Bloody diamond? Women's best friend, Men's enemy?

Koh-I-Noor

The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond

Author: William Dalrymple

It is said in Vishnu Purana, an ancient Indian text, of a cursed gemstone, Syamanataka. The King of Dwaraka, Satrajit,  a worshipper of Sun God Surya, was given an audience as he was strolling on the beach one day. The gem that Surya was wearing was so radiant that King Satrajit could see his God. Surya removed his shiny pendant so that his devotee could visualise Him. Surya later gifted the gem, Syamantaka, to the King as a token of affection.

The gem turned out to be an albatross around its wearer's neck. Legend had it that it was good only to one with a pure heart.

Satrajit's brother, who was gifted with it, was mauled by a lion. The lion was killed by Jambavan, the Bear King. Jambavan gave the Syamantaka to his son as a play toy. 

Krishna, Satrajit's son-in-law, was accused of killing off Satrajit's brother to own Syamantaka. So Krishna had to lead a hunting party to track down the jewel. The party found it in possession of Jambavan, who refused to return the gem. A fierce, protracted battle ensued. With the help of His invincible weapon, Sudarshan Chakra, Krishna defeated Jambavan and cleared His name. 

As it was seen, Syamantaka was cursed with causing much envy and bloodshed. Centred around this story, Indians have many fables about the power of precious stones. Many local tales tell about the mystical powers of gems, their entailed superstitions and stories of guardian nagas. In fact, gemmology is an ancient science in India. The fascination of Indians with gold and precious stones cannot be overstated. They have given ornaments unique places in society, worship and personal grooming. Scripts after scripts have been written about decorations and the glow they contribute to youthful appearance and feminine beauty.

Around the same vein, a book surrounds India's most famous diamond, Kohinoor. In reality, it is not the most exotic or biggest diamond by any imagination. It, nevertheless, has captured the hearts of conquerors, marauders, mavericks and rulers over generations. 

For centuries, many sojourners and invaders to India had been captivated by the sea of wealth and gems that they saw in India. 

Kohinoor: The modern version

It is thought that Kohinoor may have been first noted during the Vijayanagar reign. Babur, a Turko-Mogul poet prince with a shallow opinion of India, had captured parts of India and acquired an extraordinary diamond in his conquest. Was it the Kohinoor? This stone was initially obtained by Alauddin Khilji in the 15th century when he invaded the Southern part of India.

Many gifts were exchanged between Humayun and the Persians, mostly of precious stones. At one juncture, Humayun (Akbar's father) lost his kingdom but got it back with the help of mercenaries and the parting of some Indian stones. 

By the time Shah Jhan ruled India, the Mughal Empire had probably reached its zenith, dripping with silk and jewels, second only to the Ottoman Empire. Diamond merchants were making a kill. Around this time, Victorian commentators identified a diamond as the most excellent Kohinoor (Mountain of Light), compared to Babur's exotic diamond that the absent-minded Humayun lost. 

Shah Jahan commissioned the most spectacular bejewelled object, the Peacock Throne, a massive golden throne covered with diamonds, rubies, pearls and emeralds. The idea was to make Shah Jahan comparable to the biblical King Solomon. There is a query about whether the fabled Kohinoor graced the Peacock Throne or was the different 'Great Mughal Diamond'. There needs to be more clarity. Others say that the 'Great Mughal Diamond' is the Orlov, which made its way to Russia and Catherine the Great. It is now on display in a Russian museum.

Subsequent Mughal successors proved to be weak. The Empire fell.

The Peacock Throne then became the possession of Nader Shah, a Persian mercenary who rose to power. A rock, which would eventually be labelled Kohinoor, lay on one of the peacock heads. The rule also collapsed, and the Afghni Darranis became the proud owner of the gem. Maharajah Ranjit Singh, of the Sikh Empire, capital in Lahore, wrestled it from him and wore the Kohinoor on his white turban. Ranjit Singh was to be dressed austerely in all-white. Kohinoor was much in contestation. Later in his life, Ranjit was debilitated by a series of strokes that rendered him unable to vocalise. At one juncture, it was assumed that Ranjit wanted the Kohinoor to be placed at the Lord Jagannath temple in Puri. The Sikh Treasury, however, wanted to be willed to his successor.

This is when the story gets interesting. It shows the conniving nature of the colonial forces who have only one thing on their mind, acquiring wealth at any expense without giving a damn to the human beings they lie, con and plunder.

