22 DIAMOND 



this would place it about 4,000 years ago, or 2100 B.C. A long interval next makes 

 it the property of Vikramaditya, the rajah of Mjayin, 56 B.C., from whom it descended 

 to his successors, the Rajahs of Malwa, until the principality was subverted by 

 Mohammedan conquerors, into whoso hands it fell, with other spoils of infinite value. 

 Whatever may be thought of the legend which gives so high an antiquity to the 

 Koh-i-noor, we might expect some more trustworthy information when wo come down 

 so low as the beginning of the fourteenth century ; Malwa having been invaded and 

 overrun by the armies of Ala-ad-din, the sultan of Delhi, in 1306, who, according 

 to the autobiography of the sultan Baber, acquired the jewel. That it did become 

 the property of the sultans of Delhi is little doubtful, but when or how is matter of 

 some uncertainty ; although the grounds of the difficulty have not hitherto been in- 

 vestigated. 



In 1665 M. Jean Baptiste Tavernier, an enterprising and intelligent traveller, and 

 an eminent jeweller, although Ecuyer, Baron d'Aubonne, visited India especially to 

 purchase diamonds. His profession and his personal character seem to have recom- 

 mended him to the favourable attention of the nobles of the court of Delhi, and bigot 

 as he was, of Aurungzebe himself, by whose commands M. Tavernier was permitted to 

 inspect, handle, and weigh the jewels of the imperial cabinet. Amongst them was 

 one which far surpassed all the rest in size and value. Tavernier describes it as rose- 

 cut, of the shape of an egg cut in two, of good water, and weighing 319 ratis, 

 which, he says, is equal to 280 of our carats. 



There is but little doubt that the diamond examined by Tavernier in the Delhi 

 cabinet was the Koh-i-noor. Baber, the Mogul emperor, obtained a diamond, cor- 

 responding exactly with this, and it passed eventually into the possession of the 

 ruling family of Kabul. Nadir Shah, on his occupation of Delhi in 1739, compelled 

 Mohammed Shah, the great-grandson of Aurungzebe, to give up to him everything of 

 value that the imperial treasury possessed, and his biographer and secretary specifies 

 a peshJcash, or present, by Mohammed Shah to his conqueror of several magnificent 

 diamonds. According to the family and popular tradition, Mohammed Shah wore 

 the Koh-i-noor in front of his turban at his interview with his conquerer, who insisted 

 on exchanging turbans in proof of his regard. However this might have been, wo 

 need have little doubt that the great diamond of Aurungzebe was in the possession of 

 Mohammed Shah at the time of the Persian invasion ; and if it was, it most certainly 

 changed masters, and became, as is universally asserted, the property of Nadir Shah, 

 who is also said to have bestowed upon it the name of Koh-i-noor. After his death, the 

 diamond which he had wrested from the unfortunate representative of the house of 

 Timur, became the property of Ahmed Shah, the founder of the Abdali dynasty of 

 Kabul, having been given to him, or more probably taken by him, from Shahrikh, 

 the young son of Nadir. The jewel descended to the successors of Ahmed Shah, and 

 when Mr. Elphinstone was at Peshawur, was worn by Shah Shuja on his arm. 

 When Shah Shuja was driven from Kabul, he became the nominal guest and actual 

 prisoner of Runjet Sing, who spared neither importunity nor menace, until, in 1813, 

 he compelled the fugitive monarch to resign the precious gem, presenting him on the 

 occasion, it is said, with a lakh and 25,000 rupees, or about 12.000J. sterling. 

 According to Shah Shuja's own account, however, he assigned to him the revenues of 

 three villages, not one rupee of which ho ever realised. Runjet was highly elated by 

 the acquisition of the diamond, and wore it as an armlet at all great festivals. When 

 he was dying, an attempt was made by persons about him to persuade him to make 

 the diamond a present to Jagannuth, and it is said that he intimated assent by an 

 inclination of his head. The treasurer, however, in whose charge it was, refused to 

 give it up without better warrant, and Runjet dying before a written order could be 

 signed by him, the Koh-i-noor was preserved for a while for his successors. It was 

 occasionally worn by Rhurreuk Sing and Shu Sing. After the murder of the latter, 

 it remained in the Lahore treasury until the supercession of Dhulip Sing, and the 

 annexation of the Punjaub by the British Government, when the civil authorities 

 took possession of the Lahore treasury, under the stipulations previously made, that, 

 all the property of the state should bo confiscated to the East India Company, in part 

 payment of the debt duo by the Lahore government and of the expenses of the 

 war ; it was at the same time stipulated that the Koh-i-noor should bo presented to 

 the Queen of England. Such is the strange history of certainly one of the most ex- 

 traordinary diamonds in the world. After the Company became possessed of the 

 gem, it was taken in charge by Lord Dalhousio, and sent by him to England in 

 custody of two officers. Hunt't, Handbook of tJic Great Exhibition of 1851. 



As exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, the Koh-i-noor weighed 

 186j^ carats. 



Tho form of the Koh-i-noor is given in fig. 602. r is a largo piano at the base of 

 the diamond which is a cleavage-plane. F, also a large cleavage-plane, produced by 



