There are multiple conflicting legends on the origin of the diamond.[9] However, in the words of the colonial administratorTheo Metcalfe, there is "very meagre and imperfect" evidence of the early history of the Koh-i-Noor before the 1740s.[10] There is no record of its original weight, but the earliest attested weight is 186 old carats (191 metric carats or 38.2 g). The first verifiable record of the diamond comes from a history by Muhammad Kazim Marvi of the 1740sinvasion of Northern India byNader Shah. Marvi notes the Koh-i-Noor as one of many stones on theMughalPeacock Throne that Nader looted fromDelhi.[11] The diamond then changed hands between various empires in south and west Asia, until being given to Queen Victoria after theSecond Anglo-Sikh War and the BritishEast India Company's annexation of thePunjab in 1849, during the reign of the then 11-year-oldMaharaja of theSikh Empire,Duleep Singh. The young king ruled under the shadow of the Company allyGulab Singh, the firstMaharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, who had previously possessed the stone.[12]
Originally, the stone was of a similarcut to other Mughal-era diamonds, like theDaria-i-Noor, which are now in theIranian National Jewels. In 1851, it went on display at theGreat Exhibition in London, but the lackluster cut failed to impress viewers.Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, ordered it to be re-cut as an ovalbrilliant byCoster Diamonds. By modern standards, the culet (point at the bottom of a gemstone) is unusually broad, giving the impression of a black hole when the stone is viewed head-on; it is nevertheless regarded by gemologists as "full of life".[13]
Today, the diamond is on public display in theJewel House at theTower of London. The governments of India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have all claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor, demanding its return ever since India gained independence from theBritish Empire in 1947.[16] The British government insists the gem was obtained legally under the terms of theLast Treaty of Lahore in 1849 and has rejected the claims.
Babur, theTurco-Mongol founder of theMughal Empire, wrote about a "famous" diamond that weighed just over 187 old carats – approximately the size of the once 186-carat Koh-i-Noor.[19][20] According to the diary ofAlauddin Khalji of theKhalji dynasty of theDelhi Sultanate, he acquired a large diamond when heinvaded the kingdoms of southern India at the beginning of the 14th century and looted it from theKakatiyas.[21] It later passed on to succeeding dynasties of the sultanate, and Babur received the diamond in 1526 as a tribute for his conquest ofDelhi andAgra at theBattle of Panipat. However, it is impossible to verify these details exactly about when or where it was found, and many competing theories exist as to its original owner.[22]
For some time it was alleged that while in the possession ofShah Jahan's sonAurangzeb, the stone was cut by Hortense Borgia, a Venetianlapidarist, who reduced the weight of the large stone to 186 carats (37.2 g).[23] For this carelessness, Borgia was reprimanded and fined 10,000rupees.[24] However according to recent research, the story of Borgia cutting the diamond is not correct, and most probably mixed up with that of theOrlov, part ofCatherine the Great's imperial Russian scepter in theKremlin.[25]
In early Indian history, diamonds were the most valued of gemstones. However, during the period of Mughal rule, diamonds lost this distinction. When looking at the Mughal treasury,Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, theGrand vizier toAkbar, noted that redspinels and Burmeserubies had become the most desirable jewels by the nobility.[11] During this time the Persian new year ceremony,Nowruz, had become a period in which the subjects could bring offerings of gems and money to the imperial family in exchange for political promotions within the greater bureaucracy. By the timeShah Jahan ascended the throne as the fifth Mughal emperor, there were so many jewels in the treasury that he decided to use many of them in the making of the ornatePeacock Throne in 1635.[11]
Over a century later in 1738Nader Shah founded theAfsharid dynasty. Following the overthrow of theSafavid dynasty of Persia two years earlier, he began raiding Mughal territory before soon launching afull-scale invasion of North-West India. This invading force soon captured Delhi where, after a massacre of the civilian population, the army began a systematic looting of the wealth of the city and the treasury of the Mughal Empire.[26] With nearly 10,000 wagons of loot, along with millions of rupees and an assortment of other historic jewels, Nader Shah also carried away the imperial Peacock Throne.[27] Nader Shah's biographer, Muhammad Kazim Marvi, first recorded seeing the Koh-i-Noor in the 1740s on the head of one of the peacocks on the throne, along with other prominent gems such as the greatTimur Ruby and theDaria-i-Noor.[11] It is alleged that Nader Shah exclaimed"Koh-i-Noor!", Persian and Hindi-Urdu for "Mountain of Light", when he first obtained the famous stone.[28][4] One of his consorts is even noted to have said, "If a strong man were to throw four stones – one north, one south, one east, one west, and a fifth stone up into the air – and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Koh-i-Noor".[29]
