Koh-i-Noor

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This article is about a diamond. For the writing instrument manufacturer, see Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth.
"Kohinoor" redirects here. For other uses, see Kohinoor (disambiguation).
Koh-i-Noor

Glass replica of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond after its first cut. From the Reich der Kristalle museum in Munich.
Weight 186 1⁄16 carats (37.21 g)
Colour finest white
Country of origin India
Mine of origin [vinukonda,Guntur,Andhra Pradesh]
Cut by Hortenso Borgia
Current owner Part of the British Crown Jewels

The Koh-i-Noor, (Persian: کوه نور‎, Telugu: కోహినూర్, Urdu: کوہینور‎ Hindi कोहिनूर, Bengali কোহিনূর, pronounced [koh iː nuːɾ], "Mountain of Light"; also written Kuh-e Nur, Koh-i-Nur), was originally 793 carats when uncut,[2] is now a 105.6 metric carats diamond, weighing 21.6 grammes in the most recent cut state, and once the largest known diamond. The Koh-i-Noor is believed to have originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India together with its double, the Darya-ye Noor (the "Sea of Light"). The diamond has belonged to many dynasties, including Kakatiyas[citation needed], Rajputs, Mughal, Afsharid, Durrani Empires, Sikh and British. It was seized as a spoil of war time and time again.[3]

In 1850, the diamond was confiscated from the Sikh Empire by the British East India Company and became part of the British Crown Jewels when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877. The diamond was traditionally known as "Kuh-e nur" in the 19th century after the British conquest of India. The diamond is currently set into the Crown of Queen Elizabeth and is on display at the Tower of London.

History

Tavernier's illustration of the Koh-I-Noor under different angles

Legend has it that the diamond originally came from a mine near the temple-town of Kollur, in the present-day Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India.[4][5]

The first confirmed historical mention of the Koh-i-Noor by an identifiable name dates from 1526. Babur mentions in his memoirs, the Babur-Nāmah, that the stone had belonged to an unnamed Afghan emperor who was compelled to yield his prized possession in 1294 to 'Alā'uddīn Khiljī. It was then owned by the Tughlaq Dynasty and Lodī Dynasty, and finally came into the possession of Bābur himself in 1526. He called the stone 'the Diamond of Bābur' at the time, although it had been called by other names before he seized it from Ibrāhīm Lodī.

When the Tughlaq dynasty replaced the Khiljī dynasty in 1320 AD, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Tughluq sent his commander Ulūgh Khān in 1323 to defeat the Kākatīya king Prātaparuḑra. Ulūgh Khān's raid was repulsed but he returned in a month with a larger and determined army. The unprepared army of Kakātīya was defeated this time and the diamond was seized by the champion army of the Delhi Sultanate.[6][7]

Both Bābur and Humāyūn mention in their memoirs the origins of 'the Diamond of Bābur'. The last of the Tomaras, Man Singh Tomar, negotiated peace with Sikandar Lodī, Sultan of Delhi and became a vassal of the Delhi Sultanate.

A 1757 miniature of Emir Ahmad Shāh Durrānī, in which the Koh-i-Noor diamond is seen hanging on the front of his crown, above his forehead.

Humāyūn had much bad luck throughout his life. Sher Shāh Sūrī, who defeated Humāyūn, died in the flames of a burst cannon. Humāyūn's son, Akbar, never kept the diamond with him and later only Shāh Jahān took it out of his treasury. Akbar's grandson, Shāh Jahān was overthrown by his own son, Aurangzēb.

Shah Jahan, famous for building the Taj Mahal in Agra, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. His son, Aurangazēb, imprisoned his ailing father at nearby Agra Fort. While in the possession of Aurangazēb, it was cut by Hortenso Borgia, a Venetian lapidary, who was so clumsy that he reduced the weight of the stone to 186 carats.[8] Legend has it that he had the Koh-i-Noor positioned near a window so that Shāh Jahān could see the Tāj Mahal only by looking at its reflection in the stone. Aurangazēb later brought it to his capital Lahore and placed it in his own personal Bādshāhī Mosque. There it stayed until the invasion of Nādir Shāh of Iran in 1739 and the sacking of Agra and Delhi. Along with the Peacock Throne, he also carried off the Koh-i-Noor to Persia in 1739. It was allegedly Nādir Shāh who exclaimed Koh-i-Noor! when he finally managed to obtain the famous stone,[3] and this is how the stone gained its present name. There is no reference to this name before 1739.

The valuation of the Koh-i-Noor is given in the legend that one of Nādir Shāh's consorts supposedly said, "If a strong man should take five stones, and throw one north, one south, one east, and one west, and the last straight up into the air, and the space between filled with gold and gems, that would equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor."

