The Kohinoor – A curse or a blessing?
THE STORY BEHIND IT
The largest known ounce of diamond in the world was originally found approximately 5,000 years ago; evidence suggests that it originated in Golconda Kingdom, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, a state in India. At the time it was said to weigh 793 carats, but a jeweler named Borgio reduced it to 186 carats. At 793 carats, it must have been a truly massive diamond.
The Persian king Nadir Shah gave the stone his name “Kohinoor”, which means “Mountain of Light”. He had taken it from the Mughals when they invaded Delhi in 1739. Before this name was given, the diamond was known as Syamantac Mani, which means “Prince among diamonds”. The Kohinoor is really that.
THE COURSE
This beautiful diamond not only has history but is also one of the most controversial diamonds in history and is believed to be cursed.
This highly controversial diamond has fascinated mankind for years, including myself, and with this in mind, I asked myself, “Why is this diamond known as a curse? Is it really a curse or just a coincidence? why almost all Asian countries claiming ownership of the diamond?”
“Whoever owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity”
This is the curse of the Kohinoor. It is said to bring bad luck to any man who wears this diamond as it has a long and bloody history. The belief is that the curse will not work while in the possession of a female. All the men who have possessed it have either lost their throne or been victims of misfortune. In fact, since the reign of Queen Victoria, the diamond has always gone to the consort of the male heir to the British throne. Extensive research and facts show that whoever has owned it has had their fair share of misery and disgrace.
Whether people believe in his curse or not, Kohinoor’s story is enough to make people wary.
THE TIMELINE OF THE CURSE OF KOHINOOR
The history and lives of the rulers who owned the Kohinoor diamond were filled with violence, murder, mutilation, torture and betrayal. The men who fought for it, the kingdoms and empires that were won and lost, have given rise to many tales of bad luck that plagued their owners and became part of Kohinoor’s history.
Here I list the reasoning and facts that lead to the theory that the Kohinoor is cursed.
1. 1083 -1323 AD – The Yadavs of the Kakathiyas dynasty, a Telugu empire, originally owned this diamond and installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as their eye.
2. 1294 – Malik Kafur led the Khilji army through the Cordillera, attacking the capital city of the Yadava kingdom of Devagiri. The army of the Turkic Khilji dynasty began to raid the kingdoms of South India in search of loot. Malik Kafur, a eunuch and military general under Alauddin Khilji, made a successful raid on Warangal. He looted the treasure of the Kakatiya kingdom and the Hindu temples. The ruler was Pradapapudra. The booty, according to the historian Al-Birani, included 214 tons of gold and countless precious stones, including the Kohinoor diamond. The diamond remained with the Khilji dynasty and then passed on to successive dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate. According to the Babur Nama (early version of the written version of the diamond custody by Emperor Babur), Allauddin Khilji was the first ruler of sixteen Hindu king Kohinoor.
3. 1306: The Rajah of Malwa was forced to hand over the diamond to the rulers of the Kakatiya Empire. Shortly after, in 1323, the Kakatiya Empire fell after a rule that lasted from 1083 to 1323.
4. 1325 to 1351 – The diamond was taken by Muhammad bin Tughluq who was the Sultan of Delhi at that period.
5. 1323 – 1526 – Remained in the possession of the Delhi Sultanate, which consisted of many Muslim dynasties that ruled India. During the Delhi Sultanate, Muslim armies made up of Mongol, Turkish, Persian and Afghan warriors invaded India.
6. 1526 – The Kohinoor passed to the Mughal Empire when the Timurid Prince Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans, at the First Battle of Panipat. Mughal is the Persian word for Mongolian. Babur mentions in his memoir Baburnama that the diamond had belonged to an unnamed raja of Malwa.
7. 1592 – 1666 – The Mughal Empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for two hundred years, with Kohinoor passing from one emperor to another. Violence and bloodshed followed these years, often marked by the rebellion of the emperors’ sons and the overcoming of their fathers. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, famous for building the Taj Mahal, had the Kohinoor diamond placed on his ornate Peacock Throne, the Mughal throne of India. He had four sons, Dara Shikoh, Shah Shuja, Aurangzeb and Murad Baksh. Greed for the throne led them to fight and kill each other. Shah Shuja executed his brother Dara Shikoh and in 1658 Aurangzeb defeated Shuja. Shuja was tortured to death along with his entire family. Shah Jahan was imprisoned by Aurangzeb and was only able to see the Taj Mahal again through the reflection of the diamond. Aurangzeb cut the diamond to 186 carats and took it to the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore.