After Nadir Shah was killed andhis empire collapsed in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor fell to his grandson, who in 1751 gave it toAhmad Shah Durrani, founder of theAfghan Empire, in return for his support.[27] One of Ahmed's grandsons,Shah Shuja Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion ofMountstuart Elphinstone's visit toPeshawar in 1808.[30] A year later, Shah Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia.[31] He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond toLahore (in modern Pakistan), where in one account,Ranjit Singh, founder of theSikh Empire, in return for his hospitality, insisted upon the gem being given to him, and he took possession of it in 1813.[26]
Shah Shuja's memoirs dispute this, which claim Ranjit Singh extorted the diamond from him by having his son tortured in front of him.[32]
One of Ranjit Singh's favourite horses with the head of his stables. His jewels are shown, to scale, including the Koh-i-Noor (top centre).[33]
Ranjit Singh had the diamond examined by jewelers of Lahore for two days to ensure that Shuja had not tricked him. After the jewelers confirmed its genuineness, he donated 125,000 rupees to Shuja. Ranjit Singh then asked the principal jewelers ofAmritsar to estimate the diamond's value; the jewelers declared that the value of the diamond was "far beyond all computation".[34] Ranjit Singh then affixed the diamond to the front of his turban, and paraded on an elephant to enable his subjects to see it.[35] He used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such asDiwali andDusserah, and took it with him during travel. He would exhibit it to prominent visitors, especially British officers.[36]
Painting of Ranjit Singh wearing the Koh-i-Noor armlet (2009)
One day, Ranjit Singh asked the diamond's former owners – Shuja and his wife Wafa Begum – to estimate its value. Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space. Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he was intoxicated. He kept the diamond within a high-security facility at theGobindgarh Fort when it was not in use. When the diamond was to be transported, it was placed in apannier on a guarded camel; 39 other camels with identical panniers were included in the convoy; the diamond was always placed on the first camel immediately behind the guards, but great secrecy was maintained regarding which camel carried it.[36] Only Ranjit Singh's treasurer Misr Beli Ram knew which camel carried the diamond.[37]
In June 1839, Ranjit Singh suffered his thirdstroke, and it became apparent that he would die soon. On his deathbed, he started giving away his valuable possessions to religious charities, and appointed his eldest sonKharak Singh as his successor. A day before his death, on 26 June 1839, a major argument broke out between his courtiers regarding the fate of Koh-i-Noor.[38] Ranjit Singh himself was too weak to speak, and communicated using gestures. Bhai Gobind Ram, the headBrahmin of Ranjit Singh, insisted that the king had willed Koh-i-Noor and other jewels to theJagannath Temple, Puri: the king apparently supported this claim through gestures, as recorded in his court chronicleUmdat ul-Tawarikh.[39] However, treasurer Beli Ram insisted that it was a state property rather than Ranjit Singh's personal property, and therefore, should be handed over to Kharak Singh.[40]
After Ranjit Singh's death, Beli Ram refused to send the diamond to the temple, and hid it in his vaults.[41] Meanwhile, Kharak Singh andwazirDhian Singh also issued orders stating that the diamond should not be taken out of Lahore.[42]
Maharaja Gulab Singh riding on elephant.Sikh Empire under 5 year old MaharajaDuleep Singh. To the right is Suchet Singh and to the immediate left is MaharajaGulab Singh ofJammu and Kashmir, who ultimately wielded influence over the Koh-i-Noor, and its transfer to the United Kingdom.
On 8 October 1839, the new emperor Kharak Singh was overthrown in a coup by his prime minister Dhian Singh. The prime minister's brotherGulab Singh,Raja ofJammu, came into possession of the Koh-i-Noor.[43] Kharak Singh later died in prison, soon followed by the mysterious death of his son and successorNau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840. Gulab Singh held onto the stone until January 1841, when he presented it to emperorSher Singh in order to win his favour,[44] after his brotherDhian Singh negotiated a ceasefire between Sher Singh and the overthrown empressChand Kaur. Gulab Singh had attempted to defend the widowed empress at her fort in Lahore, during two days of conflict and shelling by Sher Singh and his troops.[45] Despite handing over the Koh-i-noor, Gulab Singh as a result of the ceasefire returned safely to Jammu with a wealth of gold and other jewels taken from the treasury.[46]
On 15 September 1843, both Sher Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh were assassinated in a coup led byAjit Singh Sandhawalia. However, the next day in a counter coup led by Dhian's son Hira Singh the assassins were killed. Aged 24, Hira Singh succeeded his father as prime minister, and installed the five-year oldDuleep Singh as emperor. The Koh-i-noor was now fastened to the arm of the child emperor in court at Lahore. Duleep Singh and his mother empressJind Kaur, had till then resided in Jammu, the kingdom governed by Gulab Singh.[11]
Following his nephew Prime Minister Hira Singh's assassination on 27 March 1844, and the subsequent outbreak of theFirst Anglo-Sikh War, Gulab Singh himself led the Sikh empire as its prime minister, and despite defeat in the war, he became the firstMaharaja ofJammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, under theTreaty of Amritsar.
