The Koh-i-noor Diamond

By Stephen Howarth
Quartet Books Limited
1980 ISBN 0-7043-2215-3

Stephen Howarth writes:

Koh-i-noor: the name means Mountain of Light. The diamond called the Koh-i-noor is one of the most famous of the Crown Jewels of Great Britain. It is not the largest diamond in the world, nor is it the most valuable, in monetary terms. Whether or not it is the most beautiful is a matter of opinion; but of all existing jewels, it has the longest history in legend, and the most colorful history in fact.

Diamonds are symbols of eternity. The word comes from the Greek adamas, meaning unalterable and indomitable. This, and the poetic name ‘Mountain of Light’, together indicate the reasons for the high regard in which diamonds have always been held: their beauty and their endurance. Diamonds are one of the hardest natural substances in the world, and many of their uses nowadays are for industrial purposes. But for thousands of years previously they were sought for their beauty, and by their rarity became the province of kings.

The Koh-i-noor was found in an Indian mine, probably more than three hundred years ago, and as the fortunes of India have varied in those three centuries, so the Koh-i-noor has changed hands from one conqueror to another. Through the changes, this special diamond has gradually acquired its own particular symbolism. It has meant different things to different people; to many, it has been an emblem of power and conquest and empire. To others, it has represented something more peaceful, and it is an image of union, factually and philosophically. Diamonds as fact, symbol and legend are woven inextricably into the paradox of Indian society, simultaneously changeless and everchanging. This marriage of constancy and variability can be a difficult concept for many Western minds, but it is this very concept which makes the Koh-i-noor a jewel literally beyond price, for the story of the Koh-i-noor reflects the history of the subcontinent of India. It is a turbulent story, sometimes cruel and violent, sometimes peaceful and calm; and it starts not three hundred years ago, but three thousand years ago, in India’s oldest legends.

The Owners of the Koh-i-noor
Mir Jumla, one-time wazir to the King of Golkonda, presented it to Shah Jahan, the Mogul Emperor, c. 1655-7. It descended to Auragazeb, Shah Jahan’s son. In 1655 it was seen, weighed and measured by Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweler. It remained with the Moguls until 1739, when it was lost to Nadir Shah, the Persian emperor, after his sack of Delhi. The jewel went to Persia. After Nadir’s assassination in 1747, his grandson Shah Rukh Mirza inherited the jewel. In gratitude for support he gave it to Ahmad Shah, leader of the Durrani clan and unifier of Afghanistan, in 1749. The jewel remained in Afghanistan with Ahmad’s son, Zaman Shah, who inherited it in 1793. Zaman was imprisoned and blinded by one of his brothers, but contrived to hide the jewel, until he passed it on to another brother, Shah Shuja, in 1795. Shuja eventually surrendered it to Ranjit Singh, the ‘Lion of the Punjab’, in 1813, in return for military aid. On Ranjit’s death the jewel passed to Dhulip Singh, his supposed son, in 1839. On the annexation of the Punjab by the British, in 1849, the jewel was claimed by The Board of Government, who took possession of it pending its presentation to Queen Victoria. The presentation took place on 3 July 1850. Since then the jewel has remained in Britain and is now mounted in the State Crown of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.