After the assassination of Nādir Shāh in 1747, the stone came into the hands of his general, Ahmad Shāh Durrānī of Afghanistan. In 1830, Shujāh Shāh Durrānī, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, managed to flee with the diamond. He went to Lahore where Ranjīt Singh forced him to surrender it;[1] in return for this, Ranjīt Singh won back the Afghan throne for Shah Shujā'.

Taken from India to England

Ranjīt Singh was crowned ruler of the Punjab region. However, after his death in 1839 the British administrators did not execute his will.[9] On 29 March 1849, the British raised their flag on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally proclaimed part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Treaty of Lahore, the legal agreement formalising this occupation, was as follows:

The gem called the Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk by Maharajah Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England.
A lithograph by Emily Eden showing one of the favourite horses of Maharaja Ranjit Singh with the head officer of his stables and his collection of jewels, including the Koh-i-Noor that he extorted from Afghan Emir Shuja Shah Durrani.[1]

The Governor-General in charge of the ratification for this treaty was Lord Dalhousie. He more than anyone, was responsible for the British acquiring the Koh-i-Noor, in which he continued to show great interest for the rest of his life. Dalhousie's work in India was primarily aimed at appropriation of Indian assets for the use of the British East India Company. His acquisition of the diamond, amongst many other things, was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some suggested that the diamond should have been presented as a gift to the Queen, it is clear that Dalhousie felt strongly that the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly. Writing to his friend Sir George Cooper in August 1849, he stated:

The Court [of the East India Company] you say, are ruffled by my having caused the Maharajah to cede to the Queen the Koh-i-noor; while the 'Daily News' and my Lord Ellenborough [Governor-General of India, 1841-44] are indignant because I did not confiscate everything to her Majesty... [My] motive was simply this: that it was more for the honour of the Queen that the Koh-i-noor should be surrendered directly from the hand of the conquered prince into the hands of the sovereign who was his conqueror, than it should be presented to her as a gift—which is always a favour—by any joint-stock company among her subjects. So the Court ought to feel.[10]

Dalhousie arranged that the diamond be presented by Maharaja Ranjīt Singh's young successor, Dulīp Singh, to Queen Victoria in 1850. Dulīp Singh was the youngest son of Ranjīt Singh and his fifth wife Maharani Jind Kaur. Dulīp, aged 13, travelled to the United Kingdom to present the jewel. The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor and the Timur ruby to Queen Victoria was the latest in the long history of transfers of the stones as a spoil of war. Dulīp Singh had been placed in the guardianship of Dr Login, a surgeon in the British Army serving in West Bengal, East India. Dr Login, his wife Lena and the young Dulīp Singh travelled to England for the ceremony.

In due course the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, the Royal Fort at Lahore, with the Royal Treasury, which Login valued at almost £1,000,000 (£87.8 million as of 2014),[ 1] excluding the Koh-i-Noor, on 6 April 1848, under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of the members of the Board of Administration —the local resident H.M. Lawrence, C.C. Mansel, John Lawrence, younger brother of H.M. Lawrence, and of Sir Henry Elliot, Secretary to the Government of India. On 1 February 1850, the jewel was sealed in a small iron safe, which was also enclosed in a red despatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury while awaiting for a steamer ship to arrive from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay in conjunction with Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under strict security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the despatch box into a larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April 1850 on board the paddle sloop HMS Medea, captained by Captain Lockyer.

The ship had a difficult voyage — an outbreak of cholera on board when the ship was in Mauritius had the locals demanding its departure and they asked their governor to open fire and destroy the vessel if it did not respond. Shortly thereafter the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some twelve hours. Legend in the Lawrence family has it that during the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and it was returned promptly by the steward who found it.

On arrival in Britain on 29 June 1850, the passengers and mail were unloaded in Plymouth, but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reached Spithead, near Portsmouth, on 1 July 1850. On the morning of 2 July 1850, Ramsay and Mackeson in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary of the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train to East India House in the City of London and passed the diamond into the care of the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the British East India Company. The handing over of the Koh-i- Noor diamond to the Queen on 3 July 1850[11] as part of the terms of the conclusion of the Sikh War also coincided with the 250th anniversary of the Company. Dr Login received a knighthood in 1854 from Queen Victoria and was known as Sir John Spencer Login (he had added the 'r' to his middle name to change it from Spence to Spencer). The diamond is now set into the crown worn by the female consort to the Monarch of the United Kingdom, and is currently on display in the Tower of London.

The Great Exhibition

The Koh-i-Noor in its original setting (1851)

The British public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when the Great Exhibition was staged in Hyde Park, London in 1851. The correspondent of The Times reported:

The Koh-i-Noor is at present decidedly the lion of the Exhibition. A mysterious interest appears to be attached to it, and now that so many precautions have been resorted to, and so much difficulty attends its inspection, the crowd is enormously enhanced, and the policemen at either end of the covered entrance have much trouble in restraining the struggling and impatient multitude. For some hours yesterday there were never less than a couple of hundred persons waiting their turn of admission, and yet, after all, the diamond does not satisfy. Either from the imperfect cutting or the difficulty of placing the lights advantageously, or the immovability of the stone itself, which should be made to revolve on its axis, few catch any of the brilliant rays it reflects when viewed at a particular angle.

