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History of India
Koh-i-Nur – 2
A Diamond's Incredible Journey
The Curse of Koh-i-Nur
The Koh-i-Nur stayed in Delhi for another one hundred years until Nadir
Shah of Persia, after plundering Delhi, carried the diamond back to Persia
in 1739. He
had heard of the priceless stone and come particularly in search of it in
Delhi. His initial attempts to find the stone were not successful. A
woman in the then Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah’s harem betrayed the
Emperor, and
informed Nadir Shah that the Emperor hid the diamond in his turban. So
the shrewd Nadir Shah had to resort to a clever trick. He ordered a grand
feast to coincide with the restoration of Mohammed Shah to his throne
(which itself was an insult to the Mughal Empire of erstwhile fame and
glory). During the course of the ceremony, Nadir Shah suddenly proposed an
exchange of turbans, a well-known oriental custom signifying the creation
of brotherly ties, sincerity and eternal friendship. Mohammed Shah was
taken aback but at the same time was hardly in a position to resist
such a request. With as much grace as he could summon, he accepted.
Eventually when Nadir Shah went to his private apartment for the
night, and unfolded the turban to find the diamond concealed within. He
then exclaimed "Koh-i-Nur", meaning
"Mountain of Light". The most famous diamond in history now had a name.
Later the diamond
was in the possession of Shah Rukh, one of the grandsons of Nadir Shah.
Shah Rukh had suffered immeasurably and was even blinded by his foes, but
refused to part with the Koh-i-Nur. After he was dethroned and blinded,
he was allowed to live as the Governor of a province in Persia, but
tenaciously held on to the precious diamond.
A wily warrior Aga Muhammad by name had a penchant for diamonds and was
determined to take it away from Shah Rukh. He crafted a quiet coup on the
city and held Shah Rukh’s feet to fire (literally), and demanded that he
part with the Koh-i-Nur. Shah Rukh refused and suffered more inhuman
torture which he endured. Finally he made alliance with Ahmad Shah Abdali,
an Afghani ruler, who helped in his dire plight in 1751. (The
infamous Ahmad Shah Abdali had followed in the footsteps of Nadir Shah and
attacked Delhi repeatedly in order to fill his coffers in 1756 and againg
in 1760). After Shah Rukh’s death, Abdali took the diamond and it stayed in Afghanistan for the
next three generations. From Abdali it passed on to his son Timur Shah
(who moved the capital from Khandahar to Kabul). Timur was a weak ruler
but quite potent in other ways, as he left behind 23 sons to contend for
the throne. Upon the death of Timur Shah in 1793, Koh-i-Nur was
inherited by his eldest son Shah Zaman. A fraternal dispute developed
between Shah Zaman and his brother Shah Shuja and the former lost his
eyesight as well as the Koh-i-Nur in the ensuing power struggle.
There is an interesting story of the diamond in Shah Zaman’s possession.
The Shah, who had been blinded by his brother Shah Mahmud, had hidden the
diamond in the wall of his prison cell. A guard accidentally brushed
his hand against the chipped plaster and discovered the diamond. Thus
another brother Shah Shuja, who now was ruling Afghanistan came to possess
the diamond. Shah Shuja wore it proudly on his breast and the British
envoy Elphinstone (of Bombay) saw the diamond and mentioned it to his
colleagues. (After this the British never lost sight of the diamond, as
will be seen later in the story).
In any case, Koh-i-Nur did not bestow good fortune on the family of
Persians and Afghans who had plundered Delhi. It only
brought misfortune and misery to the grandson of Nadir Shah, in his tenacious
clinging on to the rock, despite being blinded and tortured. It did not
fare well with the Afghan family of Abdali either. His grandson Shah
Zaman had been blinded by his own brother and incarcerated, but still
refused to part with the diamond. Shah Shuja himself was later overthrown
and forced to seek shelter in India, under Raja Ranjit Singh.
