The Koh-i-Noor ( ) is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing . It is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The earliest recorded history dates to the late 15th century, when it came into the possession of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire. After the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, it was presented to his son, Humayun, by the family of the ruler of Gwalior.
During the reign of Emperor Shah Jahan, the Koh-i-Noor became one of the jewels adorning the Peacock Throne. In 1739, following the Mughal defeat at the Battle of Karnal, Nader Shah captured Delhi and took the Koh-i-Noor and other imperial treasures to Persia. After Nader Shah's death in 1747, the Koh-i-Noor passed through the hands of rulers of the Durrani Empire before coming into the possession of Ranjit Singh, ruler of the Sikh Empire, in 1813. It was surrendered to Queen Victoria in 1849 by the then-11-year-old Duleep Singh, following the Second Anglo-Sikh War and the annexation of the Punjab by the East India Company.
In 1851, the diamond was displayed at the Great Exhibition in London, where its original cut drew criticism. Prince Albert subsequently had it recut by Coster Diamonds into an oval brilliant.Howie, p. 293. Since arriving in Britain, it has been worn only by female members of the British royal family, including Queen Victoria, who wore it as a brooch and circlet.Mears, et al., p. 27. It was later mounted in the Crown of Queen Alexandra in 1901, the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in 1937.Mears, et al., p. 27.
The diamond is now on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London. The governments of India, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan have claimed ownership and sought its return, while the British government maintains that it was acquired legally under the Last Treaty of Lahore in 1849.
History
Early history
In 1310, the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji acquired a large diamond after subjugating the Kakatiya dynasty of southern India. His court poet Amir Khusrau quotes a Kakatiya messenger as saying that this diamond was "unrivaled in the world", and that wise men refused to believe its existence. The 18th century chronicler Khafi Khan identifies this precious stone as the Koh-i-Noor.
The Koh-i-Noor first appears in the historical record in the late 15th century and subsequently came into the possession of Emperor Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire. In 1526, after defeating Ibrahim Khan Lodi at the First Battle of Panipat, Babur's son, Humayun, captured the family of Bikramjit, the ruler of Gwalior and a vassal of Lodi. The family, who were in Agra at the time, subsequently presented Humayun with a diamond. In his autobiography, Babur wrote that "the gem was so invaluable that its value could feed the whole world for a day".: “The family of Raja Bikramajit of Gwalior, who were in Agra, presented Humayun with a number of jewels and valuables, including a famous diamond estimated to weigh eight misqals. When Emperor Babur arrived in Agra, Humayun offered him the diamond, but Babur returned it to Humayun.”
After Babur's death, Humayun became the next Mughal emperor and inherited the throne along with the diamond. A few years later, his rule faced rebellions from his brothers, leading him to divide the empire's territories among them. When Humayun attempted to reunite the territories, the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri attacked him. The two sides subsequently fought at Chausa and Kannauj over a period of more than two years, with Humayun suffering defeat in both battles and fleeing to Iran to seek refuge with Tahmasp I the rule of Safavid. In gratitude for Tahmasp's protection, Humayun presented the diamond to him. The diamond thus left India for Iran for the first time and remained in Tahmasp's possession for about three years. Tahmasp later presented it to Nizam Shah, the ruler of Ahmadnagar Sultanate and a close friend who was reportedly a great admirer of the diamond. After returning to India, the diamond remained in Nizam Shah's possession for several years before passing to Qutb Shah, the ruler of Golconda.
In 1656, the diamond was in the possession of Mir Jumla, the prime minister of Qutb Shah, who subsequently presented it to Emperor Shah Jahan. Shah Jahan then commissioned the Peacock Throne, which was adorned with diamonds, gold, and various precious stones. Abdu-l Hamid Lahori wrote that the throne took seven years to complete and cost 100 lakh rupees. The Peacock Throne had twelve emerald columns, with two jewel-encrusted peacocks above each column, as well as a tree adorned with rubies, diamonds, emeralds, and pearls between each pair of peacocks.
In Nadir Shah's possession
The diamond was first referred to as the Koh-i-Noor by Muhammad Kazim Marvi, a Persian biographer of Nader Shah. According to Marvi, the Koh-i-Noor was set into the Peacock Throne commissioned by Shah Jahan. In 1739, Nader Shah's invasion of the Mughal Empire ended with the defeat of Muhammad Shah at the Battle of Karnal. After capturing Delhi, Persian forces took the Peacock Throne, along with other imperial treasures, to Persia. The throne subsequently became one of the symbols of Persian imperial power. Among the jewels acquired by Nader Shah were the Koh-i-Noor and the Darya-ye Noor.
According to the Afghan chronicle Siraj al-Tawarikh, after Nader Shah's assassination in 1747, the first lady of his harem gave the Koh-i-noor to his general Ahmad Shah, who later established the Durrani Empire. According to another account, Nader Shah's grandson gave it to Ahmad Shah in 1751 in return for his support.Kim Siebenhüner in Hofmeester and Grewe, pp. 27–28. One of Ahmad's grandsons, Shah Shuja Durrani, wore a bracelet containing the Koh-i-Noor on the occasion of Mountstuart Elphinstone's visit to Peshawar in 1808. A year later, Shah Shuja formed an alliance with the United Kingdom to help defend against a possible invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. He was quickly overthrown, but fled with the diamond to Lahore in the Sikh Empire (present-day Pakistan).
