Ball— Description of tico large Spinel Ruhies. 397 



throne. Unless the names of Timur and others which were upon it 

 were suhsequently deleted, it cannot be identified with Nadir Shah's 

 ruby. 



The question arises have the dates any meaning, and can they be 

 connected with any liistorical events. 



Jahangir succeeded Akbar in 1605 ; and I have fniled to find any 

 plausible reason why the engraving on the rubies was deferred, as both 

 presumably, ^ and the one which is dated, almost certainly, descended 

 to him from Akbar. The diamond, though not the one referred to on 

 p. 391, may still have been acquired through Prince Khurum {i.e. Shah 

 Jahan), when he was first in Golconda, about 1,617, and may have been 

 engraved on the completion of its cutting. I can find no particular 

 events recorded as having taken place on the above dates. 



Shah Jahan, who is in each case indicated by his title Sahib- 

 Kiian Sani, or Second Lord of the Conjunction, caused the diamond 

 and one of the rubies (Lady Carew's) to be engraved in a.h. 1039 

 (= A.n. 1629). The other ruby (Nadir Shah's) was engraved and dated 

 A.H. 1044 (=A.J). 1634-5). 



The first date was the year after his accession ; and tlie second was 

 notable as being that of the completion of the Peacock throne. 



Shah Jahan also had his name engraved on Timur's ruby, 

 which he caused to be set in the Peacock throne, and that, as we 

 have seen, unless some of the names were afterwards deleted, was a 

 distinct stone. 



"Whether the diamond known as "Jahangir's" ever reached the 

 possession of Aurangzeb is not recorded ; it was not seen by Tavernier, 

 and it did not bear any inscription later than Shah Jahan's. It first 

 came to light, of late years, in Constantinople in the year 1866. It 

 has since been cut, and was reduced in weight from 116 to 72 carats. 

 It was then sold to the Gaikwar of Baroda. 



Aurangzeb in the year 1658^ assumed the title Alamgir, and that 

 is the title -which appears on these two rubies. Nadir Shah's ruby is 



^ Akbar's name is engraved on the rubies, as we have seen, in the possessive 

 form, Akbar Shald. 



'^ Aurangzeb's accession: "On the first Zil-ka-da, 1068 a.h. (22nd July, 1658, 

 A.D.), after saying his prayers, and at an auspicious time, he took his seat on the 

 throne of Hindustan, witliout even troubling himself about placing his name on 

 the coinage, or having it repeated in the khutba. Such matters as titks, the khutba, 

 the coinage, and the sending of presents to other sovereigns, were all deferred to 

 his second taking possession of the throne. " Khafi Khan, Muntakhabu-1-Lubab," 

 vol. ii., p. 39 : see " Elliot," vol. vii., p. 229. 



