ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>KOH-I-N&#362R (Mountain of Light)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="KOH,NjR"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279KOH-I-N&#362R ("Mountain of Light"), the peerless diamond which today takes the pride of place among the British crown jewels, once belonged to Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh, the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab. Duleep Si&#7749gh was made to surrender it to the British after the annexation of the Punjab in 1849. The stone, which weighed 186-1/6 carats, was exhibited in London in 1851. In 1852, it was entrusted for recutting to a London firm of jewellers who engaged for this purpose a Dutch from Amsterdam. The cutting enhanced the brilliance of the diamond, but reduced its weight by 80 carats. Today it weighs only 106-1/16 carats --- still the most brilliant gem among the British crown jewels, if no longer the largest. It was set in the crown of the Queen Consort in 1937 at the time of the coronation of George VI.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; During the course of its long history, the Koh-i-N&#363r has witnessed the rise and fall of many a ruling dynasty. When N&#257dir Sh&#257h occupied Delhi in 1739, the gem was worn by the Mu<u>gh</u>al Emperor, Muhammad Sh&#257h, in his turban. N&#257dir promptly exchanged turbans with Muhammad Sh&#257h as a mark of mutual reconciliation and thus acquired the coveted stone. He was struck by its brilliance and shape and called it Koh-i-N&#363r, the Mountain of Light. The stone has since been known by this name. N&#257dir was murdered in 1747 and the Koh-i-N&#363r came into the possession of his grandson, Sh&#257h Rukh, who surrenderd it to Ahmad Sh&#257h Durr&#257n&#299 of K&#257bul. It passed by descent to Ahmad Sh&#257h's son, Taim&#363r, and then to his grandson Sh&#257h Zam&#257n. Deposed and deprived of his eyes by his brother Mahm&#363d, Sh&#257h Zam&#257n contrived to retain the Koh-i-N&#363r with him while in prison. Another brother Sh&#257h Shuj&#257', in 1795, dethroned and imprisoned Mahm&#363d, and acquired the Koh-i-N&#363r which he found secreted in a wall of the cell in which Sh&#257h Zam&#257n had lived. During the struggle that followed, Sh&#257h Shuj&#257', became a prisoner in Kashm&#299r (1812), but his wife, Waf&#257 Begam, escaped to Lahore with other members of the family and with much of the treasure, including the Koh-i-N&#363r. She was given asylum by Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Fateh <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the K&#257bul Waz&#299r, sought an alliance with Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh for a joint invasion of Kashm&#299r and offered to share with him the booty. When Waf&#257 Begam learnt about Fateh <u>Kh</u>&#257n's designs, she became apprehensive for her husband's safety. Through his courtiers, Faq&#299r 'Az&#299z ud-D&#299n and D&#299w&#257n Mohkam Chand, she supplicated the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 for help and offered to present him with the Koh-i-N&#363r if he would rescue her husband from captivity. Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh who was already preparing to invade Kashm&#299r, asked his commander, D&#299w&#257n Mohkam Chand, to secure the release of Sh&#257h Shuj&#257,' and bring him safely to Lahore. The release of Sh&#257h Shuj&#257' became the primary object of the Sikh expedition. The Sikhs and the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns marched towards Kashm&#299r in December 1812. The Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns were better used to the hills and soon stole a march over the Lahore army. But the Sikhs reached the valley ahead of Fateh <u>Kh</u>&#257n striking a shorter, though more hazardous, route. Sh&#257h Shuj&#257', who lay in chains in a dungeon, was rescued and escorted to Lahore. Unwilling to part with such a precious treasure as the Koh-i-N&#363r, Sh&#257h Shuj&#257', was in the end persuaded to make good his wife's promise. He invited Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh to his house on 1 June 1813 and placed on his palm the fabulous Koh-i-N&#363r.