(via The Journal of Gemmology, Vol.12. No.3, July 1970) N Viswanath writes:
During the 16th and 17th centuries, India was ruled by the Emperors of the Moghul Dynasty. Of them, six were the most powerful and notable. They were: Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jehangir, Shahjahan and Aurangzeb. With the death of the last Emperor, the dynasty began disintegrating.
It was during the reign of the last three Emperors that the wealth of the Moghuls was at its peak. Historians have been unable as yet to determine exactly how much the Moghul treasure was worth as some of it was looted by subsequent rulers of India.
Fortunately, Emperor Jehangir has left an authoritative account of his treasure and the list still exists. There was bullion in his treasury amounting to seven tons of gold, and 1116 tons of silver. Among precious stones, there were 80 pounds (more than 5,000,000 carats) of uncut diamonds, 100 pounds each of rubies and emeralds, and 600 pounds of pearls. “Of the other less important varieties of precious stones, the quantity is infinite,” says the document.
The royal armory included 2000 swords studded with diamond-encrusted handles, and the court furniture included 103 chairs of solid silver and five of solid gold. For high dignitaries and visiting monarchs, there were better seating arrangements. Five gorgeous thrones, two of gold and three of silver, were set apart for such persons. Emperor Jehangir himself had seven diamond-studded thrones besides the famous Peacock Throne.
Jehangir’s bathtub today, would be worth the ransom of a billionaire. It was seven feet by five feet in dimensions and was decorated with diamonds to relieve the drabness of gold.
His son Shahjehan, the fifth Moghul Emperor who built the world famous Taj Mahal at Agra was a great connoisseur himself. It was said of him that there was no jeweler in the East who could value precious stones better than he could and the emperor had all luck in pursuing his hobby. He had the first choice of the world’s richest diamond mines, the famous Goldconda fields, and only his rejections were allowed to circulate in the market.
Incidentally, until 1726 AD, the major sources of diamonds in the world were the Golconda mines in India. The Pitt, the Regent, and the Kohinoor are a few of the historic diamonds that owe their origin to Golconda.
Sir Thomas Roe, the British Ambassador to Emperor Shahjehan’s Court, knew to his cost that there could no trifling with the Emperor. Sir Thomas had something like the mythical Unicorn’s horn to palm off. Knowing Shahjehan’s weakness for rare treasure, Sir Thomas tried some sales talk with the Emperor saying that he was offering the horn to him only because the Emperor was the person to appreciate its value.
The horn was supposed to have the rare property of neutralizing any poisonous liquid and as such was considered to be a very welcome gift to sovereigns like Shahjehan, whose life was always in constant danger from enemies. He had hoped this would induce the Emperor to pass it at a high price.
But the shrewd Emperor knew that the horn was not worth the price quoted. He merely thanked the Ambassador and dropped the subject with a courteous expression. The diplomat had to find some other gullible purchaser, and finally, it was disposed of at a cheap price to a Dutch captain.
Shahjehan was no hoarder and often gave away fabulous gems as outright gifts. One day, a diamond brighter than the Pole Star came to his hands from the Golconda mines and the bulwark of Islam as Shahjehan like to call himself, decided that this would be a worthy gift to the Prophet’s Mosque at Mecca. He immediately ordered that a gold candelabra weighing 14 pounds be selected, embellished it with the brighter than the Pole Star diamond, and had it sent post-haste to Mecca. Today, a conservative value of the gift would be about ten million rupees.
Imperial wars also brought treasures to the royal jewel box. When the Moghul forces invaded his domain during the early part of Shahjehan’s reign, the King of Golconda found it advisable to make a peace offering. He sent 200 caskets of jewels to placate the Emperor. But the unfortunate King did not escape his fate. With avarice kindled at the gift, Shahjehan ordered his troops to advance, and they returned with booty exceeding 300 million rupees in value.
No historian could make a correct estimate of Shahjehan’s wealth of which it was said that it was greater than that of his nearest rivals, the Emperors of France and Persia, put together.
