to 1931 * Prabhu Siliwangi, the king of the Hindu Sunda kingdom of

from 1482 to 1521 *

Prabhu Solomon Prabhu Solomon (born 7 May 1969) is an Indian film director who has primarily worked on Tamil films. After making his debut in 1999, he had a middling career before rising to prominence with the success of the romantic tragedy film ''Mynaa'' (2 ...

(born 1969), Indian film director

Surname

Ajit Prabhu Ajit Prabhu is an Indian entrepreneur who is the Chairman and CEO of Quest Global which he co-founded with Aravind Melligeri in 1997 at Schenectady, New York. He hails from Dharwad city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Early education ...

, founder and CEO of QuestGlobal * Bolanthur Krishna Prabhu (1882–?), wrote ''Chandrahas Natak'' *

Gayathri Prabhu Gayathri Prabhu (born 1974) is an Indian novelist who currently lives in Manipal, Karnataka. Her most recent work is the novella ''Love in Seven Easy Steps'' (2021), preceded by ''Vetaal and Vikram: Riddles of the Undead'', published by HarperC ...

(born 1974), Indian novelist * Ghanasyam Prabhu, an Indian cricket umpire * H. Boniface Prabhu (born 1972), Indian qriplegic wheelchair tennis player * (born 1954), Indian sprinter * Jaideep Prabhu (born 1967), professor *

K. N. Prabhu K. Niran Prabhu (1923 – July 30, 2006) was a prominent Indian journalist who specialized in cricket. Most of his best work was done while working for the ''Times of India'' newspaper. He joined the paper in 1948 and was the sports editor from 1 ...

(1923–2006) *

Lakshman Prabhu Lakshman Prabhu was a minister in the court of the Silhara dynasty that ruled the islands that today constitute the Indian city of Mumbai. He belonged to the Prabhu community of Konkan. He is known for overseeing the construction of the famous Wa ...

, a minister in the court of the Silhara dynasty *

Leo Prabhu Leo Prabhu is a dramatist, playwright and novelist from the state of Tamil Nadu. He started his career as an actor at the Boys Company and has worked in the Tamil theater for many years. After founding his own troupe, called Stage Image, he sho ...

(born 1933), veteran dramatist, playwright, and novelist * M. S. Prabhu, on IMDb *

Mamta Prabhu Mamta Prabhu ( Marathi:ममता प्रभू, born 1 March 1983) is a table tennis player from Maharashtra, India. She is an integral part of the Indian women Table Tennis team. As of July 2011, she is ranked 356rd in the overall Intern ...

(born 1983), table tennis player *

Manik Prabhu Manik Prabhu Maharaj was an Indian Hindu saint, philosopher, poet and guru. He is also regarded as an incarnation of Dattatreya by the people of Datta Sampraday. Prabhu's philosophy, the Sakala mata Siddhanta rests on the principles of Advaita Ve ...

(1817–1865), Hindu saint, philosopher, poet, mystic, and guru * Manjiri Prabhu (born 1964), Indian author, TV producer and filmmaker * Manohar Prabhu Parrikar (1955–2019), Indian politician * Maya Prabhu, medical doctor * Megha Prabhu, co-founder and CFO

Yes Bank Yes Bank is an Indian bank headquartered in Mumbai, India and was founded by Rana Kapoor and Ashok Kapoor in 2004. It offers wide range of differentiated products for corporate and retail customers through retail banking and asset management ...

* N. U. Prabhu (1924–2022), Indian-American mathematician * Neeraj Prabhu (born 1976), Indian-born former English cricketer *

Neeshan Prabhoo Neeshan Prabhoo, also known as "The Hitman" or "D'Hitman" is a chutney musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to des ...

, chutney musician *

Peter Paul Prabhu Peter Paul Prabhu (20 March 1931 − 10 September 2013) was an Indian people, Indian Roman Catholic archbishop and diplomat. Born in Chennai, India, Prabhu was ordained to the priesthood on 20 December 1954 for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of M ...

(1931–2013) *

R. Prabhu R. Prabhu (born 31 May 1947) was an Indian National Congress member of Parliament in India, representing the Nilgiris (Ooty) constituency of Tamil Nadu, India. He was elected from Nilgiris five times since 1980 and one time Union Minister in Ra ...

(born 1947), Indian National Congress member of Parliament in India * R.S. Prabhu (born 1950), Indian film producer and film director *

Rakesh Prabhu Rakesh Prabhu is an Indian cricketer. He made his Twenty20 debut for Mumbai in the 2016–17 Inter State Twenty-20 Tournament 2016–17 Inter State Twenty-20 Tournament was a Twenty20 cricket tournament in India. This was the first edition of ...

, Indian cricketer *

S. R. Prabhu S. R. Prabhu is an Indian film producer. During his tenure at Studio Green (2010–13), he has produced 10 Tamil language, Tamil films and distributed 16 films in Tamil and Telugu. Later he founded Dream Warrior Pictures, a film production comp ...

, Indian film producer *

Satyajit Prabhu Satyajit Prabhu is an Indian harmonium, synthesizer and keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyb ...

, music arranger, composer, and multi-instrumentalist * Seetharam Prabhu (born 1964), Indian cricket umpire *

Shashi Prabhu Shashi Prabhu (born 1944) is an Indian Architect whose company, Shashi Prabhu & Associates, has designed many Sports Complexes, Hospitals, Club Houses and Infrastructure projects throughout India. Early life He was born in Mumbai in 1944 and gra ...

(born 1944), Indian architect *

Srinivas Prabhu Srinivasa Prabhu is an Indian actor in the Kannada film industry and a theatre artist in Karnataka, India. Some of the notable films of Srinivasa Prabhu as an actor include ''Bimba - Those 90 Minutes'' (2018), ''Kanooru Heggadithi'' (1999), Hudugar ...

, actor * Sunil Prabhu (born 1969), Indian politician *

Suresh Prabhu Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu (born 11 July 1953) is an Indian politician, India's Sherpa (emissary), Sherpa to the G7 anChancellor of Rishihood University who was the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), Minister of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Rail ...

(born 1953), Indian politician *

Vasant K. Prabhu Dr. Vasant K. Prabhu is a professor in the Electrical Engineering department at the University of Texas at Arlington. He has taught at UTA since 1991. He specializes in teaching and researching digital communication systems. In 1958, Prabhu receive ...

, professor * Vasant Prabhu (died 1968) * Vasundhara Prabhu, director of education at the Farnsworth Art Museum *

Venkat Prabhu Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian filmmaker, actor and playback singer in Tamil films. After completing his education, he began pursuing an acting career, with his first ...

(born 1975), Indian filmmaker, actor, director, and playback singer *

Vikram Prabhu Vikram Prabhu is an Indian actor working in Tamil language films who made his debut in Prabhu Solomon's '' Kumki'' (2012). He also played the protagonist in ''Ivan Veramathiri'' (2013) and ''Vellaikaara Durai'' (2014). He is the son of actor Pr ...

, Indian actor

References