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I
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With the Indian gem came a Hindu curse that said: "He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God or a woman can wear it with impunity." Its 700-year history has seen violence, treachery, betrayal, deceit, fratricide and appalling cruelty.
BRYSON BURKE
Home
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Site
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Minerals Index
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Kimberley Process
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of Kimberlites
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I
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When, in the 16th century, the stone fell into the hands of Emperor Babur, the Great Mogul, its original 188-carat weight made it unique. Babur said it was "worth the value of one day's food for all the people in the world". But his son was the first to feel the curse when he was driven into exile.
It took many more years before the stone struck again with real virulence. As the later Mogul emperor Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, grew old his sons began to fight to succeed him. The victor imprisoned his father in the fort at Agra, where he stayed until he died.
The Moguls were conquered in 1736 by the Persians and Nadir Shah, a great Asian conqueror, who then sacked the wealthy Mogul capital, Delhi. But as Nadir Shah prepared to return home, he realised the diamond was missing from his loot.
He was soon tipped off by one of his enemy's harem, who said the emperor always hid it in his turban. So, using an old war custom, Nadir Shah offered his own turban in exchange for the emperor's. The vanquished ruler could not refuse. As Nadir Shah unwound it, the glittering object clattered to the floor. Holding it to the sun, he exclaimed, "Koh-i-Noor!", Persian for "Mountain of Light".
From then on, this was the diamond's name. Over the next eight years, Nadir Shah became one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty tyrants of all time. Then, finally, the curse struck, and he was murdered in his sleep.
His successor, Adil, who inherited both the diamond and its curse, came to an equally miserable end at the hands of his brother, who dethroned and blinded him. In turn, he was himself dethroned and blinded. (Blinding was used to render an enemy powerless and make him a burden on his community.)
Throughout Persia, tales of horror, torture, blindings and dethroning continued over several generations as each successor to the throne was killed.
Finally, two claimants, who had fled with the diamond to the Punjab, in what was then British India, gave it to the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh, in return for sanctuary. Singh loved it so much that he had it set in his horse's bridle, so he could admire it while riding.
Known as the Lion of Lahore, Ranjit Singh was a powerful ruler. But anarchy broke out after his death, culminating in the first Sikh War, in the 1840s. At its end, only one claimant to the throne remained, a nine-year-old prince called Duleep Singh.
Meanwhile, the British made a treaty with the Sikhs, setting up a council of regency and acknowledging Prince Duleep Singh as maharaja and nominal head of state. But when the Sikh army rebelled, the governor-general annexed the Punjab and deposed Duleep Singh, who was made a Crown ward.
At the same time, the governor-general appropriated the diamond for Queen Victoria and had it smuggled into Britain, where it was to be the star attraction at the Great Exhibition of 1851. But the public was disappointed. Accustomed to the brilliance of gems cut in Europe, they felt the Koh-i-Noor did not sparkle enough. So a year later it was recut by Garrards, the crown jewellers.
The diamond gained immeasurably in brilliance but lost more than 40pc of its bulk, to become 108.8 carats, its present size. The following year it was mounted in a tiara for Queen Victoria. Back in India, Duleep Singh had been placed in the care of a Scottish tutor who taught him English. His hair was cut (forbidden to Sikhs) and, at the age of 13, he converted to Christianity.
In 1854, at the age of 19 and now strikingly handsome, Duleep was brought to England, where he was given an annual pension of £50,000 and a country house.
One day, while he was having his portrait painted, Queen Victoria came in with the Koh-i-Noor diamond in her hand. Anxious to find out how he would feel if he saw it again, she asked his tutor's wife to question him.
Duleep said: "I should like to have the power to place it in her hand now that I am a man. I was only a child when I surrendered it to her by treaty. But now I am old enough to understand."
Victoria slipped the great stone into his hands. For 15 minutes, while the court held its breath, he examined it excitedly. Then he handed it back, saying: "It is to me, ma'am, the greatest pleasure thus to have the opportunity, as a loyal subject, of myself tendering to my sovereign the Koh-i-Noor."
Duleep at first enjoyed a life of privilege, going from one country-house party to another as a member of the Prince of Wales's rakish set. But even he could not escape the curse of the Koh-i-Noor. He died in Paris in 1893, broken and impoverished, his kingdom of the Punjab having been annexed by the British Raj.
Anne de Courcy(edited
slightly)
