Baba (Hindi: बाबा; Urdu: بابا; father; grandfather; old man; sir,[1]) is an honorific used in several South Asian and Middle Eastern cultures. It is used as a mark of respect to refer to Sufi saints and Hindu ascetics (sannyasis) and can also be used as a suffix or prefix to their names eg: Ramdev Baba, Baba Ramdevji, Baba Bulleh Shah or Rehman Baba.[1][2] Baba is also a title accorded to the head of certain order of Sufi saints.[1] The Persian term was also adopted in Malaysia as an honorific of respect to address Straits-born person of Chinese descent, i.e., Chinese persons born in British Straits Settlement.[3][4]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Platts, John T. (John Thompson). A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1884.
- ^ Hunter, William Wilson; James Sutherland Cotton, Richard Burn, William Stevenson Meyer, Great Britain India Office (1908). Imperial Gazetteer of India. 20. Clarendon Press. p. 295.
- ^ Ooi, Keat Gin (2004). Southeast Asia : A Historical Encyclopedia, From Angkor Wat to East Timor. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO. pp. 198. ISBN 1-57607-770-5.
- ^ Baba in Weiner, E. S. C.; Simpson, J. R. (1989). The Oxford English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.
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