Editing Nawab (section)

==History==
[[Image:Lord Clive meeting with Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey.jpg|right|thumb|upright=0.90|[[Robert Clive]], meeting with [[Mir Jafar]] after the [[Battle of Plassey]], by [[Francis Hayman]]]]
[[File:Sadeq Mohammad Khan.jpg|left|thumb|upright|[[General]] [[Sadeq Mohammad Khan V|Nawab Sir Sadeq Mohammad Khan V]], the last ruling Nawab of [[Bahawalpur]]]]

Nawab was a [[Hindustani language|Hindustani]] term, used in [[Urdu language|Urdu]], [[Hindi]], [[Bengali language|Bengali]], [[Pashto language|Pashto]] and many other North-Indian languages, borrowed via [[Persian language|Persian]] from the [[Arabic language|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 [[:wikt:nabob|nabob]]. 

[[File:Asif musicians 1812.jpg|250px|thumb|The winter [[Divan|diwan]] of a [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] nawab]]

The [[Subahdar]] was the head of the Mughal provincial administration. He was assisted by the provincial ''Diwan'', ''[[Bakhshi (Mughal Empire)|Bakhshi]]'', ''[[Faujdar]]'', ''[[Kotwal]]'', ''[[Qadi|Qazi]]'', ''Sadr'', ''Waqa-i-Navis'', ''Qanungo'' and ''[[Patwari]]''. As the [[Mughal empire]] began to dissolve in the early 18th century, many ''subahs'' became effectively independent.<ref name="Whitworth1885">{{cite book |last=Whitworth |first=George Clifford |title=An Anglo-Indian Dictionary: A Glossary of Indian Terms Used in English, and of Such English Or Other Non-Indian Terms as Have Obtained Special Meanings in India |publisher=K. Paul, Trench |year=1885 |pages=301– |chapter=Subah |access-date=13 July 2020 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tAOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA301 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240209112831/https://books.google.com/books?id=7tAOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA301#v=onepage&q&f=false |archive-date=9 February 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> 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]] 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]]s, as well, and large [[zamindar]]s 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 (princely state)|Amb]], [[Bahawalpur]], [[Balasinor]], [[Baoni]], [[Banganapalle]], [[Bhopal]], [[Cambay]], [[Jaora]], [[Junagadh]], [[Kurnool]] (the main city of Deccan), [[Kurwai]], Mamdot, [[Multan]], [[Palanpur]], [[Pataudi]], [[Radhanpur]], [[Rampur, Uttar Pradesh|Rampur]], [[Malerkotla]], [[Sachin, Gujarat|Sachin]], and [[Tonk (princely state)|Tonk]]. Other former rulers bearing the title, such as the nawabs of Bengal and [[Oudh State|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. For example, 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, such as in [[Rajgarh State|Rajgarh]] a single rawat (rajah) went by nawab. 

The style for a nawab's wife is ''[[begum]]''. Most of the nawab dynasties were male [[primogeniture]]s, although several ruling [[Begum of Bhopal|Begums of Bhopal]] were a notable exception.

Before the incorporation of the [[Indian subcontinent#The Subcontinent|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.