After Ranjit's death, the confusion of succession and the internal squabble between Ranjit's wives and half-siblings, Rani Jindan Kaur, the 17th wife, took the rein as the regent on behalf of her five-year-old son, Duleep Singh. Again, internal squabbles over the running of states were the best opportunity for the British to separate mother and son. After the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the British eventually took over Punjab and ousted Duleep Singh. A 10-year-old Duleep just signed off everything to the British.

Property of the Crown

Duleep Singh was adopted by a British agent who managed to brainwash him into loving everything English and later converting to Christianity. He was sent to study in the United Kingdom with Queen Victoria as his stepmother.

To mark the grandeur of the East Indian Company, the Marquis of Dalhousie thought presenting the Kohinoor to Queen Victoria. What could be more satisfying than having Duleep Singh give it to her? Meanwhile, bringing the coveted Kohinor proved to be quite challenging. It was quietly sneaked out aboard HMS Medea with so much drama behind the scenes. It seems the curse of Kohinoor was already rearing its ugly head. There was a cholera outward onboard, and they were refused a stopover at Mauritius. Soon afterwards, the vessel sailed directly into a 12-hour gale, almost breaking into two.

The British public was riled to believe that an exotic diamond was coming to their shores. Unfortunately, they were not impressed when viewed in Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London. The Indian idea of cutting diamonds differed significantly from the European cut. The Indian diamonds are less shiny. Tinkering with lights and lamps failed to impress the crowd. Queen Victoria's consort, Prince Albert, decided to summon the royal jeweller, Messrs Garrard. The jewellers promised to cut the diamond without losing a single carat but to give an admirable lustre. All that turned out to be hogwash as the size of Kohinoor was slashed to almost half its size and unrecognisable.

Queen Victoria, the de facto proprietor of the Kohinoor, lost Prince Albert six years after gaining possession. Albert died at 42 of typhoid. Kohinoor was dawned on a black widow's gown. 

Meanwhile, at 21, Duleep Singh became a rebel. He developed Sikh consciousness and wanted to re-establish his lost Sikh kingdom. His letters to his estranged mother were intercepted by the British. After much wrangling, a meeting was arranged between mother and son in Calcutta. She followed him back to the UK. 

Kansan died soon later. Duleep's patriotic fervour grew further. To embarrass the British royal family, at the age of 26 years, he went on to marry a 16-year illegitimate child of a slave from an Egyptian convent who did not speak any English. His failed attempts at stirring Punjabi nationalism frustrated him. His way of spiting the British was to have big wild booze parties and send the bill to the Home Office. 

After learning of Duleep Singh's fate and perhaps of Queen Victoria's unhappy life after acquiring the Kohinoor, it was implanted in the public psyche that the gem was cursed. So, with the passing of Queen Victoria, the diamond was handed not to her successor, King Edward  VII, but to her daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra. 

It had subsequent cuts and was used by Queen Elizabeth I and is now to be used by Queen Consort Carmella.

Since 1947, every time Kohinoor makes its presence in the public sphere, be it QE II Coronation or King Charles III's latest, screams of claims for lawful ownership of Kohinoor are heard. Right now, the contenders range from Puri's Jagannath temple, which Ranjit Singh had allegedly gifted to, to Punjab, where Ranjit's treasury was and never left to Pakistan, where Lahore, Ranjit's capital, used to be to Afghanistan from whose King, Ranjit had taken from, to India to all these countries these regions are from.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

All for what?

Uncut Gems (2019)

Every day we push our boundaries. We test the waters. We want to stretch our luck an extra inch, hoping that it would give better outcomes. When met with resistance, we recoil only to return to repeat the whole imbroglio all over again.  We plead for clemency when our sneaky plan is discovered, knowing very well that it is not for real. Back in our minds, we are aware that it is certainly not the last, even though we say so. We tend to take things for granted. 

The only problem is that we realise that the threshold is breached when it is a wee bit too late. By that time, the damage is irreparable, and the point of no return has been reached. 

The first Monday of the new year is dubbed as the ‘Divorce Monday’. After months and even years of sweeping the brewing trouble under the proverbial carpet, the events surrounding Christmas and New Year must have had burst the bubble. It is said to be the busiest day for family lawyers when they get the most enquiries regarding divorces. 

I discovered ‘Uncut Gem’ to be a difficult film to watch. I found myself very unsettled. All through the show, all I saw was the protagonist, Adam Sandler, a diamond merchant, Jewish of course, just going around shouting, cursing profanities, blabbing incessantly on his mobile, lying through his teeth and yakking. He is a poor role model for a husband and a father as his tryst with his vivacious mistress is an open secret. He tries to wrangle himself through all his deals because of the money he hopes to make for himself and his family. He rolls dough, cut deals, fixes auctions, bends the truth, dodges the mob and more just to find out that he is not the beneficiary at the end. All for what? For whom to savour the fruit or gloat in the nectar?