On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of theSecond Anglo-Sikh War, the Kingdom ofPunjab was formally annexed toCompany rule, and theLast Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor toQueen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read:
The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken fromShah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharajah Ranjeet Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England [sic].[47]
The lead signatory of the treaty for the by then eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chiefTej Singh, a loyalist of MaharajaGulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gainedKashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following theFirst Anglo-Sikh War.
TheGovernor-General in charge of the ratification of this treaty was theMarquess of Dalhousie. The manner of his aiding in the transfer of the diamond was criticized even by some of his contemporaries in Britain. Although some thought it should have been presented as a gift to Queen Victoria by the East India Company, it is clear that Dalhousie believed the stone was a spoil of war, and treated it accordingly, ensuring that it was officially surrendered to her byDuleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh.[48] The presentation of the Koh-i-Noor by the East India Company to the queen was the latest in a long history of transfers of the diamond as a coveted spoil of war.[49] Duleep Singh had been placed in the guardianship of DrJohn Spencer Login, a surgeon in the East India Company Army serving in thePresidency of Bengal. Duleep Singh moved to England in 1854 and spent the rest of his life in exile.[50]
Fig II. A: flaw; B and C: notches cut to hold stone in a setting; D: flaw created by fracture at E; F: fracture created by a blow; G: unpolished cleavage plane; H: basal cleavage plane.
Fig III. Opposite side, showing facets and peak of the "Mountain of Light"
In due course, the Governor-General received the Koh-i-Noor from Dr Login, who had been appointed Governor of the Citadel, on 6 April 1848 under a receipt dated 7 December 1849, in the presence of members of the Board of Administration for the affairs of the Punjab:Sir Henry Lawrence (President), C. G. Mansel,John Lawrence and Sir Henry Elliot (Secretary to the Government of India).
Legend in the Lawrence family has it that before the voyage, John Lawrence left the jewel in his waistcoat pocket when it was sent to be laundered, and was most grateful when it was returned promptly by thevalet who found it.[52]
On 1 February 1850, the jewel was sealed in a small iron safe inside a red dispatch box, both sealed with red tape and a wax seal and kept in a chest at Bombay Treasury awaiting a steamer ship from China. It was then sent to England for presentation to Queen Victoria in the care of Captain J. Ramsay and Brevet Lt. Col F. Mackeson under tight security arrangements, one of which was the placement of the dispatch box in a larger iron safe. They departed from Bombay on 6 April on board HMSMedea, captained by Captain Lockyer.
The ship had a difficult voyage: an outbreak ofcholera on board when the ship was inMauritius had the locals demanding its departure, and they asked their governor to open fire on the vessel and destroy it if there was no response. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours.
On arrival in Britain on 29 June, the passengers and mail were unloaded inPlymouth, but the Koh-i-Noor stayed on board until the ship reachedSpithead, nearPortsmouth, on 1 July. The next morning, Ramsay and Mackeson, in the company of Mr Onslow, the private secretary to the Chairman of the Court of Directors of the British East India Company, proceeded by train toEast India House in theCity of London and passed the diamond into the care of the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company.
