This article is about the ancient Indian title. For the district, see Senapati district. For district headquarters of Senapati district, see Senapati (Tahamzam).
It was a hereditary title of nobility used in the Maratha Empire. During wartime, a Sardar SenapatiorSarsenapati (also colloquially termed Sarnaubat) functioned as the Commander-in-Chief of all Maratha armies, coordinating the commands of the various Sardars in battle.
Unlike Sardar, Senapati is a primogeniture hereditary title that is passed on to the eldest son. There are several royal Senapati families alive today, including the Ghorpade and Dabhade families.
Senapati as Surname is almost equivalent to Sardars in India . Outside of India too, this type of similar surnames are being used like "Senopati" in Indonesia, Walters in Germany which means Commander of the Army, etc.
InCambodia, the term sena padei (Khmer: សេនាបតី) means "military commander". It is used in the title of the current Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen.
InIndonesia, the term senapati has been absorbed into Old Javanese and eventually Javanese language to refer to "general" or "army commander". In Javanese it can be rendered as SenapatiorSenopati. For example, the title of Sutawijaya, the founder of 16th century Javanese Mataram Sultanate, was Senapati ing Alaga, which means "general of battle".[3]
