Koh e Noor: World's Most Infamous Diamond

Many precious gems have a blood-soaked history. Koh e Noor surpasses them all with a litany of horrors. The history and lives of the rulers who owned the Koh e Noor were filled with greed, violence, murders, mutilations, torture and treachery.  In one particularly gruesome incident, molten lead is poured into the crown of a Persian prince to make him reveal the location of the diamond.

The diamond is said to have been mined in Golkonda area of southern India around the1300s, or even earlier. The diamond was originally installed as one of the eyes of the presiding goddess of Warangal by the Kakatiya kings. In 1323, Gayas ud Din Tughlaq defeated the Kakatiya rulers and took the diamond from the temple. A year later, Gayas ud Din was murdered by his son in a conspiracy.

The curse of the Koh e Noor diamond dates back to a Hindu text from the time of the first authentic appearance of the diamond in 1306. The curse reads:

 “He owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.”  

By the 16th century, the stone had fallen into the hands of the first Mughal emperor Babur, whose son was the first to fall foul of the “curse” by being driven from his kingdom into exile.  Another Mughal ruler, Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal, had the diamond placed into the famous Peacock Throne of the dynasty but spent his last days of his life watching its reflection through a barred window after being imprisoned by his son, Aurangzeb.

It was only after the Mughals had been deposed and the control of the diamond passed to the Persians that the Koh e Noor received its present day name. The name Koh e Noor means “Mountain of Light.”

The story has it that Nadir Shah, the conqueror of the Mughals, was preparing to return home after sacking Delhi in 1736 when he realized the diamond was missing from his booty.

He was supposedly tipped off by a disenchanted member of the Mughal emperor’s harem that his enemy kept it hidden in his turban. Using an old war custom, Nadir Shah proposed an exchange of turbans. As the gem fell to the ground from the unfurling cloth and caught the light, Nadir Shah is said to have exclaimed, “Koh e Noor.” That is how the name originated.

After the assassination of Nadir Shah, another victim of the curse, the diamond came in the hands of Ahmed Shah Durrani the king’s chief guard who later became the Emir of Afghanistan. It then passed through the hands of his successors; each dethroned and ritually blinded, until it was passed in return for sanctuary to Ranjit Singh, the self-declared ruler of Punjab. Sikh king Ranjit Singh had taken the gem from an Afghan ruler Shah Shuja Durrani a descendent of Ahmed Shah Durrani who had sought sanctuary in India. After Ranjit Singh died, a war broke out between the Sikhs and the British.

The British got their hands on the jewel only sometime later. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1849, the Kingdom of the Punjab was formally annexed by the British. The Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria. By this time, the diamond had become much more than an object of desire. It had instead become a powerful symbol of sovereignty.

The gem passed on to Britain in 1851. It was presented to the Queen by a nine-year old boy Duleep Singh who was the last Sikh ruler of Punjab. He travelled all the way to Britain for the special occasion.

 The gem departed from Bombay on 6 April, 1851 on board HMS Medea. The ship had a difficult voyage: There was an outbreak of cholera on board. When the ship was in Mauritius on way to England, the locals demanded its immediate departure. Shortly afterwards, the vessel was hit by a severe gale that blew for some 12 hours.

The original weight of the Koh e Noor was 186 carat. However, Prince Albert, Victoria’s husband, spent £8,000 on having the Koh-i-Noor re-cut – at a cost of 40 per of its weight, slimming it down to 105 carats – - after complaints at the Great Exhibition that the imperial prize was lacking in lustre.

It was set into the Imperial Crown and since 1911 the diamond has been worn in crowns by the female consort to the monarch, including the late Queen Mother, who wore it for her husband’s coronation in 1937 and for her daughter’s coronation in 1953.

The Koh e Noor became for the Victorians as a symbol of the conquest of India. For post-colonial Indians and Pakistanis, it is a symbol of colonial looting.