The diamond was redisplayed in a shadowed case, designed so the sunlight would catch it better. However, the public were not taken by its brilliance even then, and the diamond was recut in 1852, the year after the exhibition.[12] The Koh-i-Noor here made up part of the larger India Museum collection, but was displayed separately from the industrial and natural history exhibits of the collection.

The Crown Jewels

Main article: Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom
Queen Alexandra wearing the Koh-i-Noor in her coronation crown
Copy of the new cut of the Koh-i-Noor

Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon. After consulting Sir David Brewster it was determined by the Prince Consort, with the consent of the Government, to polish the "Mountain of Light". Mozes Coster, one of the largest and famous Dutch diamond merchants was employed for the task, and he sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Herr Voorsanger and his assistants. On 6 July 1852, the cutting began, using a steam powered mill especially built for the job.[13] Under the personal supervision of Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, and the technical direction of James Tennant the cutting took 38 days of 12 hours each. The diamond was cut from 186 1/16 carats (37.21 g) to its current 105.602 carats (21.61 g) to increase its brilliance. Prince Albert consulted widely, took enormous pains, and spent some £8,000 on the operation, which reduced the weight of the stone by a huge 42 percent—but nevertheless Albert was dissatisfied with the result. The stone was then mounted in a brooch which Queen Victoria often wore. It was kept at Windsor Castle rather than with the rest of the crown jewels at the Tower of London.[14]

After Queen Victoria's death it was set in Queen Alexandra's brand-new diamond crown, with which she was crowned at the coronation of her husband, King Edward VII. Queen Alexandra was the first Queen Consort to use the diamond in her crown, followed by Queen Mary and then Queen Elizabeth, the Consort of King George VI.

Present claims to ownership of the Koh-i-Noor

India has claimed the diamond and has said that the Koh-i-Noor was taken away illegally and that it should be given back to India.[9] When Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence in 1997, many Indians in India and Britain demanded the return of the diamond. On 21 February 2013, while visiting India, David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, stated that it would be illogical to return the diamond.[15]

See also

  • Darya-ye Noor Diamond (Sea of Light)
  • Nur-Ul-Ain Diamond (The light of the eye)
  • List of famous diamonds

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Koh-i-noor". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  2. ↑ "Fascinating History of World's Best Diamonds.". Northern Star (Lismore, NSW : 1876 - 1954) (Lismore, NSW: National Library of Australia). 30 May 1953. p. 6. Retrieved 31 August 2013. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Iradj Amini, ed. (July 20, 2002). "KOH-I-NOOR". United States: Encyclopædia Iranica - Online Version. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  4. ↑ "Large And Famous Diamonds". Minelinks.com. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
  5. ↑ Deccan Heritage, H. K. Gupta, A. Parasher and D. Balasubramanian, Indian National Science Academy, 2000, p. 144, Orient Blackswan, ISBN 81-7371-285-9
  6. ↑ Pakistan Before Europe, C.E.B. Asher and C. Talbot, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-521-80904-5, p. 40
  7. ↑ A History of Pakistan, Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, Edition: 3, Routledge, 1998, p. 160; ISBN 0-415-15482-0
  8. ↑ "Tortuous Journeys Of Indian "Stones Of Destiny".". The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) (Perth, WA: National Library of Australia). 15 May 1953. p. 3. Retrieved 31 August 2013. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/727231. "Indian MPs demand Kohinoor's return"]. BBC News. 2000-04-26. Retrieved 2009-08-10. 
  10. ↑ Balfour, Ian. Famous Diamonds. 1987, page 24.
  11. ↑ History of Koh-I-Noor, Darya-I-Noor and Taimur's Ruby. Atlantic Publishers and Distributors. p. 68. ISBN 978-8171560875. 
  12. ↑ "Kohinoor Diamond". hardasrocks.info. 2012. Retrieved 2013-07-27. 
  13. ↑ "India's Tragic Gem.". Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954) (Perth, WA: National Library of Australia). 4 May 1947. p. 1 Supplement: SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUNDAY TIMES. Retrieved 5 September 2013. 
  14. ↑ Dunton, Larkin (1896). The World and Its People. Silver, Burdett. p. 27. 
  15. ↑ Nelson, Sara C. (21 February 2013). "Koh-i-Noor Diamond Will Not Be Returned To India, David Cameron Insists". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2013-07-27. 

Prasad G (1988). History of the Andhras up to 1565. P. G. Publishers, Guntur.

Sources

Tavernier: Travels in India II ] (Koh-i-Noor?) http://www.farlang.com/diamonds/tavernier-travels-india-2/page_068

and

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