8. 1739 – It was stolen from the Bashahi Mosque by the Persian King Nadir Shah, who took it to Persia along with the Peacock Crown.
9. 1747 – Nadir Shah’s empire disintegrated when he was assassinated. Since then, all of his successors have been dethroned and ritually blinded, a tradition used to render the enemy powerless and a burden to society.
10. 1813 – Shuja Shah Durrani, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan took him to Punjab and made a deal with Rajah Ranjit Singh to hand over the Kohinoor in exchange for help in regaining the Afghan throne.
11. 1839 – Rajah Ranjit Singh took possession of the empire and Kohinoor. After his death, his successors did not have the courage or vision to hold the empire together and the Sikh kingdom weakened and was taken over by the British along with the rest of India; thus began the Raj/British Rule in India.
12. 1849 – The British Governor-General of India, Lord Dalhousie, was given credit for the diamond’s acquisition. He arranged for Ranjit Singh’s successor, Duleep Singh, to present the Kohinoor diamond to Queen Victoria, the Empress of India. On March 29, 1849, Punjab was formally proclaimed part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Treaty of Lahore was: “The gem called Kohinoor shall be given by the Maharaja of Lahore to the Queen of England.” Dr. Sir John Login was given two positions, to bring out the Kohinoor of Toshakhana (the house of jewels) and also to be the guardian of the young Duleep Singh. The Kohinoor sailed for England on April 6, 1850, arriving in London on July 2, 1850. The Great Exhibition was held in Hyde Park in London, where it was exhibited to the British public.
13. 1852 – Prince Albert ordered the Kohinoor reduced from 186 carats to its current 108.93 carats, thereby increasing its brilliance. He carefully searched for a diamond cutter with a very good reputation and went to Holland where he gave the mission of cutting the diamond to a Mr. Cantor who began the difficult task of cutting it. Mr. Cantor took 38 days to work on the diamond. He then set himself up in a tiara with over two thousand other diamonds. The Kohinoor diamond was later used as the centerpiece of the crowns of the queen consorts of the British kings. The queens consorts, Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, wore the crowns.
14. 1936 – The diamond was placed in the crown of Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI. Queen Elizabeth is whom we have known as the Queen Mother.
15. 1939 – 1945 – In World War II, Russia and the United States took the credit, leaving Britain with nothing.
16. 1947 – After the arrival of the diamond in England, the British began to lose the empire one after another. The first signs of the collapse of the British Empire were its withdrawal from India.
17. 1950 – The Suez Canal crisis further weakened the British Empire. His political differences with Ireland and countries like Zimbabwe became apparent to the world.
18.. 1956 – The Suez Canal crisis blatantly exposed Britain’s military and financial weakness.
19. 1957 – Ghana and Malaya become independent
20. 1962 – Uganda became an independent country; free from british rule
21. 1963 – Kenya gains independence from the British
22. 1965 – Zimbabwe’s white settlers created a lot of trouble because it became an independent, unrecognized country under Ian Smith.
23. 1982 – Britain had a real struggle to keep the Falkland Islands
24. 1997 – Britain had to hand over Hong Kong to China. Princess Diana also died in a tragic car accident in the same year, plunging the world into deep mourning.
25. 2003 – Britain faced the wrath of the Iraqi people
The history of this jewel speaks for itself, the British Empire that had previously expanded throughout the world, is now restricted to a fixed territory.
“All the men who owned it have lost their throne or other misfortunes have befallen them!”
They say that it takes between 10 and 25 years to experience the effects of the curse. It gives luck only to those who know its procedure to keep it purified. Otherwise, it forces the possessor to dispose of his territory and disturb the inner peace. It is equally unlucky for the queens, they must dispossess themselves of many valuables and lands to protect themselves from its evil effects, or face some tragedy.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh obtained this jewel in 1813 and it affected him after 25 years and he suffered a paralytic stroke in 1839 and died in the same year. In 1849, after exactly 10 years, British forces overthrew his kingdom, which was controlled by members of his family. Furthermore, all eight of Duleep Singh’s children died childless.
The Kohinoor was publicly seen on the Queen Mother’s crown which was placed on her coffin for her burial and memorial services when she passed away in 2002.
The magnificence of the diamond and its value symbolized the power of an Empire. It was said that “Whoever owns this diamond will own the world, but he will also know all the misfortunes of it.” Done or not, I leave the judgment to you. All I can say is that Britain may have lost much of her vast empire and yet she is the third most powerful country in the world. The British pound is also the third strongest currency at the start of this fiscal year. So is the Kohinoor a curse or a blessing?
