Indian honorifics

Indian honorifics are honorific titles or appendices to names used in the Indian subcontinent, covering formal and informal social, commercial, and religious relationships. These may take the form of prefixes, suffixes or replacements.

Native honorifics

Honorifics with native/indigenous Hindu-Buddhist origin.

Hindu-Sikh honorifics

List of titles

Abhyasi
Acharya
Aasaan
Appa - title given to Lingayat and Maratha Kings meaning "head" or "father".
Ayya
Baba
Babu
Bhagavan
Bhagat
Bhai
Chhatrapati
Chakravarti, Chakraborty
Chettiar, suffix denoting a man's wealth
Chitnis one of the most important and highest-ranking ministers in a court.

Choudhury
Chempakaraman
Das, a common surname on the Indian subcontinent which has also been applied as a title, signifying "devotee" or "votary" (in the context of religion); also, Dasa^[1]
Devi
Deshmukh, Maratha title given to "Head of State".
Dvija
Gain or Gayen
Goaysain
Guru
Jagadguru
Jagirdar
Kothari
Kshatriya Kulavantas, Maratha title given to "Kshatriya Family".
Kumari
Kunwar, Kumar
Mahamandaleshwar
Mahant
Maharaj, Maharaja, Maharajadhiraj
Mahātmā
Maharani
Maharishi, Maharshi
Mahayogi, Mahayogini
Mankari^[2]
Mantrik
Melshanthi
Menon
Muni
Naidu
Naicker
Nayak
Pandit
Patil, Maratha title given to "Head of Village" & "Kshatriya Noble Family".
Patlin, Maratha Title given to "Wife of Patil Saheb & Kshatrani".
Paramahamsa
Paramguru
Potdar
Prabhu
Pujari
Raj
Raje, Raidu, Raja, Rai/Ray, Rana, Rao, Rawal, Rawat
Rajarshi
Rajguru
Rajkumar, Maharajkumar
Rajkumari, Maharajkumari
Rani
Reddy
Rishi
Rao
Rishi Mudgal
Sādhaka
Sadhu
Sain, Saeen
Samanta
Samrat
Sannyasin
Sardar
Sarpatil
Satguru, Sadguru
Sawai
Singh
Sethi, Sheth, suffixes denoting a man's wealth
Shankaracharya
Shaunaka
Shishya
Sri Shri, Shree
Shrimati, Maratha title given to "Rich or Noble Person".
Swami
Thakur
Thiru or Thirumathi
Yogi, Yogini
Yuvraj
Veer

Secular profession-specific honorifics

Influence on other cultures

With the expansion of Indosphere cultural influence of Greater India,^[3] through transmission of Hinduism in Southeast Asia^[4]^[5]^[6] and the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism^[7]^[8] leading to Indianization of Southeast Asia with non-Indian southeast Asian native Indianized kingdoms^[9] adopting Sanskritization^[10] of their languages and titles as well as ongoing historic expansion of Indian diaspora has resulted in many overseas places having Indianised names (e.g. Sanskritised naming of people, Sanskritised naming of places, Sankritised institutional mottos, Sanskritised educational institute names), architecture, martial arts, music and dance, clothing, and cuisine.^[11]

Please help expand the following partial list of Indian influenced honorifics:

Maratha honorifics

Associated with the Maratha Kingdom or general Marathi-speaking population.

Sikh honorific

Sardar
Sardarni
Giani

Nepali (Gorkhali) honorifics

Associated with the Khas Kings of Nepal, esp. the Shah dynasty of the Kingdom of Gorkha.

Kaji
Mukthiyar
Jangi Lat
Khazanchi
Maharajdhiraj
Maharathi
Nayab
Rajpratinidhi

Middle East honorifics

References

^ Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in practice: Society, region, and identity in medieval Andhra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-19-513661-6.
^ T.N. Madan (1982). Way of Life: King, Householder, Renouncer: Essays in Honour of Louis Dumont (1st ed.). Institute of Economic Growth. p. 129. ISBN 81-208-0527-5.
^ Kenneth R. Hal (1985). Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia. University of Hawaii Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8248-0843-3.
^ Guy, John (2014). Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, Metropolitan museum, New York: exhibition catalogues. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588395245.
^ "The spread of Hinduism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific". Britannica.
^ History of Ancient India Kapur, Kamlesh
^ Fussman, Gérard (2008–2009). "History of India and Greater India". La Lettre du Collège de France (4): 24–25. doi:10.4000/lettre-cdf.756. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
^ Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.
^ Manguin, Pierre-Yves (2002), "From Funan to Sriwijaya: Cultural continuities and discontinuities in the Early Historical maritime states of Southeast Asia", 25 tahun kerjasama Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi dan Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Jakarta: Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi / EFEO, pp. 59–82
^ Lavy, Paul (2003), "As in Heaven, So on Earth: The Politics of Visnu Siva and Harihara Images in Preangkorian Khmer Civilisation", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 34 (1): 21–39, doi:10.1017/S002246340300002X, S2CID 154819912, retrieved 23 December 2015
^ Kulke, Hermann (2004). A history of India. Rothermund, Dietmar, 1933– (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0203391268. OCLC 57054139.

External links

Media related to Indian honorifics at Wikimedia Commons

[1] Talbot, Cynthia (2001). Precolonial India in practice: Society, region, and identity in medieval Andhra. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 81. ISBN 0-19-513661-6.

[2] T.N. Madan (1982). Way of Life: King, Householder, Renouncer: Essays in Honour of Louis Dumont (1st ed.). Institute of Economic Growth. p. 129. ISBN 81-208-0527-5.

[Hal1985-3] Kenneth R. Hal (1985). Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia. University of Hawaii Press. p. 63. ISBN 978-0-8248-0843-3.

[4] Guy, John (2014). Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, Metropolitan museum, New York: exhibition catalogues. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588395245.

[5] "The spread of Hinduism in Southeast Asia and the Pacific". Britannica.

[6] History of Ancient India Kapur, Kamlesh

[college-7] Fussman, Gérard (2008–2009). "History of India and Greater India". La Lettre du Collège de France (4): 24–25. doi:10.4000/lettre-cdf.756. Retrieved 20 December 2016.

[Coedes-8] Coedès, George (1968). Walter F. Vella (ed.). The Indianized States of Southeast Asia. trans.Susan Brown Cowing. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-0368-1.

[9] Manguin, Pierre-Yves (2002), "From Funan to Sriwijaya: Cultural continuities and discontinuities in the Early Historical maritime states of Southeast Asia", 25 tahun kerjasama Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi dan Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient, Jakarta: Pusat Penelitian Arkeologi / EFEO, pp. 59–82

[academia_edu-10] Lavy, Paul (2003), "As in Heaven, So on Earth: The Politics of Visnu Siva and Harihara Images in Preangkorian Khmer Civilisation", Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, 34 (1): 21–39, doi:10.1017/S002246340300002X, S2CID 154819912, retrieved 23 December 2015

[11] Kulke, Hermann (2004). A history of India. Rothermund, Dietmar, 1933– (4th ed.). New York: Routledge. ISBN 0203391268. OCLC 57054139.

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