The Great Houses · Bengal, standing up · 43 reigns, 0 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.135014001450150015501600165017001750BengalFakhruddin Mubarak Shah · 1338–1338 · usurpationFakhruddin Mubarak ShahAla-ud-din Ali Shah · 1338–1342 · usurpationAla-ud-din Ali ShahShams-ud-din Ilyas Shah · 1342–1358 · usurpation · contestedShams-ud-din Ilyas ShahSikandar Shah · 1358–1367 · inheritanceSikandar ShahGhiyas-ud-din (Bengal) · 1367–1374 · inheritanceGhiyas-ud-din (Bengal)Sultan-us-Salatin (Bengal) · 1374–1374 · inheritanceSultan-us-Salatin (Bengal)Saifuddin Hamza Shah · 1374–1383 · inheritance · contestedSaifuddin Hamza ShahShams-ud-din II (Bengal) · 1383–1384 · inheritanceShams-ud-din II (Bengal)Shihabuddin Bayazid Shah · 1384–1386 · inheritance · contestedShihabuddin Bayazid ShahRaja Kans · 1386–1392 · usurpationRaja KansJalaluddin Muhammad Shah · 1392–1400 · inheritanceJalaluddin Muhammad ShahAhmad Shah (Bengal) · 1400–1420 · inheritanceAhmad Shah (Bengal)Nasir-ud-din Gholam · 1420–1420 · usurpationNasir-ud-din GholamNasir Shah (Bengal) · 1420–1428 · installationNasir Shah (Bengal)Barbak Shah (Bengal) · 1428–1435 · inheritanceBarbak Shah (Bengal)Yusuf Shah (Bengal) · 1435–1457 · inheritanceYusuf Shah (Bengal)Sikandar Shah II · 1457–1457 · inheritanceSikandar Shah IIJalaluddin Fath Shah · 1457–1480 · depositionJalaluddin Fath ShahSaifuddin Firuz Shah · 1480–1481 · installationSaifuddin Firuz ShahBarbak Shah (Habshi) · 1481–1492 · usurpationBarbak Shah (Habshi)Shamsuddin Muzaffar Shah · 1492–1493 · usurpationShamsuddin Muzaffar ShahNasiruddin Mahmud Shah II · 1493–1496 · inheritance · contestedNasiruddin Mahmud Shah IIAlauddin Husain Shah · 1496–1523 · usurpationAlauddin Husain ShahNasiruddin Nusrat Shah · 1523–1533 · inheritanceNasiruddin Nusrat ShahAlauddin Firuz Shah · 1533–1538 · inheritanceAlauddin Firuz ShahGhiyasuddin Mahmud Shah · 1538–1538 · usurpationGhiyasuddin Mahmud ShahSher Shah Suri · 1538–1544 · usurpationSher Shah SuriBahadur Shah Sur · 1544–1553 · usurpationBahadur Shah SurSulaiman Karrani · 1553–1553 · usurpationSulaiman KarraniMuhammad Khan Sur · 1553–1561 · usurpationMuhammad Khan SurGhiyasuddin (Jallalu-d-din) Jalal Shah · 1561–1564 · inheritanceGhiyasuddin (Jallalu-d-din) Jalal ShahGhiyasuddin (personal name not given by the source), son of Jalal Shah · 1564–1564 · usurpationGhiyasuddin (personal name not given by the source), son of Jalal ShahTaj Khan Karrani · 1564–1573 · usurpationTaj Khan KarraniBayazid Karrani · 1573–1573 · inheritanceBayazid KarraniDaud Khan Karrani · 1573–1584 · inheritanceDaud Khan KarraniBengal — the NawabsMurshid Qulī Khān, Ja'far Khān 'Alā' al-Dawla · 1704–1725 · installationMurshid Qulī Khān, Ja'far Khān 'Alā' al-DawlaShujā' Khān, Shujā' al-Dawla · 1725–1739 · inheritance · contestedShujā' Khān, Shujā' al-DawlaSarfarāz Khān, 'Alā' al-Dawla · 1739–1740 · inheritanceSarfarāz Khān, 'Alā' al-Dawla'Alīwirdī Khān, Mīrzā Muḥammad 'Alī Mahābat Jang Hāshim al-Dawla · 1740–1756 · inheritance · contested'Alīwirdī Khān, Mīrzā Muḥammad 'Alī Mahābat Jang Hāshim al-DawlaMīrzā Maḥmūd, Sirāj al-Dawla · 1756–1757 · inheritance · contestedMīrzā Maḥmūd, Sirāj al-DawlaMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-Dawla · 1757–1760 · installationMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-DawlaMīr Qāsim 'Alī · 1760–1763 · inheritance · contestedMīr Qāsim 'AlīMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-Dawla · 1763–1765 · restorationMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-Dawla
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. 13201780 shown; a reign that runs past the edge is clipped, not shortened.

