Mir (title)


Mir is a rare ruler's title in princely states and an aristocratic title generally used to refer to a person who is a descendant of a commander in medieval Muslim tradition.
It was adopted in many languages under Islamic influence, such as Balochi, Sindhi, Ottoman Turkish, Turkish, Persian, Bengali, Azeri, Kurdish and Pashto meaning leader of a group or tribe.
According to the book Persian Inscriptions on Indian Monuments, Mir is most probably an Arabized form of Pir. Pir in Old Persian and Sanskrit means the old, the wise man, the chief and the great leader. Pir is a religious leader' title for Alevi and Yarsanism faith meaning old and wise spiritual leader. Amir, meaning "Lord" or "commander-in-chief", is derived from the Arabic root a-m-r, "command".

Title

Ruling Princes

In Muslim princely states of British India, few rulers were formally styled Mir, notably in present Pakistan, where only two of the six have actually reached the level of salute state, becoming entitled to a gun salute and the attached form of address His Highness:
The following all remained non-salute states:
Mir was also used as an honor rank.

Compound Titles

In the subcontinent, since the Mughal period, various compounds were used in Persian including:
In the Hindu kingdom of Nepal:
In the Baloch kingdom of Balochistan:
In the Ottoman Empire, Mir-i Miran was used as the Persian equivalent to the Turkish title Beylerbey, alongside the Arabic equivalent Amir al-Umara.
In the Yazidi culture the Mîr is the religious and also the administrative authority.