The fabulous Golconda diamonds - II

Babur spent his entire life in pursuit of acquiring a kingdom to rule. It is unlikely that he had come in contact with any significant diamond in his life till he won the throne of Delhi. He sent his son Humayun with a force to take Agra where the widows of Raja of Gwalior, who had lost his life fighting against Babur for Ibrahim Lodhi at the Battle of Panipat, came to ask for peace and protection. The widows presented Humayun with a diamond that became the most celebrated jewel in the whole world. It was the Koh-i-Noor. Mughals quickly came to appreciate the value of these glittering stones and their opulence came to be linked with diamonds. When Aurangzeb liquidated Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur in 1686 and Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda in 1687, he came in to possession of a large number of big diamonds for these royal houses. He took Nur-Ul-Ain Diamond, Great Mughal Diamond, Kara Diamond, Darya-e-Nur, The Hope Diamond, the Wittelsbach Diamond and The Regent Diamond making him the richest monarch in the world. However, the diamonds that they gathered through diplomacy or outright extortion were all lost a half century later in a single stroke to Nadir Shah, the Persian invader. Those diamonds are now scattered all over the globe. Like other luxuries in life, the Mughals quickly fell in love with diamonds and learnt to deploy them in diplomacy, a fact illustrated by the following two incidents. Mughals remained in contention with Safavids rulers of Persia for the city of Kandhar. In 1622-23, Shah Abbas I of Persia defeated the small Mughal garrison stationed in Kandhar and occupied the city. Shahjahan tried unsuccessfully to retake it in the Mughal-Safavid war of 1649-53 during the reign of Persian Shah Abbas II. The Mughals attempted to seek help from their fellow Ottomans Turks, who were nursing a feud of their own against the Persians. Shahjahan sent an embassy to Constantinople in 1655 to the court of Caliph Sultan Mehmood IV. The French traveller Monsieur de Thevenot was visiting the Ottoman court at the time and was on hand to record the reception of the embassy in a grand ceremony and exchange of gifts. He states in his 'Travels in the Levant' that the Mughal presents included, besides other valuable items, a girdle of diamonds, a string of prayer with diamonds for beads, a Dagger with a diamond weighing 150 carats on its handle and a box full of diamonds. The purpose of the embassy was a request by the Mughal to his Ottoman counterpart to attack Iran from the west so that he could take Kandhar from the east. The embassy failed because the Ottomans were themselves embroiled in more serious issues. The second incident of diamond diplomacy occurred soon thereafter when Aurangzeb imprisoned his father and took over the empire. To cement peace with the Safavids, he sent an embassy to the Persian court with a great number of presents. The Safavid ruler distributed the presents among his courtiers but kept a diamond weighing 60 carats with him. The embassy, however, was returned with derogatory remarks due to the treatment that the Mughal has meted out to his father and brothers. Tavernier has written that when Aurangzeb got rid of his brothers, he found that all the jewels and the famed peacock throne were in the custody of his father whom he had imprisoned in the Red Fort Agra. When he was about to get crowned, Aurangzeb sent a messenger to his father to send him some jewels so that he could appear before the people in a grand manner. Shahjahan took the request as an affront after all the outrages committed against him. He went mad with rage and asked for a mortar and a pestle -kondi and danda- so that he could grind all jewels to powder. Only the timely intervention of Jahan Ara, sister of Aurangzeb who was also incarcerated with her father, saved those luxurious diamonds that now adorn crowns, museums and state coffers in India, Iran, France, Russia, Germany, UK, USA and Middle East. Tavernier witnessed a feast on the occasion of annual weighing of Emperor Aurangzeb. He saw seven thrones, all embellished with diamonds, rubies, emeralds and pearls. One of these was the famed Peacock throne. In addition, he reported that five of these thrones, placed in a separate room, had nothing but diamonds on them to the exclusion of coloured jewels. At the ceremony, he saw 30 horses that had bridles set with diamonds and jewels, and a big diamond hanging around the neck of each. The Emperor also had a seven feet long and five feet wide bath