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh used to wear the Koh-i-N&#363r on his left arm on State occasions. Through his sons Kha&#7771ak Si&#7749gh and Sher Si&#7749gh, it descended to his youngest son Duleep Si&#7749gh who ascended the throne in September 1843 and who was made to surrender it to the British at the end of the second Anglo-Sikh war (1849). Even though a boy of merely ten at that time, Duleep Si&#7749gh was never reconciled to the loss of his proud possession. At his birthday party in 1849 itself, he sadly recalled that, for his birthday the previous year, he had worn the Koh-i-N&#363r among his gems. In Duleep Si&#7749gh, a minor under British guardianship when he was deprived of his kingdom and property including the Koh-i-N&#363r, questioned the legality of the whole transaction. From the time of its surrender till it left Lahore, the Koh-i-N&#363r was in the custody of Dr John Spencer Login, guardian and superintendent of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Duleep Si&#7749gh. In 1850, Lord Dalhousie personally took the diamond from Lahore to Bombay for despatch to England.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The history of the diamond before it came into the hands of N&#257dir Sh&#257h is shrouded in obscurity. According to one version, the stone was discovered about five millennia earlier in the bed of the River God&#257var&#299, near Machhl&#299pa&#7789nam, in South Golco&#7751&#7693&#257, now in &#256ndhra Pradesh. Some trace its origin to the hills of Amr&#257vat&#299, in Mah&#257r&#257sh&#7789ra. It is said that it was worn by R&#257j&#257 Kar&#7751a, the legendary son of S&#363rya and one of the heroes of the Mah&#257bh&#257ra&#7789a war, who had the diamond tied around his arm as a talisman. After Kar&#7751a's tragic end on the battlefield, the diamond passed into the hands of the Pa&#7751&#7693&#257v&#257s. It is also surmised that the diamond once belonged to R&#257j&#257 Vikram&#257ditya, the ruler of the great Hindu kingdom of Ujjain in Central India, who flourished about 57 BC and who drove the Scythians out of the country. The first authentic referenece to the Koh-i-N&#363r is considered to be the one in B&#257bar's memoirs, the <i>Tuzuk</i>. According to the <i>Tuzuk</i>, King' &#256l&#257 ud-D&#299n (1296-1316) of the <u>Kh</u>alj&#299 dynasty was the possessor of the stone. The <u>Kh</u>alj&#299 king, according to some accounts, had acquired it from the R&#257j&#257 of M&#257lv&#257 in 1304, while according to others the diamond which once adorned the third eye of an image of &#346iva in a temple somewhere in Tela&#7749g&#257n&#257, was gouged out by ' &#256l&#257 ud-D&#299n <u>Kh</u>alj&#299 during his sack of the Deccan in 1311-12. It later passed into the hands of the Hindu ruler of Gwalior and was presented to Hum&#257y&#363&#7749, son of B&#257bar, by the family of R&#257j&#257 Bikramaj&#299t who was killed at P&#257n&#299pat in 1526. Whatever its earlier history, the diamond was in the treasury of Emperor Aura&#7749gz&#299b and during his reign the Italian jeweller, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, had the chance of seeing and examining it.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The Koh-i-N&#363r is not known to have ever been bought or sold. It always changed hands as a result of conquest. Its value can hardly be estimated. B&#257bar had valued the gem at "two and a half days' expenses of the world." When Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh asked the jewellers in Amritsar to evaluate the Koh-i-N&#363r, they said that its price was beyond estimate.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Beveridge, Annette Susannah, trans., <i>Babur-nama</i>. Delhi, 1989<BR> <li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, <i>'Umd&#257t-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>, Lahore, 1885-89<BR> <li class="C1"> Waheeduddin, Faqir Syed, <i>The Real Ranjit Singh</i>. Delhi, 1976<BR> <li class="C1"> Khushwant Singh, <i>A History of the Sikhs</i>, vol. I. Princeton, 1966<BR> <li class="C1"> Bhagat Singh, <i>Maharaja Ranjit Singh and His Times</i>. Delhi, 1990<BR> <li class="C1"> Harbans Singh, <i>The Heritage of the Sikhs</i>. Delhi, 1983<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>