The Great Houses · standing up · 29 reigns, 4 dated marriages

The Houses Cube

The same people as the register, on a time axis and on the ground. First flat, flowing right: every reign as a bar with its name on it. Then standing up: each house a column on its own seat, each accession a shape, each marriage an arc at the height of its year — and at every transfer, the reach a seat could claim, drawn as a field that fades and never as a border.

Every reign of the three houses on one time axisA bar per reign, its name written on it, the mode of accession as a glyph at its start; a dashed outline is a contested record, a dotted bar an accession the archive has not read.150015251550157516001625165016751700GolcondaSultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk · 1518–1543 · foundation · contestedSultan Quli Qutb-ul-MulkJamsheed Quli Qutb Shah · 1543–1550 · usurpation · contestedJamsheed QuliSubhan Quli Qutb Shah · 1550–1550 · minoritySubhan QuliIbrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali · 1550–1580 · depositionIbrahim QuliMuhammad Quli Qutb Shah · 1580–1626 · election · contestedMuhammad QuliMuhammad Qutb Shah · 1612–1626 · not recordedMuhammadAbdullah Qutb Shah · 1626–1672 · minorityAbdullahAbul Hasan Qutb Shah (Tana Shah) · 1672–1687 · installation · contestedAbul HasanBijapurYusuf Adil Shah · 1490–1510 · foundationYusufIsmail Adil Shah · 1510–1534 · minorityIsmailMallu Adil Shah · 1534–1534 · designationMalluIbrahim Adil Shah I · 1534–1558 · depositionIbrahimAli Adil Shah I · 1558–1580 · election · contestedAliIbrahim Adil Shah II · 1580–1627 · minority · contestedIbrahimMuhammad Adil Shah · 1627–1656 · designationMuhammadAli Adil Shah II · 1656–1672 · installation · contestedAliSikandar Adil Shah · 1672–1686 · minoritySikandarAhmadnagarMalik Ahmad Nizam Shah I · 1490–1510 · foundation · contestedMalik AhmadBurhan Nizam Shah I · 1510–1553 · minorityBurhanHusain Nizam Shah I · 1553–1565 · inheritance · contestedHusainMurtaza Nizam Shah I · 1565–1588 · minorityMurtazaMiran Husain Nizam Shah · 1588–1589 · usurpationMiran HusainIsmail Nizam Shah · 1589–1591 · installationIsmailBurhan Nizam Shah II · 1591–1595 · deposition · contestedBurhanIbrahim Nizam Shah · 1595–1595 · inheritanceIbrahimAhmad Nizam Shah II, son of Shah Tahir · 1595–1596 · installation · contestedAhmadBahadur Nizam Shah · 1596–1600 · minority · contestedBahadurMurtaza Nizam Shah II · 1600–1632 · installationMurtazaBurhan Nizam Shah III · 1610–1631 · not recordedBurhanHusain Nizam Shah III · 1632–1633 · installation · contestedHusainMurtaza Nizam Shah III · 1633–1636 · installation · contestedMurtaza1562 · a daughter → The Mughal Empire1564 · Beeby Jumally → Qutb Shahi Dynasty1586 · Mullika Jehan → Adil Shahi Dynasty1604 · a daughter → The Mughal Empire
A bar per reign, the name on the bar, the accession mode as a glyph at its start. Dashed vertical lines are the dated marriages between houses; undated ones are listed beneath the tank. 1480–1700 shown; a reign that runs past the edge is clipped, not shortened.

the disc at each transfer is a field, not a border
drag to turn · scroll to close in

1586

What the floor shows, and what it refuses to

The disc that spreads on the floor at each accession is the reach a seat could claim at that moment — a construction from the seat outward, fading with distance, in the method the flat map already uses. It is not a border. None of the archive’s citations gives a border line for any of these states in any year, and a drawn polygon would be an invented fact. What the floor can show is every place the archive can cite, as a dot: the archipelago of seats, forts and shrines that was the real shape of power here.

Marriages not drawn

Every reign, accession mode and marriage the cube draws
HouseRulerFromToModeConfidence
GolcondaSultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk15181543foundationcontested
GolcondaJamsheed Quli Qutb Shah15431550usurpationcontested
GolcondaSubhan Quli Qutb Shah15501550minorityattested
GolcondaIbrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali15501580depositionattested
GolcondaMuhammad Quli Qutb Shah15801626electioncontested
GolcondaAbdullah Qutb Shah16261672minorityattested
GolcondaAbul Hasan Qutb Shah (Tana Shah)16721687installationcontested
GolcondaMuhammad Qutb Shah16121626not recordedgap
BijapurYusuf Adil Shah14901510foundationattested
BijapurIsmail Adil Shah15101534minorityattested
BijapurMallu Adil Shah15341534designationattested
BijapurIbrahim Adil Shah I15341558depositionattested
BijapurAli Adil Shah I15581580electioncontested
BijapurIbrahim Adil Shah II15801627minoritycontested
BijapurMuhammad Adil Shah16271656designationattested
BijapurAli Adil Shah II16561672installationcontested
BijapurSikandar Adil Shah16721686minorityattested
AhmadnagarMalik Ahmad Nizam Shah I14901510foundationcontested
AhmadnagarBurhan Nizam Shah I15101553minorityattested
AhmadnagarHusain Nizam Shah I15531565inheritancecontested
AhmadnagarMurtaza Nizam Shah I15651588minorityattested
AhmadnagarMiran Husain Nizam Shah15881589usurpationattested
AhmadnagarIsmail Nizam Shah15891591installationattested
AhmadnagarBurhan Nizam Shah II15911595depositioncontested
AhmadnagarIbrahim Nizam Shah15951595inheritanceattested
AhmadnagarAhmad Nizam Shah II, son of Shah Tahir15951596installationcontested
AhmadnagarBahadur Nizam Shah15961600minoritycontested
AhmadnagarMurtaza Nizam Shah II16001632installationattested
AhmadnagarHusain Nizam Shah III16321633installationcontested
AhmadnagarMurtaza Nizam Shah III16331636installationcontested
AhmadnagarBurhan Nizam Shah III16101631not recordedgap
marriagea daughter → The Mughal Empire1562amber-kachhwaha → mughal-empirecontested
marriageBeeby Jumally → Qutb Shahi Dynasty1564nizam-shahi → qutb-shahiattested
marriageMullika Jehan → Adil Shahi Dynasty1586qutb-shahi → adil-shahiattested
marriagea daughter → The Mughal Empire1604adil-shahi → mughal-empireattested

2 accessions are drawn as broken segments because no page read states how they happened.