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The sad tale of riches to rags!

Thanks to RS for opening my eyes to show me that there are many more things unknown to me...
The fascinating tale of Maharaja Daleep Singh who relinquished the Koh-i-Noor to become the most prominent fixture in Queen Victoria’s court. But his Indian past came back to haunt him, writes Ammar Ali Qureshi –

A young Maharajah Daleep Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh is arguably the most remarkable figure in Punjab’s history. His son and last ruler of the Sikh Empire, Daleep Singh, is perhaps the most tragic. Ranjit succeeded his father as head of a small confederacy at the age of ten and, owing to his military genius, became the ruler of Punjab when he was twenty-one. He turned the tide of history by taking the battle to the land of the invaders on the western front, and conquered them; His empire, which lasted for fifty years from 1799 to 1849, stretched from the southern districts of Punjab to Afghanistan in the west Kashmir (which also included Ladakh and Gilgit and Baltistan) in the north-east, and up to Sutlej (which flows through Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pardesh) in the east. Ranjit’s greatest achievement, however, was not military but political conquest, as he was able to unite Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs under one banner. Ranjit Singh died in 1839 and in just ten years a combination of treacherous and intriguing courtiers, incompetent rulers, and an assertive and aggressive but leaderless army brought the empire of an exceptional man to a humiliating end. Within four years of Ranjit’s death, his three successors were murdered; Daleep Singh, born in Lahore in 1838 to Ranjit’s youngest wife Maharani Jind Kaur, became the boy-king at the age of five in 1843 with his ambitious mother as the regent.

Daleep Singh as country gentleman

Following Ranjit’s death and during the rule of his weak successors, the Punjab Khalsa army emerged as the kingmaker, the most powerful player in the state which dictated its demands through its delegates known as Panchayats or Committees of Five. Maharani Jind Kaur and her scheming courtiers were wary of the army’s power and devised a plan to tame it by provoking it to invade British territory across the Sutlej, in the hope that it would be cut down to size by the British or its energies would be exhausted in the campaigns of conquest. It turned out to be a major miscalculation as the British coveted Punjab and considered Lahore Durbar an obstacle in their expansion plans. The invasion gave them the impetus to move eastward, defeating the Khalsa army, after fiercely fought battles, in the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1846. The Maharani was removed from the guardianship of her son, imprisoned initially in Punjab and later banished to Benares in present-day Uttar Pradesh, from where she escaped to Nepal and lived there virtually as a prisoner till 1861. Daleep Singh was placed under the guardianship of the Council of Regency, controlled by a British Resident, till his eventual dethronement when Punjab was annexed in 1849.

Victoria and Koh-i-Noor 

The Anglo-Sikh wars of 1846 and 1849 were the fiercest and deadliest that the British encountered in India. So grave was the situation that the British Governor General, Sir Henry Hardinge, had to come to the aid of the British Commander in Chief, Sir Hugh Gough, and served under him. On the Punjab Khalsa army side, it was a lack of efficient leadership which resulted in defeat, although they were able to inflict colossal losses on the British. The rank and file of the Khalsa army put up the bravest and steadiest of fights against the British. However, their military generals were political figures, appointed by the ruling family, who lacked military expertise, indulged in double-dealing, and were traitors within the gates. –

In 1845, the Sikh Generals crossed the Sutlej but deliberately did not attack Ferozepur, the forward British base. The battles were fought at Mudki, Ferozeshah, Aliwal, and Sabraon – all of them fiercely contested by both sides. Each of these battles might have been a defeat for the British if the traitorous Punjabi military commanders had not left the field. The same story was repeated in 1849 in the battles of Ramnagar, Chilianwala and Gujrat – as the Sikh soldiers fought fearlessly but were let down by their commanders. “No troops could have fought better,” observed military historian G.B Malleson, “than the Sikhs fought, no army could have been worse led. Had a guiding mind directed the movements of the Sikh army, nothing could have saved the exhausted British.”

Maharani Bamba, Daleep Singh’s wife

The conditions of surrender in 1849 required Daleep to renounce his title to the sovereignty of Punjab, ordered confiscation of state property, and demanded the surrender of the spectacular and sparkling Koh-i-Noor diamond to Queen Victoria. Daleep, in return, was granted a pension, provided he remained “obedient to the British Government”.