Back to India - A Short Stay
Shah Shuja was evicted and sought shelter in Lahore and was held under the
protection of Raja Ranjit Singh, the lion of Punjab. Ruling from
Lahore, Ranjit Singh had carved himself an empire that included entire
Punjab as well as Kashmir. Ranjit Singh was obsessed with acquiring
the diamond. Through starvation and torture as well craftiness he
succeeded in getting his information from the Zenana (harem where nothing
remained secret for too long). He was able to make a deal with Shah
Shuja. He offered protection and support so that Shah Shuja could
regain his throne in Afghanistan but the diamond shone brightly on Ranjit
Singh’s bracelet. Once again the diamond had been used as a
bartering tool to buy protection.
After the death of Raja Ranjit Singh, his kingdom languished with internal
strife and inept administration. When crafty Dalhousie came to India as
the Governor-general in 1848, his sole aim was to annex as much land as
possible. After the mutiny in Punjab, the British had used it as a
pretext to dispose of its raja, and annex all of Punjab and Kashmir. The
Koh-i-Nur remained in Lahore Treasury guarded by British officers. An
annexation document was promptly produced by Dalhousie and Punjab came
under British control after the Treaty of Lahore.
The terms of the Treaty of Lahore also included the surrender of a gem called Koh-i-Nur
to the Queen of England. Administration of Punjab had fallen into the
hands of John Lawrence, who misplaced the diamond, only to be discovered
by a valet. Sir John Lawrence had set aside his coat with the diamond in
a small box and forgotten about it. When Dalhousie demanded that Lawrence
send the diamond to him, he suddenly remembered about the gem and asked
his valet if he had seen the box. The valet brought the box and Sir
Lawrence asked him to open it. The valet opened the box and found a “bit
of glass’ in it and was least impressed by it. Dalhousie, the
Governor-general took great interest in the diamond, and personally
transported it from Lahore to Bombay. He never let it out of his sight,
day or night. He is said to have sewn it into his belt, and then tied the
end of the belt to a chain around his neck. The diamond that Elphinstone
had laid eyes on more than fifty years ago, was now firmly in the
possession of the British.
The diamond was placed in an iron box and shipped to England on aboard HMS
Madea. The ship did not have a smooth sailing. In Madagascar, the crew
contracted Cholera and the locals demanded that the ship leave port
immediately or it would be set ablaze. Even the ship’s captain had been kept
in the dark about his precious cargo. Then the ship was hit with a gale
that it barely managed to survive. Finally the ship reached Plymouth,
England and the two officers who were in charge of delivering the diamond
to Her Majesty, quickly disembarked and took the iron box over to the East
India House and handed over to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the
Company.
Dalhousie tried
to calm fears among the British and attempted to dispel the myth that
Koh-i-Nur brought misfortune to its owners. In a letter dated September
1, 1850 he wrote: "I received your letter of 16th July yesterday. The
several sad or foul events in England on which it touches have been
mentioned by me heretofore, and they are too sad to refer to you. You add
that you knew this mishaps lie at my door, as I have sent Koh-i-Nr which
always brings misfortune to its possessor. Whoever was the exquisite
person from whom you heard this...he was rather lame both on his history
and tradition...As for tradition, when Shah Shoojah [Shuja], from whom it
was taken, was afterwards asked by Runjeat's [Ranjit Singh's] desire,
'What was the value of Koh-i-Nur?' he replied, 'Its value is Good Fortune,
for whoever possesses it has been superior to all his enemies.' I sent
the Queen a narrative of this conversation with Shah Shoojah, taken from
the mouth of the messenger."
The Crown Jewel
An aerial view
of the Crystal Palace, built for the 1851 exhibition. The building was
1848 feet long, 408 feet wide and 108 feet tall at its highest point.
