Padishah, Padshah, Padeshah, Badishah or Badshah (Persian پادشاه Pādeshāh) is a superlative royal title, composed of the Persian pād "master" and the widespread shāh "king", which 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. The Sanskrit kshatrapati is a near-cognate.
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The rulers on the following thrones, the first three effectively commanding major West Asian empires, were styled Padishah:
Miangul Golshahzada Abdul Wadud (predecessor styled Amir-i shariat, successors (Khān and) Wali) of the tiny (one valley) Pakistani North West Frontier state of Swat called himself badshah from November 1918 to March 1926.[1]
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).
The compound Pādshah-i-Ghazi ("Victorious Emperor") is only recorded for two individual rulers:
Note that as many titles, the word was also often used as a name, either by nobles with other (in this case always lower) styles, or even by commoners.
In Frank Herbert's Dune series, the Padishah Emperor—also commonly referred to as "Emperor of the Known Universe" or "Emperor of a Million Worlds"—is the supreme ruler of humanity, whose power is checked by the Spacing Guild, the Bene Gesserit and the Landsraad.
In Dan Simmon's Hyperion, minor padishah rulers are alluded to as historical interplanetary overlords.
In Rabindranath Tagore's story "The Hungry Stones" the Badshah is the master of the seraglio, which includes the young Persian beauty who haunts the palace.
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" due to Arabic pronunciation.
In 2008, a professional cricket team, the Lahore Badshahs, was founded.