All of the Kingdom’s property, including the Koh-i-noor and other jewels, now belonged to the British

Rajmohan Gandhi writes about the end of Lahore Durbar in his recently published history of Punjab: “On 29 March 1849, a ten-year-old Dalip Singh was told to sign a document. Writing his name in Roman letters, the boy-king renounced, on his behalf and on behalf of all heirs and successors, every ‘right, title or claim’ to Punjab. All of the Kingdom’s property, including the Koh-i-noor and other jewels, now belonged to the British. The Sikh kingdom gone, all of Punjab was annexed to British India. The proclamation of annexation read out that day was received by those present with silence”.

Daleep Singh statue at Thetford, Suffolk

The real plan was to convert Daleep to Christianity

In 1850, Daleep was moved to Fatehgarh, a center of Christian missionaries located on the bank of the Ganges in present-day Uttar Pradesh, and placed under the guardianship of a Scottish army doctor, Dr. John Login. Previously tutored in Persian and Gurmukhi, Daleep was taught English in addition to Persian and made to read the Bible. Ostensibly, he had been removed from Punjab due to fear of further rebellion, but the real plan was to convert Daleep to Christianity and exile him to England. In 1853 Daleep converted to Christianity, which as the British Governor General wrote rendered Daleep politically irrelevant to the Sikhs, and sailed to England a year later, receiving a twenty-one gun salute at Malta and Gibraltar after a brief stopover in Egypt. He arrived in London in the summer of 1854 and very soon was invited by Buckingham Palace. The first meeting between the fifteen-year old Indian prince and thirty five-year old Queen Victoria, who would continue to have profound influence on his subsequent life, went very well and Daleep became an instant favourite of the British monarch. She described him as ‘extremely handsome’ and possessing ‘a graceful and dignified manner’. She was so impressed that she commissioned her favourite artist to paint his portrait. Prince Albert, her husband, had a special coat of arms designed for him. He partied with the crème de la crème of Victorian Britain and seduced a string of society beauties Although Victoria never visited India, she was drawn to all things Indian and enjoyed the company of the English-speaking young Maharajah. She remained a friend and a supporter to his last day as their relationship weathered many storms in the next four decades. Daleep was regularly invited to all social events at Buckingham Palace and was addressed as “Your Serene Highness”. He partied with the crème de la crème of Victorian Britain and seduced a string of society beauties. Her Majesty even tried her hand at match-making and suggested the exiled Raja of Coorg’s daughter, who was also her god-daughter, as a suitable match to Daleep, who politely declined saying that he wanted to wait till the age of twenty-one or twenty-two before he got married. Interestingly, Daleep, a few years later, introduced the exiled princess to an English widower, whom she married.

Maharani Jind Kaur, Daleep Singh’s mother. 

As an infant in Punjab, Daleep loved falconry and learned to hunt and shoot. In England, he took to the countryside and indulged in his passion of game-shooting. He travelled through Europe in 1857 and it was in Geneva when he first came to know about the Indian revolt and mutiny in Meerut. Daleep was unwilling to condemn it and when the British foreign secretary complained about his attitude to the queen, she answered that a young Indian prince, barred from his ancestral throne and forced to live in Britain, should not be expected to denounce Indians. Back in 1849 Daleep had been coerced to hand over the Koh-i-Noor to the British Governor General in India. One day when he was having his usual conversations with Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace she showed him the famous diamond. Daleep took it towards the window and examined it intensely for more than half an hour without uttering a word. Her Majesty’s staff displayed anxiety as they thought he might throw it out of the window but Daleep came back to the queen and handed it back to her with the words: ‘It is to me, Madam, the greatest pleasure thus to have the opportunity, as a loyal subject, of myself tendering to my sovereign the Koh-i-Noor.

