Koh-i-Noor: 700 years of History

Ishita Pandit, TY BAJMC

The gem that is now in possession of the British Crown as a part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, was once a part on the Indian Sub-continent. This stone is not just a piece of jewelry, rather it is a stone that is tainted with the blood of many whose lives were lost while trying to protect it. This piece of diamond that has now the attention of the entire world has a captivating history that has been chronicled for over 700 years.

It all started when this precious diamond was mined in the Kollur diamond mines of Golconda by the Kakatiyas who ruled over the eastern Deccan region that comprises present-day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and parts of eastern Karnataka and southern Odisha.

It was soon acquired by the second sultan of the Delhi Sultanate, Alauddin Khilji when he attacked the southern Indian kingdoms at the start of the 14th century and pillaged the Kakatiyas; which later changed ownership as it kept passing on from the Khiljis to the Tughlaqs to the Sayyids and to the Lodhis (more precisely Ibrahim Lodhi- the last of the Delhi Sultans).

After being victorious in the First Battle of Panipat against Ibrahim Lodhi, Babur obtained the rock which was verified by the first ever 'confirmed' mention of it in the Baburnama which was Babur’s writings as a Mughal Emperor. Babur was the descendant of Timur through his father and Genghis Khan through his mother. He mentions in his Baburnama that the stone is equivalent to the worth of half the world’s daily expenditure.

After Babur, the diamond went to Humayun, then Akbar, then Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb before finally falling into the possession of Sultan Mahamad.

In 1628, Shah Jahan, the Mughal emperor, ordered a magnificent, gem-encrusted throne. The ornate building took its design cues from the legendary throne of Solomon, the legendary Hebrew king who appears in the annals of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The Taj Mahal, which was also being built, cost four times as much as Shah Jahan's throne and took seven years to complete. The diamond was set in the head of a gleaming gemstone peacock at the very top of the throne. The Mughal Empire continued to rule over India and the rest of the world for a century after the Peacock Throne was established. It was Asia's richest state, with more wealth than both Paris and London put together. However, that affluence caught the interest of other kings in Central Asia, such as Persian ruler Nader Shah.

In 1739, Nadir invaded Delhi defeated Sultan Mahamad, resulting in a bloodbath that claimed tens of thousands of lives and depleted the nation's finances. He fled the city with so much money and gems that it took 700 elephants, 4,000 camels, and 12,000 horses to pull the seized riches. Nadir grabbed the Peacock Throne as part of his loot, but he took out the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the Timur Ruby to wear them on an armband.

It was during this invasion when Nadir Shah first laid eyes on the stone, he declared it 'Koh-i-noor' (meaning 'mountain of light') and the name has stuck on till date.

Eight years later, Nadir is assassinated and the jewel passes down to Ahmad Shah Durani followed by his descendant, Shah Shuja Durani who was obliged to flee to India when a quarrel rose among his brothers and traded the Koh-i-noor with the founder of the Sikh empire, Ranjit Singh for granting him asylum. After multiple requests, Ranjit Singh finally takes possession of the stone in 1813. It wasn’t just a high monetary value gem for Ranjit Singh but rather a great symbol of prestige and power now that the diamond was back in its rightful place.

Finally, after 70 years the diamond was back in its homeland after a lot of enthralling and tragic events.

This image of prestige and power was too alluring for the British. During that time there was a lot of fighting between Central Asian factions which created a widening power vacuum in India, of which, the British quickly took advantage. It was during the turn of the 19th century when the British East India Company extended its territorial dominance from coastal towns to the interior of the Indian subcontinent. Simultaneously we see the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839 after which the rock changed hands 4 times before falling into the hands of his 5-year-old son, Daleep Singh, and his mother, Rani Jindan Kaur. After many wars and struggles, the British finally conquered Punjab in 1849.

In addition, the British forced Daleep to sign a legal document modifying the Treaty of Lahore in 1849 after imprisoning Jindan, which required Daleep to give up the Koh-i-Noor and all claims to sovereignty.

Since then, the diamond has been the exclusive possession of Queen Victoria and the Brits ever since. For the past 80 years, it has lain in the Queen Mum's crown like sleeping beauty, rarely being donned. The crown was last seen at her funeral in 2002, when it was placed on the casket.

Future decisions regarding the Koh-i-Noor diamond will now be made by the youth of today. Will it be put in the crown of the future King or will it be sent back to India? We'll just have to wait and watch how the story plays out.