It burned down in 1939. |
The Koh-i-Nur
was presented to Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace by the Deputy
Chairman of the East India Company. A stone faced Queen Victoria received
the diamond nonchalantly on June 3, 1850. The public got its first chance
to see the diamond in the Great Exhibition held in Hyde Park. It was the
star attraction of the Exhibition. However, the Koh-i-Nur could not be
well exhibited as the light was inadequate and the cut of the diamond was
thought to be imperfect.
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Prince Albert,
the Queen’s cousin and husband took keen interest in the diamond. It had
been crudely cut by the Indian cutters centuries ago and did not show the
luster properly. This disappointed Prince Albert immensely. Experts from
Amsterdam were brought in for consultation and finally a design was chosen
to re-cut the Koh-i-Nur and placed on the mill in July 1852. Before being
re-cut the diamond was valued at 140,000 pounds. 8000 pounds had been
spent to re-cut it. However in terms of its history and colorful legacy, the Koh-i-Nur will ever remain priceless.
Mr. Voorsanger,
a Dutch national, cut the stone and reshaped it in thirty eight days,
working twelve hours a day. The diamond shone brighter but lost another
eighty carats and reduced to 106 carats, much to the dissatisfaction of
the Prince Albert.
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There were other criticisms
about the design and the waste that the diamond suffered in its new
form. Koh-i-Nur was an oval, flat stone and was not conducive to be
re-cut with the design chosen without enormous waste and loss of
precious carats. Moreover it had several faults that made re-cutting
treacherous in respect to its size and weight. Prince Albert had been
warned about this well in advance by many experts.
The Koh-i-Nur is kept in Windsor Castle, out of view of the Queen’s
subjects. A model is kept in the Tower of London museum to satisfy
the curiosity of people who are interested in the legendary stone,
only to remind us of its sanguinity, romance as well as the misery and
misfortunes it bestowed upon its royal owners. |
A drawing of the Koh-i-Nur's facet
pattern. This cut is called a 'stellar brilliant' because of the extra
facets on the stone's pavilion. The actual diamond's facet layout is
somewhat less symmetrical than this drawing.
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Myth and Controversy
The Koh-i-Nur has wrought misery to many of its owners, especially the
ones who plundered Delhi and took it back to Persia and Afghanistan. It
has also been used as a tool to entice alliances and support. The
prediction that it would either bestow rulership of the world or miserable
death to its owners was not entirely a myth.
Diamonds have been relegated almost divine status in India from
centuries. They fare prominently in many mythological stories. A stone
such as Koh-i-Nur could easily be an object of worship. Legend has it
that the stone was first recovered from the beds of River Godavari by
Karna, the legendary warrior in Mahabharata. He had worn this diamond as
a talisman.
But the journey of Koh-i-Nur is more or less documented after Humayun was
‘gifted’ it by the fugitive family of Vikramaditya of Gwalior in Agra.
Its final resting place seems to is in the Windsor Castle, as a priceless
crown jewel. It was acquired by the British monarchy during the apogee of
the British Empire. However, the sun has set over the British Empire and
there is no guarantee that the Koh-i-Nur will never again embark on
another journey.
The story of Koh-i-Nur is not devoid of controversies. How many of the
stories and anecdotes are true and how many are fiction? There is no
agreement that the diamond Humayun acquired from the raja of Gwalior’s
family that Babur mentioned in his memoir is the same diamond as the one
Nadir Shah called Koh-i-Nur. ‘Babur’s diamond,’ as it was called before
Nadir Shah laid his eyes on it, may be a different diamond all together.
If the diamond that Babur wrote about belonged to Ala-ud-din Khilji, how
did the rajas of Gwalior come to possess it? Was it restored to the rajas
by the Sultan Khilji after a peace treaty? This is an unlikely occurrence
because of the well known reputation and disposition of the Sultan.