Princess Bamba Sutherland in traditional dress after her move to Lahore

Daleep enjoyed the life of an English country gentleman and acquired, through a British government loan, a sprawling 17,000 acre estate at Elveden, Suffolk, located in the north-east of London. He loved his Elveden estate and converted it into an Indian-style palace, the interiors done up in Mughal and Indian décor and equipped with expensive carpets, ceramics and glassware. Elveden had a huge aviary which housed his rare collection of birds and a number of cheetahs, leopards and monkeys were kept in a menagerie. Turning Elveden into one of the best sporting venues in the country, Daleep reveled in hosting parties for Victorian aristocracy where the Prince of Wales was a regular guest for shooting games. In 1861, Daleep travelled to India and brought his mother to Britain. He was not permitted to visit Punjab and had an emotional reunion with his mother, meeting her after nearly 14 years, in Calcutta, which was then the capital of British India. Maharani Jind was perceived by the British as a bad influence and an intriguer by disposition. Back in London, she was not allowed to live with Daleep and was lodged up in Kensington in west London. Her residence was a source of wonder for her London neighbors who would often stop to have a look at the basement, where her Indian cooks would be busy preparing her food, and sniff the pungent smells of Indian curry! Maharani Jind Kaur had wanted her ashes to be interred at the Maharaja Ranjit Singh memorial in Lahore British suspicions about Maharani Jind were not unfounded; she informed Daleep about the supposed prophecy of the tenth Sikh guru regarding an exiled prince who would come back to rule Punjab. This prophecy would bother Daleep’s mind a lot in years to come. Maharani was in poor health, nearly blind, and suddenly died in 1863. Daleep again travelled to India to cremate her in Bombay as he was not allowed to visit Punjab, although his mother had wanted her ashes to be interred at Maharaja Ranjit Singh memorial in Lahore.

Princess Bamba’s grave at the ‘gora kabristan’ in Lahore

On his way back, he stopped at Cairo and married, in June 1864, a missionary school teacher, Bamba Muller, an illegitimate daughter of an Ethiopian Coptic slave and Ludwig Muller who was a German businessman. Bamba lived with him in Elveden and gave birth to seven children – two of whom died in infancy. His five children – two sons and three daughters-lived like royalty in the sprawling mansion. Both sons – Victor and Fredrick – went to Eton and Cambridge and gained commission in the British army. His three daughters – Bamba, Sophia and Catherine studied at Oxford.

Daleep Singh’s life can be divided into four distinct phases: boy-king, dethronement and banishment outside Punjab, exile to England and life as an English country gentleman, and a rebel who plotted but did not succeed in reclaiming his throne. The last phase of his life started around 1880 when he read for the first time about the circumstances leading to his dethronement and conditions attached with annexation. Swayed by feelings of resentment and revenge and spurred on by the prophecy of the tenth guru, Daleep entered into a long battle with the British government, arguing about the illegality of the annexation of Punjab and demanded that he be reinstated as the Maharaja. Victoria offered him peerage in the House of Lords but he declined although he was facing financial problems and his health had begun to deteriorate. He read; he schemed; he failed. British spies kept a close eye on him and intercepted his mail to foil his plans. Having resigned the stipend given to him by the British government, Daleep, along with his family, boarded the ship, in 1886, and informed the government that he was going to India to reclaim his throne. He was detained at Aden in Yemen where he re-embraced the Sikh faith. Daleep sent his family back to England but himself went to Paris.

Elveden Hall, home of Raja Daleep Singh 

He lived in Paris for six years, dreaming and planning to return to India

Conspiring with Russian and Irish revolutionaries in Paris, he escaped to Russia but could not get an audience with the Czar although he wrote on his file that he could be used at some later stage. Fate had not yet finished her sport with Daleep. His Russian patron suddenly passed away and with him died any chances of winning over any Russian support for his plan to enter Punjab through the Khyber Pass. His wife expired in England while he was in Russia but in Paris he had acquired an English mistress, Ada Wetherhill, whom he married on his return to Paris and had two daughters with – Alexandra and Ada Irene Helene. By then his health had started deteriorating as his financial position became weaker by the day. His son tried to bring about reconciliation between him and Queen Victoria, who met him in France, in 1891, and pardoned him as he wept through the meeting.

Duleep Singh’s grave at Elveden 

Daleep was born in a royal palace in Lahore and brought up by a legion of servants and courtiers. He inherited the most powerful and rich of the Indian states, which was many times larger than Britain. But in October 1893, Daleep passed away in a small hotel room in Paris, alone and penniless. His dead body was taken back to Elveden where he was buried, next to his first wife and youngest son, in the church’s graveyard. His daughter settled in Lahore and married the Principal of the King Edward Medical College Princess Bamba Sofia, his eldest daughter, went to India in 1924 and took her grandmother’s ashes from Bombay to Lahore to be interred there as per her wish. Bamba settled in Lahore, married the Principal of King Edward Medical College, Mr Sutherland, and died in Lahore in 1957 – ten years after partition. Daleep’s one son and three daughters married but surprisingly none of them had any children – bringing Ranjit’s lineage to an end after two generations although his name continues to inspire many.

The author’s ancestors served as chief Qazis of Punjab during the reigns of Ranjit Singh and his successors till the fall of the Lahore Durbar in 1849.