As A Title
As a title, Khan has historically been used mainly by the Mongols and Turkic rulers and chieftains. It has also been adopted by Pashtuns in the former Afghan territories of the current North West Frontier Province of Pakistan where the division of regions into Khanates has existed from early Muslim period, e.g., the various Khanates in Swat, Hazara and Peshawar districts.
Khan is mainly used by the Pushtuns. In the South Asian Subcontinent a Pashtun is addressed as Khan Sahib routinely whether he has Khan formally as part of his name or not. Moreover, the term Khawanain is used to refer to the Khans, collectively, as rulers, chiefs etc. of Khanates in the North West Frontier Province of India, and later Pakistan, particularly in Hangu,Hazara, Swat, Dir, Mardan and other districts in contemporary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the non-Frontier regions of the Subcontinent Khanates did not exist at anytime in history.
The British Raj continued the Mughal practice of awarding titles such as Khan Bahadur for Muslims and Rai Bahadur for Hindus.
Read more about this topic: Khan (surname)
Famous quotes containing the word title:
“It is impossible to strive for the heroic life. The title of hero is bestowed by the survivors upon the fallen, who themselves know nothing of heroism.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)