But then, there had to be a place to keep all his booty. One fine morning, the Emperor was told by the Master of the Treasury that it was choking with jewels, and that something had to be done to the strong room to relieve the congestion. The Emperor mused for a while. The problem was finally solved by the creation of the famous Peacock Throne. In the late 17th century when it was made, the Throne was valued at an amount equivalent to 530 million rupees. The Throne was completed after seven years of unceasing labor by the Emperor’s best craftsmen.
The plate and cutlery of Shahjehan’s palace weighed 25 tons of gold and 50 tons of silver, respectively. The mere gold content of the plate would today be worth more than 15 million rupees.
In one of his tributes to Shahjehan, Sir Thomas Roe has remarked that the King of Bijapur sent to the Emperor 36 elephants, two of which were adorned with gold chains weighing 400 pounds. There were 50 horses in the gift with trappings worth five million rupees. All possible care was taken that the precious stones were properly graded according to the exacting imperial specifications. For example, the diamonds were divided into 12 categories while pearls were of 16 varying grades.
The draperies of the palace were valued at ten million rupees, and the furnishings include chinaware to the value of 2,500,000 rupees. All the porcelain was imported from China under a special order from the Emperor and was among the best in the era.
The Moghul Emperors were so particular about chinaware that once when a high-ranking officer of the imperial household broke a matching piece of porcelain dish, Emperor Aurangazeb behaved as roughly as an ordinary housewife. He was on a tour of his domains in South India when the hapless official dropped the fruit dish in the capital, Delhi, about 1000 and odd miles away from the Emperor. The culprit knew full well that his carelessness would bring a halter round his neck and at once dispatched a messenger to China to bring back a similar dish to complete the set. He had hoped that the dish would reach Delhi before the Emperor returned from his tour. Unfortunately for him, the Emperor returned far ahead of the schedule, and in course of time, wanted his favorite fruit dish. The trembling official related the accident, and in view of the fact that arrangements had already been made to get a replacement, the official was temporarily excused and suspended pending arrival of the caravan from China.
But the notorious Central Asian robbers made short work of the messengers and the money they carried for purchase of the chinaware. When the period of grace elapsed and there was no news from China, the irate Emperor gave the official the choice between immediate execution and that of going to China to get the porcelain dish.
The official chose the latter course and began the hazardous journey to Cathay (China). As his whole family was held as hostages by the Emperor, he had to be particularly careful about his life and chose the safe route through the Pamir mountains, the so-called backbone of the world. The ranges of the Pamir tower to a height of about 23000 feet and one can very well imagine the plight of the official. Fortunately, Heaven took pity on him and the story of this official reached the court of the then Persian Emperor. This monarch ordered his Grand Wazier to look in the royal Persian cupboards to find whether there was any porcelain dish to match the one for which the official was searching. Happily, such a piece was found, and the Persian Emperor ordered that a gift of this porcelain dish be made to the official. But the poor man was so much broken down in health from the rigors of the journey that he died en route by the time deliverance came.
Emperor Shahjehan did not keep all his treasures in one place. They were divided in varying proportions and were kept in fortresses in different parts of the empire. There were seven of these treasure forts, besides the capital of Delhi. They were Gwalior, Marwar, Lahore, Rantambher, Asirgarh, Rohstsagar, and of course, Agra. The Lahore fort contained the maximum quantity of bullion, while Agra, as the Emperor’s favorite citadel, held most of the jewels.
A comparison with monarchs of the present century puts Shahjehan in a very favorable light. The wealth of the British Sovereign is estimated at about 170 million dollars. But at a time when the money value was at least six times greater than that of the present era, Shahjehan’s treasury must have held billions of rupees worth of valuables.
The last Nizam of Hyderabad in India, who was a remote descendant of the Moghul dynasty, had treasure and jewelry which it was almost impossible to sell for want of buyers. What can one do with mats oven with priceless pearls and shirts studded with diamonds? He had a paperweight, the famous Jacob diamond, a treasure of 150 carats, the rock-bottom price of which was about 150 lakh rupees.
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