The Koh-i-Noor was formally presented to Queen Victoria on 3 July 1850 atBuckingham Palace by the deputy chairman of the East India Company.[49] The date had been chosen to coincide with the Company's 250th anniversary.[53]
Members of the public were given a chance to see the Koh-i-Noor whenThe Great Exhibition was staged atHyde Park, London, in 1851. It represented the might of the British Empire and took pride of place in the eastern part of the central gallery.[54]
Its mysterious past and advertised value of £1–2 million drew large crowds.[55] At first, the stone was put inside a gilded birdcage, but after complaints about its dull appearance, the Koh-i-Noor was moved to a case with black velvet and gas lamps in the hope that it would sparkle better.[56] Despite this, the flawed and asymmetrical diamond still failed to please viewers.[8]
Originally, the diamond had 169 facets and was 4.1 centimetres (1.6 in) long, 3.26 centimetres (1.28 in) wide, and 1.62 centimetres (0.64 in) deep. It was high-domed, with a flat base and both triangular and rectangular facets, similar in overall appearance to other Mughal-era diamonds which are now in theIranian Crown Jewels.[57]
Disappointment in the appearance of the stone was not uncommon;Punch magazine referred to it as the "Mountain of Darkness," a play on the English translation of its name as "Mountain of Light".[58] After consulting mineralogists, including SirDavid Brewster, Victoria's husbandPrince Albert with the consent of the government decided to have the diamond re-cut. For this task, he employed one of the largest and most famous Dutch diamond merchants,Mozes Coster. He sent to London one of his most experienced artisans, Levie Benjamin Voorzanger, and his assistants.[26]
The 1852 re-cutting
On 17 July 1852, the cutting began at the factory ofGarrard & Co. in Haymarket, using a steam-powered mill built specially for the job byMaudslay, Sons and Field.[59] Supervised by Albert and theDuke of Wellington, and the technical direction of the Queen's mineralogist,James Tennant, the cutting took 38 days, cost Albert £8,000,[60] and reduced the diamond from 186 old carats (191 modern carats or 38.2 g) to its current weight 105.6 carats (21.12 g).[61] The stone now measures 3.6 cm (1.4 in) long, 3.2 cm (1.3 in) wide, and 1.3 cm (0.5 in) deep.[62]Brilliant-cut diamonds usually have 58 facets, but the Koh-i-Noor has 8 additional "star" facets around theculet, making a total of 66 facets.[2]
The great loss of weight was to some extent due to removal of several flaws, one especially big, which Voorzanger discovered.[26] Although Prince Albert was dissatisfied with such a huge reduction, most experts agreed that Voorzanger had made the right decision and did the job with impeccable skill.[60] When Queen Victoria showed the re-cut diamond to the youngMaharaja Duleep Singh, the Koh-i-Noor's last non-British owner, he was apparently unable to speak for several minutes afterwards.[61]
The much lighter but more dazzling stone was mounted in a honeysuckle brooch and a circlet worn by the queen.[8] At this time, it belonged to her personally, and was not yet part of the Crown Jewels.[26] Although Victoria wore it often, she became uneasy about the way in which the diamond had been acquired. In a letter to her eldest daughter,Victoria, Princess Royal, she wrote in the 1870s: "No one feels more strongly than I do about India or how much I opposed our taking those countries and I think no more will be taken, for it is very wrong and no advantage to us. You know also how I dislike wearing the Koh-i-Noor".[63]
All these crowns are on display in theJewel House at theTower of London with crystal replicas of the diamond set in the older crowns.[69] 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 to the United Kingdom. Replicas of the diamond in this and its re-cut forms can also be seen in the 'Vault' exhibit at theNatural History Museum, London.[70]
During the Second World War, theCrown Jewels were moved from their home at the Tower of London toWindsor Castle.[71] They were kept in leather hat boxes under lock and key in the office of the Royal Librarian SirOwen Morshead until 1941 when they were transferred to a specially dug tunnel under the walls of the castle. At this time Morshead and the Keeper of the Tower Armouries removed some of the larger stones, including the Koh-i-Noor, and wrapping them in cotton wool, inserted them in a glass preserving-jar, which was then placed in a biscuit tin; the thinking being that, unlike the bulkier crowns, this would allow their swift relocation if the German invasion occurred.[72]
The Koh-i-Noor has long been a subject of diplomatic controversy, with India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan all demanding its return from the UK at various points.[73]
TheGovernment of India first demanded the return of the Koh-i-Noor as soon asindependence was granted in 1947. A second request followed in 1953, the year of the coronation of QueenElizabeth II. Each time, the British Government rejected the claims, saying that ownership was non-negotiable.[60]
In 2000, several members of theIndian Parliament signed a letter calling for the diamond to be given back to India, claiming it was taken illegally.[74] British officials said that a variety of claims meant it was impossible to establish the diamond's original owner,[75] and that it had been part of Britain's heritage for more than 150 years.[76]
