In 1854, when India is under British colonial rule, General Lord Dalhousie sent a 15 years old child from Punjab to England. Lord Dalhousie believes his mother is a threat and her character is miscreant so he needs to be separated from his mother. He had a great friendship with Queen Victoria’s son Edward VII. The child converted to Christianity. The responsibility of the child was given to the crown and announced a separate stipend of 50k pounds. This child was not an ordinary child. He was Prince Duleep Singh the king of the last Sikh empire also known as Maharaja Duleep Sigh. Four years ago, In 1849 when the British beats Sikhs in a battle, Dalhousie ordered this 11-year-old child Prince Duleep to surrender the diamond to Queen Victoria. The diamond of “KOH-I-NOOR”. At that time KOH-I NOOR was sent 6700km far to England. It was said about this diamond “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes, only God and woman can wear it with impunity”. It is a kind of superstition known as “The Curse of KOH-I-NOOR”. History tells whoever owns this diamond their life was full of blood, violence, and distrust. KOH-I-NOOR is held in London Tower today.
There are many theories about where does it come from? The worker of East India Company Theo Metcalfe writes in his report that according to tradition “This diamond is extracted during a lifetime of Krishna”. But according to historians, it was found in Kolormines in the region of Golconda. Golconda diamonds are found on the bank of the Krishna River in Coastal Andhra Pradesh (of that time ).In 18 century it is the only place with diamonds until 1725 when diamonds are discovered in Brazil. It is not clear who, when and where it was found, but most diamonds are found in beds of dry rivers. The estimate that historians made is that it was found somewhat between 1100-1300 years. It is believed that KOH-I-NOOR was first mentioned in Hindu text in 1306, the problem is that no one knows the text and writer's name. The first written content was mentioned in Baburnama by Zahir-ud MD Babur in 1526: “ The diamond is worth half of the daily expenses of the whole world”. It is believed he won KOH-I-NOOR as a prize in battle. The second time it is mentioned by SHAH-JAHAN was in 1628 when he commissioned the Peacock Throne which take 7 years to complete and was 4x costlier than the Taj Mahal. It was made with the most precious diamond two of them are KOH-I-NOOR and REB TIMUR RUBY. It was but in the eye of a peacock but it was not named as KOH-I-NOOR at that time. After 100 years later Delhi become one of the wealthiest states under the Mughals. 2 million people lived here which was more than the combined population of London and Paris. But at this point Mughal Empire becomes weak. Nadir Shah of Persia was attracted by this wealth. In 1739, Nadir Shah started an invasion of Delhi and defeated Muhammad Shah fifteen Mughal Empire Great Grandson of Aurangzeb. Nadir Shah run to Persia with a lot of treasure almost 700 elephants, 4000 camels, and 1200 horses were used to carry that treasure. In all that treasure KOH-I-NOOR was also included. It was rumored that Nadir Shah was tipped off that Muhammad Shah was hiding the diamond in his Turban. According to an old custom of war invasion they exchange Turban and suddenly KOH-I-NOOR spit on the ground. It shines so brightly that Nadir Shah speaks fluently “KOH-I-NOOR” known as meaning “Mountain of light” that is how it was named. Nadir Shah finance minister write a book that gives written proof that KOH-I-NOOR was attached to the peacock throne. Nadir Shah took the peacock throne as a treasure but removed the Timur ruby and KOH-I-NOOR to wear it on an armband. As if it is not a true story about the Turban exchange but Nadir Shah named it “KOH-I-NOOR”. About 70 years KOH-I-NOOR become part of today’s Afghanistan. Now comes The Curse of KOH-I-NOOR. Nadir Shah face this curse when one of his guards kills him and his empire collapsed. Ahmed Shah Durrani becomes the founder of the new Afghan empire and the new owner of KOH-I-NOOR. William Dalrymple by Anita Anand book tells the Grand son of Nadir Shah Rukh was poured a jug of molten lead into the crown only to find where is KOH-I-NOOR. Ahmed Shah keeps