Koh-i-Noor

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This article is about a diamond. For the writing instrument manufacturer, see Koh-i-Noor Hardtmuth.

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"Kohinoor" redirects here. For other uses, see Kohinoor (disambiguation).
Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor old version copy.jpg
Glass replica of the diamond after its first cut. At the Reich der Kristalle museum in Munich.
Weight 105.602 carats (21.1204 g)
Colour Finest White
Mine of origin Kollur Mine, Andhra Pradesh, India
Cut by Hortenso Borgia
Original owner Kakatiya dynasty
Owner In the British Crown Jewels, part of the Royal Collection held in trust by Queen Elizabeth II for her successors and the UK.[1]

The Koh-i-Noor (Persian for Mountain of Light; also spelled Koh-i-Nûr and Kooh-è Noor) is a diamond that was found at Kollur Mine, in the present state of Andhra Pradesh in India. It was originally 793 carats (158.6 g) when uncut.[2] Once the largest known diamond, it is now a 105.6 carats (21.12 g) cut diamond. The diamond was originally owned by the Kakatiya dynasty, which had installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.[3] It changed hands between various feuding factions in the region several times over the next few hundred years.[4] In 1852, Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it cut down from 186 carats. Today, the diamond is part of The Queen Mother's Crown, part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.[5]

There is another diamond called Daria-i-Noor (Persian for "Sea of light"; also spelled Darya-ye Noor), one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing an estimated 182 carats (36.4 g). Both diamonds became part of the Iranian Crown Jewels in 1739. They were given to the Emperor Nader Shah of Persia as a tribute, in addition to the Peacock throne.

History

A 1757 miniature of Ahmad Shāh Durrānī, in which the diamond is seen hanging on the front of his crown.

Koh-i-Noor is believed to have been mined in the Kollur Mine in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh in India during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty in the 13th century,[3][6] which installed it in the temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.[3] In the early 14th century, the army of the Turkic Khilji dynasty began raiding kingdoms of southern India for loot (war spoils).[7][8] Malik Kafur, Alauddin Khilji's general, made a successful raid on Warangal in 1310[9] where he might have acquired the Koh-i-noor diamond.[10][11]

The diamond remained in the Khilji dynasty and later passed on to the succeeding dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate, until it came into the possession of Babur, a Turco-Mongol war lord, who invaded India and established the Mughal Empire in 1526. He called the stone 'the Diamond of Bābur' at the time, although it had been called by other names before it came into his possession. Both Babur and his son and successor, Humayun, mention in their memoirs the origins of 'the Diamond of Bābur'.

Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, had the stone placed into his ornate Peacock Throne. His son, Aurangazeb, imprisoned his ailing father at nearby Agra Fort. While in the possession of Aurangazeb, it was cut by Hortenso Borgia, a Venetian lapidary, who was so clumsy that he reduced the weight of the stone to 186 carats.[12] 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.

Acquisition by the Persians

File:Nadir Shah at the sack of Delhi - Battle scene with Nader Shah on horseback, possibly by Muhammad Ali ibn Abd al-Bayg ign Ali Quli Jabbadar, mid-18th century, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.jpg
Nader Shah during the sacking of Delhi in the aftermath of his decisive victory at the Battle of Karnal.

Following the 1739 invasion of Delhi by Nader Shah, the Shah of the Persian Empire, the treasury of the Mughal Empire was looted by his army in an organised and thorough acquisition of the Mughal nobility's wealth.[13] Along with a host of valuable items, including the Daria-i-Noor, as well as the Peacock Throne, the Shah also carried away the Koh-i-Noor. He allegedly exclaimed Koh-i-Noor! when he finally managed to obtain the famous stone,[4] and that is how the stone got its name.

The first valuation of the Koh-i-Noor is given in the legend that one of Nader Shah's consorts apparently 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."

It is estimated that the total worth of the treasures plundered came to 700 million rupees. This was roughly equivalent to £87.5 million sterling at the time,[14] or approximately £NaN in today's money.[15] The riches gained by the Persian Empire from the Indian campaign were so monumental that Nader Shah made a proclamation alleviating all subjects of the Empire from taxes for a total of three years.[16]

After the assassination of Nader Shah in 1747 and the collapse of his empire, the stone came into the hands of one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Durrani, who later became the Emir of Afghanistan. One of Ahmed's descendants, Shuja Shah Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to Peshawar in 1808.[17]

A year later, Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia.[18] He was quickly overthrown by his predecessor, Mahmud Shah, but managed to flee with the diamond. He went to Lahore, where the founder of the Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813.[13]

Acquisition by the British

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.

It new owner, Maharaja Ranjit Singh, willed the diamond to the Hindu temple of Jagannath in Puri, in modern-day Odisha, India.[19] However, after his death in 1839, the East India Company did not execute his will.[20] On 29 March 1849, the British raised their flag over the citadel of Lahore, and the province of Punjab was formally proclaimed part of the British India.

