Ball — Descviptio)i of two large Spinel Rubies. 385 



In a native account^ of the completion of tlie Peacock throne by- 

 Shah Jahan in the year a.h. 1044 (=a.d. 1634), it is stated that, in 

 the jewelled recess intended for the cushion forming the seat of 

 the king, there was set "a ruby worth a lakh of rupees- •which 

 Shah Abbas, the King of Iran, had presented to the late Emperor, 

 Jahan gir, who sent it as a gift to his present Majesty, the Sahib 

 Kiran-i-sani, {i.e. Shah Jahan) when he accomplished the conquest of 

 Dakhin. On it -were engraved the names Sahib Kiran (Timur), Mir 

 Shah Rukh^ and Mirza TJlug Beg/ When, in course of time, it 

 came into the possession of Shah Abbas, liis name was added ; and 

 when Jahangir obtained it he added the name of himself, and that 

 of his father {i.e. Akbar). Now it received the name of his Most 

 Gracious Majesty Shah Jahan." 



"When in the year 1739, Muhammad Shah bestowed upon j^Tadir 

 Shah, " with his own magnificent hand," says another native writer,^ 

 the peacock throne there was set in it a ruby upwards of a girih 

 (three fingers) in breadth, and nearly two in length (six fingers), 

 which was commonly called Kiraj-i-alam,^'' tribute of the world." 



DoAV,® who obtained his information from native sources, gives the 

 following account : — 



" In the year 1635 great rejoicings were made upon the birth of 

 the Prince (Suliman Sheko), and the Emperor, on the occasion, 

 mounted a new throne made of solid gold, embossed with precious 

 stones. The throne had been seven years in finishing, and the expense 

 of the jewels only, amounted to twelve hundred and fifty thousand 

 pounds of our money. It was afterwards distinguished by the name 

 of Tahht-i-taus, or the peacock throne, from having the figui'es of two 

 peacocks standing behind it with their tails spread, which were studded 

 with jewels of various colours to represent the life. Between the pea- 

 cocks stood a parrot of the ordinary size, cut out of one emerald. The 

 finest jewel in the throne was a ruby which had fallen into the hands 

 of Timur when he plundered Delhi in the year 1398. Jahangir, with 

 peculiar barbarity, diminished the beauty and lustre of the stone by 



1 Badshah Nama of Abdul Samid Lahori ; Elliot, History of India, vol. vii., 

 pp. 45, 46. 



- The value of a lakh of rupees at the time was about £11,250. 



3 Shah E.ukh Mirza, 4th son of Timur, died (aged 71) in 850 a.h. (= 1446 a.d.) 



* TJlug Beg, son of Shah Rukh and grandson of Timur, bom at Sultanieh, 

 796 A.H. (1393 a.d) Published his Astronomical Tables, a.h. 841 (1437); slain 

 859 a.h. (= 1449 a.d.) See " Ain i Akbari," Calcutta, by Col. Jarret; 1891, p. 6. 



* Jaultar-i Samsam, Elliot, vol. viii., p. 89. 



* "Histoiy of Hindustan," vol. iii., p. 140. London : 1812. 



R.I. A. PEOC, SEE. III., VOL. III. 2D 



