Nawab

This article is about the honoric title. For the Nawab

buttery, see Polyura.
Naib redirects here. For other uses, see Naib (disambiguation).
Nawab Begum redirects here. For further information
on Begums, see Begum.

A Nawab or Nawaab (Urdu: ) is an honoric title

ratied and bestowed by the reigning Mughal Emperor
to semi-autonomous Muslim rulers of princely states in
South Asia. Nawab usually refers to males; 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.
Robert Clive, meeting with Nawab Mir Jafar after Battle of
The title of Nawab was also awarded as a personal dis- Plassey, by Francis Hayman.
tinction 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, these titles were also accompanied by jagir
grants, either in cash revenues and allowances or landholdings. In the British Punjab, North West Frontier,
Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, 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 Nawab was originally used for the Subahdar
(provincial governor) or viceroy of a Subah (province) or
region of the Mughal empire.

History

The term is Urdu, borrowed via Persian from the Arabic,

being the honoric plural of naib, or deputy. In some
areas, especially Bengal, the term is pronounced nabob.
This later variation has also entered English and other foreign languages (see Wiktionary).
The term nawbab is often used to refer to any Muslim ruler in north or south India while the term "Nizam"
is preferred for a senior ocialit literally means governor of region. The Nizam of Hyderabad 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 ocer.
Nazim is still used for a district collector in many parts
of India. The term nawab is still technically imprecise,

General Nawab Sir Sadeq Mohammad Khan V, the last ruling

Nawab of Bahawalpur

as the title was also awarded to Hindus and Sikhs, as well,

and large Zamindars and not necessarily to all Muslim
rulers. With the decline of that empire, the title, and the
1

MISCELLANEOUS NAWABS

The winter Diwan of a Mughal Nawbab.

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 Awadh, Amb, Bahawalpur, Balasinor,
Baoni, Banganapalle, Bhopal, Cambay, Jaora, Junagadh,
Kurnool (the main city of Deccan), Kurwai, Mamdot, Multan, Palanpur, Pataudi, Radhanpur, Rampur,
Malerkotla, Sachin, Rajoli and Tonk. Other former rulers
bearing the title, such as the nawabs of Bengal and Oudh,
had been dispossessed by the British or others by the time
the Mughal dynasty nally ended in 1857. The title of the Left: Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, Commander-in-Chief
ruler of Palanpur was Diwan and not Nawab.
of the British Indian Army, Right: Nawbab Sir Muhammad Khan
The style for a nawbabs queen is Begum. Most of the Zaman Khan of Amb. At Darband, Amb State,1925
nawbab dynasties were male primogenitures, although
several ruling Begums of Bhopal and Ruchka Begum of
Huda (18621922), Nawab Sirajul Islam (18481923),
Tikait Ganj, near Lucknow were a notable exception.
Nawab Alam yar jung Bahadur, M.A, Madras, B.A.,
Before the incorporation of the Subcontinent into the B.C.L., Barr-At-Law (18901974). There also were the
British Empire, nawabs ruled the kingdoms of Awadh Nawabs of Dhanbari, Nawabs of Ratanpur, Nawabs of
(or Oudh, encouraged by the British to shed the Mughal Baroda and such others.
suzerainty and assume the imperial style of Badshah),
Bengal, Arcot and Bhopal.

3.2 Nawbab as a court rank

Ruling Nawabs

Miscellaneous Nawabs

3.1

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 Mughaltype titles were introduced, including Nawab. Among
the noted British creations of this type were Nawab
Hashim Ali Khan (18581940), Nawab Khwaja Abdul
Ghani (18131896), Nawab Abdul Latif (18281893),
Nawab Faizunnesa Choudhurani (18341904), Nawab
Ali Chowdhury (18631929), Nawaab Syed Shamsul

At the court of Persias Shahanshahs of the imperial Qajar

dynasty, precedence for non-members of the dynasty was
organised in eight protocollary classes, generally coupled
to various oces and qualities; the highest of these, styled
nawbab, was usually reserved for minor princes, while the
six next classes (Shakhs-i-Awwal, Janab, Amir or Khan,
'Ali Jah Muqarrab, 'Ali Jah, 'Ali Sha'an) were awarded to
various ministers, ocers, commanders, Muslim clergy
and so on, the eight and lowest, 'Ali Qadir, even to guild
masters and the like.
Nawbab was also the rank titleagain not an oceof
a much lower class of Muslim noblesin fact retainers
at the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar State,
ranking only above Khan Bahadur and Khan, but under
(in ascending order) Jang, Daula, Mulk, Umara and Jah;
the equivalent for Hindu courtiers was Raja Bahadur.