Empire in good condition but his grandsons fight for the crown. The third son of Timur Zaman Shah was sighted or blinded with a hot needle. His brothers' wife said about the price of KOH-I-NOOR: “If a strong man threw four stones, one North, one South, one East, one West, and a fifth stone up into the air, all of the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal value of KOH-I-NOOR”. Ahmed Shah was dethroned in 1809, he ran with KOH-I-NOOR and took refuge in Lahore under Raja Ranjith Singh founder of the Sikh Empire. He demanded KOH-I-NOOR as a price to protect Durrani. That is how KOH-I-NOOR went to the sikh empire in 1813. He has a great impact on KOH-I-NOOR. He recaptures all the land from Durranis. He was also known as the Lion of Lahore. e He wears it on his bicep. After some time East India Company become strong in India. when the British came to know about the death and plan of Raja Ranjit Singh to give the diamond and other jewels to seet of him priests, the British press exploded with outrage. One of them said: “The richest, the most costly gem in the known world has been committed in the trust of the profane, idolatrous and mercenary priesthood.” The British government told E-I-C to keep an eye on a diamond. In 1834, only two members Rani Jandha and 5-year-old boy Duleep Singh of the Sikh empire left. In 1849, after the second Anglo-Sikh war, E-I-C finishes Punjab empire rule. In 1949, E-I-C signs a Lahore treaty by Duleep Sigh which says to surrender KOH-I-NOOR to the British. After winning the war E-I-C does not want to leave any weak spot for the Sikhs empire to come into action. The only reason was to keep Rani in jail and sent Duleep sigh to London. July 1854 in Buckingham Palace when the portrait of Duleep Sigh was made Queen Victoria gave a chance to look at the KOH-I-NOOR. Duleep Sigh, upon grasping the diamond, uttered the following words: “It is to me, Ma’am, The Greatest pleasure to have the opportunity, As a loyal subject, of Myself tendering to my sovereign THE KOH-I-NOOR.” Duleep tried to go back India by Germans help but become unsuccessful. It is said that Duleep, his wife, and his son died of poverty in Paris. On the other hand, KOH-I-NOOR becomes a special procession of Queen Victoria. In 1851 people's reaction after seeing KOH-I-NOOR was very disappointing. The Times of India on 13 June 1851 wrote it as: “After all the work which has been made about that celebrated diamond our readers will be rather surprised to hear that many people find a difficulty in bringing themselves to believe, from its external appearance, that it anything but a piece of glass.” After people were disappointed in their reaction Queen’s husband Albert 1852 cut and republished a diamond. Due to this, he loses 40% of his weight. Now KOH-I-NOOR is 105.6 cart. British was also afraid of the curse of KOH-I-NOOR. So they decided to give ownership to only the wife of the Prince. It eventually become part of the crown jewel. First, it came in Queen Alexandra then Queen Nary Crowns. Finally, in 1937 today's Queen Mother wears it. Today it is kept in the jewel house of the Tower of London. The British Empire held ownership of the KOH-I-NOOR for nearly 173 years, as we can observe. There are no legal grounds for the return of the KOOH-I-NOOR to India or Pakistan when considering its historical attachment to the Lahore Treaty facilitated by the British. There is only one legal ground to get KOOH-I-NOOR back in the 1970 convention “Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property” However, there are two challenges associated with this notion. Firstly, the convention might not effectively apply due to the absence of clear guidelines. Secondly, determining which country should receive the diamond becomes complex since borders were not defined during that era. Anthropologist Richard Kurin suggests that logically, any country such as Pakistan, India, Iran, or Afghanistan could claim ownership. According to him, it would be best to leave the diamond where it currently resides to prevent further violence and the repetition of history. Richard Kurin said:
“When the powerful take things from the less powerful, the powerless don’t have much to do except curse the powerful”
