The history of large gemstones is a story of passion and crime, of blood and dark secrets, of fulfilled prophecies and terrible curses. They excite, mesmerize as much as the dazzling brilliance of the gemstone around which they exist. Do you like frightening stories? Then this one is about the Kohinoor, a diamond that has brought incalculable calamities upon all its owners. Only a century and a half ago, the English Queen Victoria managed to stop the curse of “Kohinoor” – the diamond, because of which the blood was shed for centuries. But first things first.
“Kohinoor” (“Kohinoor”, “Koinoor”, “Koh-e-Noor”) is a colorless oval diamond weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 grams) with 66 facets. Traditionally, large top-quality diamonds are cut with 58 facets, but Kohinoor’s jeweler added 8 more to bring out its incredible brilliance.
History of the name
“Kohinoor” is a diamond whose appearance is lost in the darkness of not even centuries, but millennia. Even the history of its modern name dates back to the 18th century. “Nadir Shah, who defeated Sultan Muhammad, the heir of the Mughals, the ruler of India, called it the “Mountain of Light” (this is how Kohinoor is translated from Persian). One of the victor’s trophies was the legendary “Kohinoor” – a diamond that brought happiness to none of its owners.
History has preserved this episode. It is said that when Nadir Shah’s army entered Delhi, massacres and looting began. From the Mughal treasury, the Shah carried away countless valuables that occupied thousands of wagons. Among the riches was the legendary Imperial Peacock Throne, where a huge diamond adorned the eye socket of one of the dancing birds. It is said that on seeing it, Nadir Shah could not refrain from shouting in rapture. “Koi-e-Noor (Mountain of Light)!” – he exclaimed. After the cursed diamond fell into his hands in 1739, Nadir Shah lived only 7 years. The warlord was brutally slaughtered by his own officers and his empire collapsed.
Why the diamond is considered cursed
“Kohinoor” – a diamond, the history of which, despite the name, is so ominous, was first mentioned in 1306. One of the sources, written in Hindi, says that this diamond carries a curse. And it will come upon any man who dares to possess it. The manuscript says that this man will become a great ruler and lay the whole world at his feet, but countless calamities will also be his faithful companions. Only a woman or the Creator can carry this treasure without fear of punishment. What happened to those unfortunate ones who dared to disbelieve the prophecy and adorned themselves with the blood diamond?
Legends of “Kohinoor”.
Let us begin, perhaps, with the origin of “Kohinoor”. The diamond, whose story is so fascinating, according to one Indian legend originally adorned an Indian god. The ancient Sanskrit manuscripts “Vishnu-purana” and “Bhagavad-purana” mention the magical stone Shyamantaka shining on the neck of the sun god Surya. It is likely that it is the “Kohinoora” that is in question.
Another legend says that the diamond about 5 millennia ago served as the eye of an Indian deity, and then its owner became the hero of the “Mahabharata” prince Karna. Scientists who examined the diamond say that Kohinoor was mined in South India, in the Golconda mines around 1100, during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty.
History of Kohinoor
Until 1304, the diamond (its then name is not preserved by history) was possessed by Indian rajas who ruled the territory where the southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are now located. A little later these territories also belonged to Pakistan. And in 1304, the owner of the diamond became the Emperor of Delhi Alladin Khili – he owned it until 1339.
However, there is another version. They say that in 1310 the Khilji dynasty invaded Kakatiya and ravaged the kingdom, taking the Kohinoor as a trophy. A short time later this dynasty was overthrown, and then the next owners of the diamond were defeated in an inter-clan war, and the diamond changed its owner again. How not to believe in a blood curse?
Only one thing is known for sure – the Indian ruler Babur, the founder of the Mughal dynasty and the legendary conqueror of India, was in the chain of “lucky” people who proudly owned the Kohinoor. Instead of all the conquered goods, the ominous diamond went to him.
So, in 1526 the diamond changed its owner and was named “Babur’s Stone”. By the way, there is no reliable information about what the “Kohinoor” was originally. It is only known that in the 1700s it weighed almost 200 carats and had a yellowish color. However, the indefatigable traveler, adventurer and, at the same time, jeweler Tavernier claimed that when the diamond adorned the Peacock Throne, it weighed twice as much, and before cutting it weighed more than 700 carats.
Kohinoor became the centerpiece of the Mughal Peacock Throne at the suggestion of the Great Mogul and builder of the Taj Mahal, Shah Jahan. It is also said that his son, Aurangzeba, was the first to cut the legendary diamond. The cutting was entrusted to the Venetian jeweler Hortenso Borgia, who not only spoiled the stone, but also managed to reduce its weight several times.
Fig 1. Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal
Next, the story of the diamond becomes quite official – the Persian Shah Nadir defeats Aurangzeb’s weak descendant Mohammed Shah Rangil and takes possession of “Kohinoor”. The ruler loses his head at the hands of his own officers after 7 years, and the stone passes to his former general, Shah Ahmad Durrani, the founder of the Afghan dynasty.
Yes, according to legend, the whole world did indeed bow down before the owners of the cursed diamond. But what about the woes and sorrows that the prophecy promised? To none of the former owners of the diamond it brought neither happiness nor peace. The third representative of Durrani – Zaman Shah was overthrown and captured by his own brother Shuja, who 8 years later was also overthrown and sent into exile by another brother – Shah Mahmud.
And then Ranjit Singh, who dreamed of taking possession of Kohinoor, came into the picture. And, of course, this dream of the “Mountain of Light” could not but turn into a chain of intrigues and another bloodshed. In 1813, Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh empire, became the owner of “Kohinoor”. After Singh’s death, there was another struggle for “Kohinoor” and its throne. The cursed diamond roamed from one heir to another, and the blood of the Singhs and their subjects poured in rivers. The representatives of the dynasty practically exterminated each other. The last survivor was 6-year-old Maharaja Dalip Singh.
“Kohinoor” in the British crown
Fig 2. Queen Elizabeth’s crown
When, through the efforts of the East India Company, the Sikh state fell, all power in the Punjab passed to the British. As a spoils of war (it was, of course, called a gift, but that doesn’t change the point), Kohinoor traveled to Britain in 1850, to Queen Victoria.
It is said that at first the queen was disappointed – the diamond looked very unsightly against the shining jewels of the crown. That is why two years later she, or rather her husband Prince Albert, decided to re-cut the cursed Indian diamond. The Dutch jeweler successfully coped with the work. The stone lost weight, reducing to 108.93 carats.
The Queen often showed in public with “Kohinoor” – she pinned it as a brooch. And what about the legend? According to Victoria’s will, the diamond could not be inherited by men – it went to queens or spouses of kings. The next representatives of the dynasty wore the legendary “Kohinoor” already in the form of an insert in the crown.
To this day, passions are still simmering around the diamond. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, where Nadir Shah was from, not once and not twice demanded that the diamond be returned to them, but to this day “Kohinoor” is a diamond in the crown of British kings.
How much is the Kohinoor worth
Many people wonder what is the price of the Kohinoor diamond? Experts say the value is $1 billion. But even if someone has a billion, he will not be able to buy the famous large diamond under any circumstances. Therefore, the British crown jewel is considered priceless.