4.3

Naib

A powerful Mughal Nawbab of Oudh.

4
4.1

Derived titles
Nawabzada

This style, adding the Persian sux -zada which means

son (or other male descendants; see other cases in Prince),
(etymo)logically ts a Nawbabs sons, but in actual practice various dynasties established other customs.
For example, in Bahawalpur only the Nawbabs Heir Apparent used Nawabzada before his personal name, then
Khan Abassi, nally Wali Ahad Bahadur (an enhancement of Wali Ehed), while the other sons of the ruling Nawab used the style Sahibzada before the personal
name and only Khan Abassi behind. Nawabzadi implies daughters of the reigning nawbab.

The Nawab of Bengal Mir Qasim.

tury 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 Thackerays Vanity Fair is probably the best known
example in ction. From this specic usage it came to
be sometimes used for ostentatiously rich businesspeople
in general. It can also be used metaphorically for people
who have a grandiose sense of their own importance, as
in the famous dismissal of the news media as nattering
nabobs of negativism in a speech that was delivered by
Spiro Agnew and written by William Sare.[2]

Elsewhere, rulers who were not styled nawbab yet

4.3
awarded a title nawabzada.

4.2

Nabob

For other uses, see Nabob (disambiguation).

In colloquial usage in English (since 1612),[1] adopted
in other Western languages, the form nabob refers to
commoners: a merchant-leader of high social status and
wealth. Nabob derives from the Bengali pronunciation
of nawab": Bengali: nbab. During the 18th cen-

Naib

The word naib (Arabic: )has been historically used to

refer to any local leader in some parts of Ottoman Empire
and eastern Caucasus (e.g. during Caucasian Imamate).
Today, the word is used to refer to directly-elected legislators in lower houses of parliament in many Arabicspeaking areas to contrast them against ocers of upper
houses (or Shura). The term Majlis al-Nuwwab (Arabic:
, literally council of deputies) has been adopted
as the name of several legislative lower houses and unicameral legislatures.

Gallery
Some Nawbabs of Arab
Azim-ud-Daula
Hyder Beg Khan of Awadh
Nawabs hunting a Blackbuck with their Asiatic
Cheetah
Nawab of Awadh
Nawabs and Cheetahs
Afsharids and a Mughal Nawab
Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah the Nawab of Carnatic
Shuja-ud-Daula the Nawab of Awadh
Shuja-ud-Daula and his sons and relative
Nawabs in battle during the Battle of Panipat (1761)
Nawab of the Carnatic in battle
A Nawab, during the reign of the Mughal Emperor
Shah Jahan
Shuja-ud-Din Muhammad Khan the Nawab of Bengal.
Anwaruddin Muhammed Khan the Nawab of the
Carnatic
Nawab of Bengal

Indian states formerly ruled by

Nawabs

References

[1] Origin of NABOB, Merriam-Webster.com. Retrieved 16

September 2010.
[2] nattering nabobs of negativism, PoliticalDictionary.com.
Retrieved 7 April 2015.

Sources
Encyclopaedia: Dhaka Nawab Estate
Nawab in Banglapedia
Etymology OnLine
RoyalArk- here Indian, see also Pakistan extensive
genealogies on several dynasties
WorldStatesmen more concise but more states

REFERENCES

This article incorporates text from a publication now

in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).
Encyclopdia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

8.1

Text

Nawab Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nawab?oldid=694116604 Contributors: Delirium, Tregoweth, Julesd, John K, Charles