the disc at each transfer is a field, not a border
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1550

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
BengalFakhruddin Mubarak Shah13381338usurpationattested
BengalAla-ud-din Ali Shah13381342usurpationattested
BengalShams-ud-din Ilyas Shah13421358usurpationcontested
BengalSikandar Shah13581367inheritanceattested
BengalGhiyas-ud-din (Bengal)13671374inheritanceattested
BengalSultan-us-Salatin (Bengal)13741374inheritanceattested
BengalSaifuddin Hamza Shah13741383inheritancecontested
BengalShams-ud-din II (Bengal)13831384inheritanceattested
BengalShihabuddin Bayazid Shah13841386inheritancecontested
BengalRaja Kans13861392usurpationattested
BengalJalaluddin Muhammad Shah13921400inheritanceattested
BengalAhmad Shah (Bengal)14001420inheritanceattested
BengalNasir-ud-din Gholam14201420usurpationattested
BengalNasir Shah (Bengal)14201428installationattested
BengalBarbak Shah (Bengal)14281435inheritanceattested
BengalYusuf Shah (Bengal)14351457inheritanceattested
BengalSikandar Shah II14571457inheritanceattested
BengalJalaluddin Fath Shah14571480depositionattested
BengalSaifuddin Firuz Shah14801481installationattested
BengalBarbak Shah (Habshi)14811492usurpationattested
BengalShamsuddin Muzaffar Shah14921493usurpationattested
BengalNasiruddin Mahmud Shah II14931496inheritancecontested
BengalAlauddin Husain Shah14961523usurpationattested
BengalNasiruddin Nusrat Shah15231533inheritanceattested
BengalAlauddin Firuz Shah15331538inheritanceattested
BengalGhiyasuddin Mahmud Shah15381538usurpationattested
BengalSher Shah Suri15381544usurpationattested
BengalBahadur Shah Sur15441553usurpationattested
BengalSulaiman Karrani15531553usurpationattested
BengalMuhammad Khan Sur15531561usurpationattested
BengalGhiyasuddin (Jallalu-d-din) Jalal Shah15611564inheritanceattested
BengalGhiyasuddin (personal name not given by the source), son of Jalal Shah15641564usurpationattested
BengalTaj Khan Karrani15641573usurpationattested
BengalBayazid Karrani15731573inheritanceattested
BengalDaud Khan Karrani15731584inheritanceattested
Bengal — the NawabsMurshid Qulī Khān, Ja'far Khān 'Alā' al-Dawla17041725installationattested
Bengal — the NawabsShujā' Khān, Shujā' al-Dawla17251739inheritancecontested
Bengal — the NawabsSarfarāz Khān, 'Alā' al-Dawla17391740inheritanceattested
Bengal — the Nawabs'Alīwirdī Khān, Mīrzā Muḥammad 'Alī Mahābat Jang Hāshim al-Dawla17401756inheritancecontested
Bengal — the NawabsMīrzā Maḥmūd, Sirāj al-Dawla17561757inheritancecontested
Bengal — the NawabsMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-Dawla17571760installationattested
Bengal — the NawabsMīr Qāsim 'Alī17601763inheritancecontested
Bengal — the NawabsMīr Ja'far Muḥammad Khān, Hāshim al-Dawla17631765restorationattested

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