In July 2010, while visiting India,David Cameron, thePrime Minister of the United Kingdom, said of returning the diamond, "If you say yes to one you suddenly find theBritish Museum would be empty. I am afraid to say, it is going to have to stay put."[60] On a subsequent visit in February 2013, he said, "They're not having that back."[77]
In April 2016, theIndian Culture Ministry stated it would make "all possible efforts" to arrange the return of the Koh-i-Noor to India.[78] The thenSolicitor General of India,Ranjit Kumar said, "It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object."[79]
In 1976, Pakistan asserted its ownership of the diamond, saying its return would be "a convincing demonstration of the spirit that moved Britain voluntarily to shed its imperial encumbrances and lead the process of decolonisation". In a letter to thePrime Minister of Pakistan,Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the prime minister of the United Kingdom,James Callaghan, wrote, "I need not remind you of the various hands through which the stone has passed over the past two centuries, nor that explicit provision for its transfer to the British crown was made in the peace treaty with the Maharajah of the Sikh Empire in 1849. I could not advise Her Majesty that it should be surrendered."[80]
In 2000, theTaliban's foreign affairs spokesman, Faiz Ahmed Faiz, said the Koh-i-Noor was the legitimate property of Afghanistan, and demanded for it to be handed over to the regime. "The history of the diamond shows it was taken from us (Afghanistan) to India, and from there to Britain. We have a much better claim than the Indians", he said.[75] The Afghan claim derives from Shah Shuja Durrani's memoirs, which states he surrendered the diamond to Ranjit Singh while Singh was having his son tortured in front of him, so he argued that the Maharajah of Lahore acquired the stone illegitimately.[81]
Because of the disputes over the diamond's rightful ownership, there have been various compromises suggested. These include dividing it into four, with a piece given to each of Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan, with the final piece retained by theBritish Crown. Another suggestion is that the jewel be housed in a special museum at theWagah border between India and Pakistan. However this suggestion does not cater to Afghan claims, nor the reality of current British possession.[82] TheBritish Government rejects these compromises, and has stated since the end of theBritish Raj that the status of the diamond is 'non-negotiable'.[83]
A rumor that the Koh-i-Noor is cursed may have originated with theDelhi Gazette; it was soon repeated inThe Illustrated London News, and Queen Victoria herself expressed concern about the curse. This led to a counter-rumor that the curse attached only to male rulers.[58]
The Koh-i-Noor also features inAgatha Christie's 1925detective novelThe Secret of Chimneys where it is hidden somewhere inside a large country house and is discovered at the end of the novel. The diamond had been stolen from the Tower of London by a Parisian gang leader who replaced it with a replica stone.[86]
^abWeights from82+3⁄4 to122+3⁄4carats have been erroneously published since the 19th century.[6] Until 1992, the official weight of the Koh-i-Noor was 108.93 metric carats,[7] but this figure has been revised to 105.602 metric carats,[8] or102+13⁄16 old English carats.[6]
^InPersian,Koh-i-Noor is rendered asکوه نور and inHindi, it is written asकूह-ए-नूर.
^ab"Koh-i-Noor".Britannica Concise Encyclopedia.Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2008. p. 1046.ISBN9781593394929.Archived from the original on 26 December 2019. Retrieved26 August 2019.The Koh-i-noor (Hindi for 'mountain of light') was acquired by the British in 1849 and became part of the Crown Jewels ofQueen Victoria.
^Asher, Catherine B.; Talbot, Cynthia (2006).India Before Europe. Cambridge University Press. p. 40.ISBN978-0-52180-904-7.Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved20 February 2019.
^Campbell, Christopher (2000).The Maharajah's box: an imperial story of conspiracy, love and a guru's prophecy. Hammersmith, London: HarperCollins.ISBN0-00-257008-4.OCLC43631639.
^Valentine Ball in Jean Baptiste Tavernier,Travels in India, 1889, Macmillan, vol. II, Appendix, plate VI.
^Pakistan Horizon. Vol. 29. Pakistan Institute of International Affairs. 1976. p. 267.Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved12 October 2016.
Howie, R. A. (1999)."Book Reviews"(PDF).Mineralogical Magazine. Vol. 63, no. 2. Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 14 June 2018. Retrieved26 November 2017.
Smith, Henry George (1896).Gems and Precious Stones. Charles Potter.Archived from the original on 21 January 2013. Retrieved19 February 2020.
Streeter, Edwin William; Hatten, Joseph (1882).The Great Diamonds of the World. G. Bell & Sons.Archived from the original on 4 June 2017. Retrieved26 November 2017.
Sucher, Scott D.; Carriere, Dale P. (2008). "The Use of Laser and X-ray Scanning to Create a Model of the Historic Koh-i-Noor Diamond".Gems & Gemology.44 (2):124–141.doi:10.5741/GEMS.44.2.124.
Tarshis, Dena K. (2000). "The Koh-i-Noor Diamond and its Glass Replica at the Crystal Palace Exhibition".Journal of Glass Studies.42. Corning Museum of Glass:133–143.ISSN0075-4250.JSTOR24191006.
Young, Paul (2007). ""Carbon, Mere Carbon": The Kohinoor, the Crystal Palace, and the Mission to Make Sense of British India".Nineteenth-Century Contexts.29 (4):343–358.doi:10.1080/08905490701768089.S2CID144262612.
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