Matthews, Imc, Raul654, Bearcat, Robbot, RedWolf, Rudolf 1922, Monedula, Tom Radulovich, Broux, Finn-Zoltan, Gzornenplatz, Katangoori, Sesel, Utcursch, Nograpes, Zbd, Mani1, QuartierLatin1968, IFaqeer, Enric Naval, Ogress, Linmhall, Kurt Shaped Box, Dabbler,
BDD, Woohookitty, Tabletop, Toussaint, BD2412, Ketiltrout, Rjwilmsi, George Burgess, Margosbot~enwiki, Nihiltres, Vmenkov, YurikBot, Deeptrivia, Hornplease, DanMS, Dysmorodrepanis~enwiki, Complainer, Siddiqui, SameerKhan, Fastifex, SmackBot, Spasage, Kintetsubualo, Supersaiyan, Cloj, Willardo, Sct72, Arcarius, Wizardman, LeoNomis, Kukini, Ohconfucius, JaeRae, Teneri, Bsskchaitanya,
Drinibot, Puckfaery, Aditya Kabir, Thijs!bot, Wikid77, Anupam, Tmopkisn, IndianGeneralist, Naybob, Chill doubt, Trakesht, Ekabhishek, TAnthony, Magioladitis, Faizhaider, JaGa, Philg88, Rgmmortimore, R'n'B, CommonsDelinker, Azer Red, MacAuslan, Johnbod,
Robertgreer, KylieTastic, STBotD, Dil tarasha, AdRock, SieBot, RegRCN, Flyer22 Reborn, Goustien, Anchor Link Bot, Cobalttempest, Timberframe, Msamirm, Pittsburgh Poet, SchreiberBike, Eastcote, Hercule, Amit20081980, Good Olfactory, Addbot, AnnaFrance,
LarryJe, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Bunnyhop11, Ptbotgourou, Aun mehdi, AnomieBOT, LilHelpa, Xqbot, XZeroBot, FrescoBot, Patelurology2, K.Khokhar, Tapfereritter, OgreBot, Kiefer.Wolfowitz, Ahsaninam, Jethwarp, Romilar786, EmausBot, Urduboy, DASHBotAV, Keladino, Peter James, Kalepatcheee, -sche, Aswn, Sc135, HotWinters, Helpful Pixie Bot, Titodutta, BG19bot, PhnomPencil, Beypeople,
Solomon7968, Mark Arsten, Niravashokdesai, Mughal Lohar, Rynsaha, DPL bot, Alumalu13, Love4pakistan, Loriendrew, Tamravidhir,
BattyBot, AsadUK200, Rayaraya, ShayaqRaza, RoyalTaquito, Ramesh ngp, Fmc47, Wanishahrukh, Jan deno, Kaayay, Nowthis, UsmanKhan, Hayrettin Van Aken, SyedAminul, Benki nawab maqsood ali khan and Anonymous: 118

8.2

Images

File:1920,_field_marshall_lord_william_birdwood_and_nawab_khan_zaman_khan,_commander_in_chief_india.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/90/1920%2C_field_marshall_lord_william_birdwood_and_nawab_khan_zaman_khan%
2C_commander_in_chief_india.jpg License: PD Contributors:
Own work
Original artist:
Wikitanoli (talk) (Uploads)
File:Asif_musicians_1812.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Asif_musicians_1812.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Asif_musicians_1812.jpg Original artist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:
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File:Clive.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Clive.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
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NPG link: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw01347/Robert-Clive-and-Mir-Jafar-after-the-Battle-of-Plassey-1757
Original artist: Francis Hayman
File:Saadat_Ali_Khan_I.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Saadat_Ali_Khan_I.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saadat_Ali_Khan_I.jpg Original artist: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:
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File:Sadeq_Mohammad_Khan.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Sadeq_Mohammad_Khan.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Original publication: Bahawalpur State dissolved merged into Pakistan
Immediate source: http://members.iinet.net.au/~{}royalty/ips/b/bahawalpur.html Original artist: Government of Bahawalpur
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File:The_Navab{}s_arrival_before_Clive{}s_position.jpg Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/The_
Navab%27s_arrival_before_Clive%27s_position.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/
pritchett/00routesdata/1700_1799/companyrule/clive/clive.html Original artist: Illustrated London News
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211.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors: Marie-Lan Nguyen Original artist: ?

8.3

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