How and when did Aurangzeb get the diamond back from the Sultan of
Golconda? Aurangzeb had attacked Hyderabad with the help of Mir Jumla in
1656. That was only two years before he incarcerated his father and
proclaimed himself as the Emperor. Was the diamond that Mir Jumla gave
Aurangzeb the famed Koh-i-Nur? Or did Mir Jumla give it directly to Shah
Jahan in an attempt to convince him to attack Golconda? Did the wily Mir
Jumla give two diamonds, one each to father and son? Was the diamond that
Aurangzeb had cut by a Venetian lapidary, a different diamond than
Koh-i-Nur? Another diamond that was called ‘the Mogul’ has now
disappeared and its whereabouts unknown.
Were the Mogul, Babur’s diamond and the Koh-i-Nur one and the same?
Koh-i-Nur and Babur’s diamond have been described by various observers.
Their weights and cut seem to be the same.
Just over a century later we are in a better position to evaluate some of
the famous diamonds of history. We now have details of the treasures
amassed by the Czars, Shahs and other monarchs. We know for sure that
there are three diamonds in existence, which have a direct bearing upon
the questions raised concerning the identity of the Great Mogul, Koh-i-Nur
and Babur's diamond. They are the Orlov, weighing 189.62 metric carats,
now in the Kremlin; the Darya-i-Nur with an estimated weight of between
175 and 195 metric carats and presumed to still be among the Iranian Crown
Jewels; and the Koh-i-Nur, whose former weight before it was re-cut, was
186 carats, equivalent to 190.3 metric carats.
Regarding identifying truly historic diamonds with gems that we know exist
today, the suggestion that Koh-i-Nur and the Great Mogul once formed parts
of the same stone is impossible: the Koh-i-Nur is a white diamond where as
the Orlov - if we assume it to be the Great Mogul (which it most likely
is) - possesses a slight bluish-green tint. So, the Daryai-i-Nur has been
identified for sure as the largest fragment of the Great Table Diamond; a
very strong case exists for identifying the Orlov as being cut from the
280-carat Great Mogul; and a less-strong, but nevertheless valid case can
be made for identifying the Koh-i-Nur as Babur's diamond.
These questions probably will never be answered fully to a researcher’s
satisfaction. There are not enough historical records available to answer
them. But in the interim, the glory and the myths of Koh-i-Nur lives on
and has been recognized as one of the world’s greatest diamonds
Koh-i-Nur’s 700 Year Journey
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In 1304, Ala-ud-din
Khilji came to possess the diamond, presumably presented to him by the
Deccan king.
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The diamond
came into the hands of the raja of Gwalior from unknown sources.
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In 1526,
Humayun was ‘gifted’ the diamond in Agra by the family of Vikramaditya,
raja of Gwalior.
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Humayun offered
the diamond to his father Babur, who promptly gave it back to Humayun.
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In 1540 Humayun
lost his empire and fled to Persia with the diamond.
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Humayun
presented Koh-i-Nur to the Persian ruler Shah Tamasp in exchange for
support in regaining his empire.
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Shah Tamasp
gifted the diamond to the Sultan of Golconda – date unknown.
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Mir Jumla, a
Persian adventurer in Hyderabad gave the diamond to Aurangzeb, when he was
the governor of Deccan.
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Aurangzeb gave
the diamond to his father, Shah Jahan that became one of his priceless
possessions. (circa 1630’s)
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Nadir Shah of
Persia invaded Delhi and stole the Koh-i-Nur (and the Peacock Throne), and
transported it to Tehran c.1739.
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Nadir Shah’s
blind grandson, Shah Rukh gave the diamond to Ahmad Shah Abdali (circa
1751).
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Shah Shuja,
Abdali’s grandson gave the diamond to Raja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, in
exchange for protection (circa 1813).
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As part of the
Treaty of Lahore, Dalhousie took possession of Koh-i-Nur in 1849 and
presented it to Queen Victoria in 1850.
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The diamond was
re-cut under the directions of Prince Albert and now resides out of sight
in Windsor Castle.
–
Neria Harish Hebbar, MD
June 5, 2005
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References
India, A Brief History: John Keay
A New History of India: Stanley Wolpert
A Brief History of India: Alain Danielou
Internet sources
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