According to the description of "Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht" of Ardashir's court, the latter's name is mentioned as the king of kings (shahanshah) along with four "shahs", who were the rulers of Nishapur, Marw, Kerman and Sakastan. There were also the three kingdoms Makran, Turgistan and Kushanshahr that had submitted to Ardashir's command and paid him taxes. Those local shahs were partly semi-dependent from the central government and the successions were inherited for them. However at the periods of the succeeding Sasanian shahanshahs, the independences of some of them were taken; for example at the time of Shapur I, the independences of Merv and Nishapur were taken and Sakastan became a province (city) and was granted to liegeman Narseh, son of Shapur. This shows an increasing inclination towards the centralization of power since the early Sasanian era.