Babu
Babu is a form used in India , especially in Bengal , for "lord" or "noble". It sets Babu precedes the name.
Variations in meaning
In a narrower sense, “Babu” was understood to mean Bengali clerks, brokers and sub-officials. “Babu” or “Bapu” was also an honorary name for Mahatma Gandhi , who was valued by him.
In a disparaging, derisive sense, the term also referred to the eloquent, rich and spoiled Bengali landlord of the 18th and 19th centuries, who indulged in his Anglomania and his vanities in his European-imitated palaces and had no sense of the economic and social realities of his Country and its fellow men; In Calcutta there were numerous caricatures ( pat-paintings ), ridiculous verses and satires on this type of person.
Literary and musical descriptions of the phenomenon
A very popular short story in the 19th century called The Baboo; and Other Tales Descriptive of Society in India ("The Bäbu. Pictures of Life from East India") was written by the Englishman Augustus Prinsep , who worked in India .
In 1838 an opera version of the material appeared at the Royal Court Theater of Hanover under the title Der Bäbu (libretto: Wilhelm August Wohlbrück , music: Heinrich Marschner ).