June 7, 1999
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CHASING
THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT Jewel in the Crown A travel buff writes the biography of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. And asks for it to be returned to India. By Amit Roy CHASING THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT
Of late, two people have laid claim to the diamond on behalf of India. The first is Beant Singh Sandhanwalia -- an Amsterdam-based descendant of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the officially recognised successor of Ranjit Singh's son Duleep. The second is 38-year-old travel writer Kevin Rushby, who from the moment he heard about the diamond has been obsessed with it. In 1997, the Englishman spent several months in India following the route the diamond took before Duleep, aged 15, formally "presented" the jewel to Queen Victoria in 1854. She had the 186 carat diamond cut to give it additional brilliance. This reduced it to 106 carats. The diamond, once in the possession of the Mughal emperors, had apparently weighed 788 carats in its natural state when Shah Jahan held it in his hands. In fact, it is this image that Rushby has chosen for the cover of his just published book, Chasing The Mountain of Light: Across India On The Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond. Although it is a travel book that takes him into the diamond markets of India, occasionally at personal danger, Rushby cleverly weaves into it the history of the Koh-i-Noor. An Indian diamond dealer tells Rushby, "The first diamond was the Syamantaka, which the sun god, Surya, gave to Sattrajit as a reward for worshipping him. When this gem disappeared, the people accused Krishna of stealing it and fought terrible battles to get it back." The dealer also observes, "Now the House of Windsor is having hard times due to the malevolent aspect of the great jewel." None of this impresses David Thomas, the crown jeweller whose job is to look after the jewels in the Tower of London. Thomas, who is responsible for ensuring that the Koh-i-Noor is cleaned and polished from time to time -- "we take tender, loving care of it" -- rejects the notion that it should be returned. "It is going to stay in the Tower of London," he says. A spokeswoman for the Tower of London diplomatically points out: "Because of its history, it would be difficult to state where it should be returned." According to Rushby's account -- and some of the details in his book are challenged by the Tower of London -- the Koh-i-Noor was stolen from the Persians by the Afghans and acquired by "dubious means" by Ranjit Singh, the "Lion of the Punjab", in 1813. On his death, it passed to his son, Duleep, who had it confiscated by the British. It was given to Queen Victoria after Lord Dalhousie's annexation of the Punjab in 1849. Queen Mary wore a crown with the Koh-i-Noor at her coronation in 1911, as did Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in a new crown at hers in 1937. Since it has been in British possession for a century and a half it seems unlikely it will ever be voluntarily relinquished. However, Rushby argues for its return, not so much on legal grounds but on moral ones. In Punjab, he met many Sikhs who said they wanted it back so that it could be donated to the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The Pakistanis want it because Lahore was the capital of Ranjit Singh's empire. Rushby's own desire is to see it find a final resting place in the Krishna temple in Puri. For those in the British royal family inclined to be a little superstitious about the Koh-i-Noor the travel writer's conclusion is a trifle unsettling: "There is no doubt that its history is not over yet, though the Jewel House in the Tower of London looks so solid and enduring." |
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The Koh-i-Noor is
just about the most famous diamond in the world. After a long and bloody history since it
was first found in the Golconda mines in southern India about 3,000 years ago, it is now
the jewel in the British Crown. Every year more than 2.5 million visitors to the Jewel
House in the Tower of London marvel at its sparkle and brilliance. Indians and Pakistanis
have periodically lodged claims for its return -- the last serious one was by Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto in 1978 -- considering it stolen property. 
