Showing reluctance, northern monarch shoulders honorific Indian title (9)
I believe the answer is:
shrinking
'showing reluctance northern monarch shoulders honorific indian title' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.
'showing reluctance northern monarch' is the wordplay.
'showing reluctance' becomes 'shri' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'northern' becomes 'n' (abbreviation e.g. N. Ireland).
'monarch' becomes 'king' (king is a kind of monarch).
'shri'+'n'+'king'='SHRINKING'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for shrinking that I've seen before include "Shy person" , "Becoming smaller" , "Decreasing in size" .)