The measure of the decline
The archive’s essay on the 1686 fall carries Bhimsen’s figures: “where Sultan Muhammad had commanded 120,000 horsemen and Ali II some 80,000”, the garrison at the end did not exceed two thousand. His own accession in 1656 is not yet a record in the Great Houses — no page has been opened that says how it happened — and the surface marks the gap rather than filling it.
He died on 24 November 1672, leaving Sikandar, “at four or five years of age”, to fourteen years of other men’s regencies.