In Ranjit Singh's possession
Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire, took the possession of Koh-i-Noor from Shah Shuja in 1813. According to one account, Ranjit Singh insisted upon the gem being given to him, in return for his hospitality.Davenport, pp. 57–59. Shah Shuja's memoirs state that Ranjit Singh extorted the diamond from him by having his son tortured in front of him.
Ranjit Singh had the diamond examined by jewelers of Lahore for two days to ensure that Shuja had not tricked him. After the jewelers confirmed its genuineness, he donated 125,000 rupees to Shuja. Ranjit Singh then asked the principal jewelers of Amritsar to estimate the diamond's value; the jewelers declared that the value of the diamond was "far beyond all computation". Ranjit Singh then affixed the diamond to the front of his turban, and paraded on an elephant to enable his subjects to see it. He used to wear it as an armlet during major festivals such as Diwali and Dusserah, and took it with him during travel. He would exhibit it to prominent visitors, especially British officers.
One day, Ranjit Singh asked the diamond's former ownersShuja and his wife Wafa Begumto estimate its value. Wafa Begum replied that if a strong man threw a stone in four cardinal directions and vertically, Koh-i-Noor would be worth more than the gold and precious stones filled in the space. Ranjit Singh grew paranoid about the Koh-i-Noor being stolen, because in the past, another valuable jewel had been stolen from him while he was intoxicated. He kept the diamond within a high-security facility at the Gobindgarh Fort when it was not in use. When the diamond was to be transported, it was placed in a pannier on a guarded camel; 39 other camels with identical panniers were included in the convoy; the diamond was always placed on the first camel immediately behind the guards, but great secrecy was maintained regarding which camel carried it. Only Ranjit Singh's treasurer Misr Beli Ram knew which camel carried the diamond.
In June 1839, Ranjit Singh suffered his third stroke, and it became apparent that he would die soon. On his deathbed, he started giving away his valuable possessions to religious charities, and appointed his eldest son Kharak Singh as his successor. A day before his death, on 26 June 1839, a major argument broke out between his courtiers regarding the fate of Koh-i-Noor. Ranjit Singh himself was too weak to speak, and communicated using gestures. Bhai Gobind Ram, the head Brahmin of Ranjit Singh, insisted that the king had willed Koh-i-Noor and other jewels to the Jagannath Temple, Puri: the king apparently supported this claim through gestures, as recorded in his court chronicle Umdat-ut-Tawarikh. However, treasurer Beli Ram insisted that it was a state property rather than Ranjit Singh's personal property, and therefore, should be handed over to Kharak Singh.
After Ranjit Singh's death, Beli Ram refused to send the diamond to the temple, and hid it in his vaults. Meanwhile, Kharak Singh and wazir Dhian Singh also issued orders stating that the diamond should not be taken out of Lahore.
In Gulab Singh's possession On 8 October 1839, the new emperor Kharak Singh was overthrown in a coup by his prime minister Dhian Singh. The prime minister's brother Gulab Singh, Raja of Jammu, came into possession of the Koh-i-Noor. Kharak Singh later died in prison, soon followed by the mysterious death of his son and successor Nau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840. Gulab Singh held onto the stone until January 1841, when he presented it to emperor Sher Singh in order to win his favour, after his brother Dhian Singh negotiated a ceasefire between Sher Singh and the overthrown empress Chand Kaur. Gulab Singh had attempted to defend the widowed empress at her fort in Lahore, during two days of conflict and shelling by Sher Singh and his troops. Despite handing over the Koh-i-Noor, Gulab Singh as a result of the ceasefire returned safely to Jammu with a wealth of gold and other jewels taken from the treasury.
Worn by child emperor Duleep Singh On 15 September 1843, both Sher Singh and prime minister Dhian Singh were assassinated in a coup led by Ajit Singh Sandhawalia. However, the next day in a counter coup led by Dhian's son Hira Singh the assassins were killed. Aged 24, Hira Singh succeeded his father as prime minister, and installed the five-year old Duleep Singh as emperor. The Koh-i-Noor was now fastened to the arm of the child emperor in court at Lahore. Duleep Singh and his mother empress Jind Kaur, had till then resided in Jammu, the kingdom governed by Gulab Singh.
Following his nephew Prime Minister Hira Singh's assassination on 27 March 1844, and the subsequent outbreak of the First Anglo-Sikh War, Gulab Singh himself led the Sikh empire as its prime minister, and despite defeat in the war, he became the first Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir on 16 March 1846, under the Treaty of Amritsar.
Surrender to Queen Victoria
On 29 March 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War, the remaining territories of the Sikh Empire were formally annexed to Company rule, and the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed, officially ceding the Koh-i-Noor to Queen Victoria and the Maharaja's other assets to the company. Article III of the treaty read:
The lead signatory of the treaty for the by then eleven-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was his commander-in-chief Tej Singh, a loyalist of Maharaja Gulab Singh who had previously been in possession of the Koh-i-Noor and gained Kashmir from the Sikh empire, via treaty with Britain, following the First Anglo-Sikh War.