Kohinoor Diamond

The Kohinoor Diamond in the British Crown Jewels was the Eye of Hindu Goddess of Warangal.
The Kohinoor diamond was originally installed as one of the eyes of the presiding goddess of Warangal by the Kakatiya kings. In 1323 Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq defeated the Kakatiya rulers and took the diamond from the temple. Due to this sin, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq was murdered just one year latter in a conspiracy by his own son. The cursed jewel was passed on to various kings throughout history, always bringing great misfortune and death.


Goddess Badhrakali of Warangal, the true owner of Kohinoor diamond.

In 1839, on his deathbed, Maharaj Ranjit Singh of Punjab donated the Koh-i-noor diamond to Lord Jagannath of the Puri Jagannath Temple in Orissa, but as he died the diamond was refused to be transferred to the temple by the British administrators. Thus for a second time the diamond had been stolen from a Hindu temple.
In 1850, the jewel was stolen from India and delivered to the British monarchy by force. Due to the curse of the diamond, the British empire also began to collapse shortly after it acquired the Kohinoor diamond. Today this same Kohinoor diamond is the crown jewel of the British empire, to be worn by the Queen of England. There have been many suggestions that the diamond should be returned to India.
The Jewel in the Crown: The Curse of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond
Its 750-year history is peppered with tales of murder and treachery. Now, secret papers recently released have added another twist to the 186-carat gem’s colourful history.
Some 155 years ago, a nine-year-old boy carrying a silk cushion was brought before Queen Victoria. His job was simple: to present Britain with the most glittering and symbolic spoil of its war to subjugate the Indian sub-continent.The boy was Duleep Singh, the last Sikh ruler of the Punjab, and the prize his new imperial masters had made him travel 4,200 miles to deliver was the Koh-i-Noor diamond – the mysterious and terrible stone of emperors.
The 186-carat gem, whose name means Mountain of Light in Persian and was described by one Mughal emperor as being “worth half the daily expense of the whole world”, carried with it a curse and a 750-year bloodstained history of murder, megalomania and treachery.
But its passage to Britain in 1851 carried a different meaning: it was a carefully choreographed exercise in establishing the majesty of the Raj – and the one-way flow of riches from it.
Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General of India who was credited with masterminding the subjugation of the Punjab in the Second Sikh War in 1849 and subsequent surrender of the diamond, ordered that Prince Duleep, London’s new puppet Maharajah of Lahore, deliver the Koh-i-Noor in person.
The diamond was war booty and its delivery was to be a spectacle carried out in much the same manner as the tribute paid by defeated enemies of Egyptian pharaohs and Roman emperors. It was the centrepiece of the Great Exhibition of 1851, attracting thousands of visitors.


After the assassination of Nadir Shah, another victim of the curse, the diamond passed through the hands of his successors, each dethroned and ritually blinded, until it was passed in return for sanctuary to Ranjit Singh, the Lion of Lahore, self-declared ruler of Punjab and father of Duleep Singh.
Within 40 years, the stone had passed into the possession of Lord Dalhousie after a military campaign every bit as ruthless and blood-soaked as those which had previously been fought for possession of the Koh-i-Noor. What followed was a process of the Anglicisation of the diamond.

A spokesman for the High Commission in London said: “The Indian government has a legitimate claim. We hope to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”
But behind closed doors in Whitehall, it is unlikely that the position outlined 30 years ago has changed.
Epilogue: On 21 February 2013, while visiting India, David Cameron, the UK Prime Minister, stated that it would be illogical to return the diamond to India. He further stated, “I certainly don’t believe in returnism, as it were. I don’t think that’s sensible.” We should remember that his country forced India to hand over this priceless diamond during the colonial era. Cameron is keen to tap into India’s economic rise, but says he is “anxious to focus on the present and future rather than reach back into the past”.


Final verdict: Finders keepers, Loosers weepers.


Krishnamachari Santhanam