The Governor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was Lord Dalhousie. He, more than anyone, was responsible for the British ownership of the Koh-i-Noor as a token of British rule, and he continued to show great interest in it for the rest of his life. Dalhousie's work in India was primarily aimed at development of Indian assets by the East India Company. His confiscation 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.[21]

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 John Login, a surgeon in the British Army serving in the Presidency of Bengal, in India. Dr Login, his wife Lena, and the young Dulīp Singh travelled to England for the ceremony.

File:Croquis du Koh-i-Noor d'après Tavernier.jpg
Koh-i-Noor from different angles

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 (£NaN as of 2024),[15] 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 a steamer ship 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 in 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 12 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 East India Company. The handing over of the Koh-i- Noor diamond to the Queen on 3 July 1850[22] 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 an 'r' to his middle name, changing 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

File:Kohinoor.jpg
In its original setting as part of the armlet given to Queen Victoria, 1851

Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor when The Great Exhibition was staged at Hyde Park, London, in 1851. It was displayed in the Works in Precious Metals, Jewellery, etc. part of the South Central Gallery.[23] 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.

After these complaints, the diamond was put in a new shaded case to let the sunlight catch it better.

1852 re-cutting

File:Re-cutting the Koh-i-Noor 1852.jpg
The 1852 re-cutting

Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon. After consulting various mineralogists, including Sir David Brewster, it was decided by Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, with the consent of the government, to polish the Koh-i-Noor. One of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants, Mozes Coster, was employed for the task. He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants.[13]

On 6 July 1852, the cutting began, using a steam-powered mill built specially for the job. Under the supervision of Prince Albert, and the technical direction of the queen's mineralogist, James Tennant, the cutting took 38 days. Albert had spent a total of £8,000 on the operation, which reduced the weight of the diamond by around 42 per cent, from 186 carats (37.2 g) to its current 105.6 carats (21.12 g).[24] The great loss of weight is to some extent accounted for by the fact that Voorsanger discovered several flaws, one especially big, that he found it necessary to cut away.[13] Although Prince Albert was unimpressed with such a huge reduction, most experts agreed that Voorsanger had made the right decision and carried out his task with impeccable skill. [24]

The much lighter, but more dazzling stone was mounted in a brooch worn by Queen Victoria. At this time, it belonged to the queen personally, and was not yet part of the Crown Jewels.[13]

The Crown Jewels

File:QueenMarysCrown.jpg
The Koh-i-Noor in the front cross of Queen Mary's Crown

After Queen Victoria's death, the Koh-i-Noor was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, the husband of Edward VIII, that was used to crown her at their coronation in 1902. The diamond was transferred to Queen Mary's Crown in 1911,[25] and finally to The Queen Mother's Crown in 1937.[26] When The Queen Mother died in 2002, it was placed on top of her coffin for the lying-in-state and funeral.[27]

All these crowns are on display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London, with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the oldest crowns, and the original bracelet given to Queen Victoria can also be seen there. A glass model of the Koh-i-Noor shows visitors how it looked when it was brought over to the United Kingdom in 1850. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the 'Vault' exhibit at the Natural History Museum in London.[28]

Ownership dispute

When Queen Elizabeth II made a state visit to India marking the 50th anniversary of independence in 1997, many Indians demanded the return of the diamond.[29] In 2000, several members of the Indian Parliament signed a letter for the diamond to be given back to India, claiming it was taken illegally.[20] On 21 February 2013, while visiting India, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of returning the diamond, "They're not having that back".[30]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Deccan Heritage, H. K. Gupta, A. Parasher and D. Balasubramanian, Indian National Science Academy, 2000, p. 144, Orient Blackswan, ISBN 81-7371-285-9
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ C.E.B. Asher and C. Talbot, India Before Europe, Cambridge University Press, 2006, ISBN 0-521-80904-5, p. 40
  8. ↑ James Gribble and Mary Pendlebury, A History of the Deccan, p. 7, at Google Books, Volume 1, pp. 7–12
  9. ↑ R. A. Donkin (1978), Beyond Price: Pearls and Pearl-fishing, American Philosophical Society, ISBN 0-87169-224-4, p. 171
  10. ↑ Hermann Kulke and Dietmar Rothermund, A History of India, Edition: 3, Routledge, 1998, p. 160; ISBN 0-415-15482-0, Quote – "Malik Kafur is supposed to have returned to Delhi with such an amount of loot that he needed 1000 camels to carry it. The famous Koh-i-nur diamond is said to have been among these treasures."
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "inflation-UK" defined multiple times with different content
  16. ↑ Axworthy, p. 159.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Ethnic Tensions in Indian Society: Explanation, Prediction, Monitoring, and Control, p. 145, at Google Books
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Balfour, Ian. Famous Diamonds. 1987, page 24.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Queen Mary's Crown at the Royal Collection.
  26. ↑ Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Crown at the Royal Collection.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Bibliography

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External links

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