tub that was studded with diamonds and pearls on the outside. Even the major Emirs had collected prodigious amounts of diamonds. Emir Jumla, who first served the Golconda Sultanate as its prime minister, then defected to the Mughal court and was finally Aurangzeb's governor of Bengal, is reported by Thevenot to possess above 400 pounds of diamonds in weight. Jumla gifted Shahjahan a huge uncut diamond weighing 787 carats to foster ties between two families. Jumla described it as "that celebrated diamond which has been generally deemed unparalleled in size and beauty. The French traveller Tavernier was shown the diamond by Aurangzeb himself. The former called it 'The Great Mughal' now weighing 279 carats and drew the diamond with the description that "The stone is of the same form as if one cut an egg through the middle." He estimated its price to be above a million rupees. It is recorded that Shahjahan commissioned Ortensio Borgio, a Venetian cutter, to cut the diamond. There were several defects in the diamond and the Venetian decided to grind them away. When Shahjahan saw the stone, he was horrified. He wanted to behead the Venetian but then decided to fine him 10 thousand rupees -all the money he had. Shahjahan was in love with everything regal. He used his jewels, pearls, emeralds, rubies and diamonds in creating the Peacock throne -the most fabulous throne that the world has ever known. Unfortunately, it was dismantled for its jewels when it was taken to Iran by Nadir Shah. Had it survived, it would have been as alluring as the Taj Mahal. The Nizams of Hyderabad remained masters of Golconda mines for a long time from 1720s to 1947. The output of diamonds was however drying up during this period. The Nizams were the richest rulers of India. One of the prized possessions in the collection is the Jacob Diamond weighing 184.75 carats, which was found by the last Nizam, Osman Ali Khan, in the toe of his father’s shoe at their royal Palace and he himself used it as a paper weight for a long time. It is valued at above $100 million. Nizam Diamond is believed to have been the most famous diamond in the 1800s. There are tales about its size, around 340 carats. It too is believed to have been found at Kollur Mine. There is a long list of famous Golconda diamonds. Koh-i-Noor is the most eminent amongst them. It has adorned more royal heads in more countries than any other jewel. Dalrymple and Anand have traced its history in detail in their book titled 'Koh-i-Noor' and have mentioned that every appraiser has estimated its price as food for the whole world for two and a half days. Its rich history now defies any price tag attached to it. It is on public display in Jewel House at the Tower of London where it is viewed by millions of visitors every year. The largest pink diamond ever found in the world is the 'The Great Table' from Kullur mines. It weighed 242 carats as Tavernier mentioned in his book. It was part of the loot that Nadir Shah took to Iran. It has now been confirmed that the 182 Darya-i-Noor, the largest pink diamond in the world, and its sister diamond, the second largest pink diamond, 60 carat Noor-ul-Ain have been taken from that same stone whose uncut weight is believed to have been 400 carats. Both the diamonds are now part of Iranian Crown Jewels. The enormity of their sizes can be assessed from the fact that every other pink diamond found to date weighs less than 35 carats. Even the third largest pink diamond in the world, the 34.65 carat Princie diamond is also a Golconda from Kullur mines. Their value can be estimated from the upcoming sale in November 2018 of 19 carat 'The Pink Legacy' diamond of South African origin, where it is expected to fetch $30-50 million. In 2013, the cushion-cut Princie diamond set the record for being the most valuable Golconda mine diamond ever sold at auction and the highest price for any jewel sold at Christie's. It beat the previous record of $24.4 million set by the sale of the Wittelsbach Diamond, yet another Golconda. Two of the biggest blue diamonds ever found are again from Kullur Golconda. One of them, the Tereshchenko Diamond, was the biggest when mined but now weighs 42.92 carats after cut in to pear shape. The largest cut blue diamond is the 44 carat Hope diamond, now with the Smithsonian Institute Washington. It was originally bought in Golconda by Tavernier and sold to the great French King Louis XIV. A Smithsonian curator described it as "priceless" because it was irreplaceable, although it is reported to be insured for $250 million The 'Pigot diamond' weighing 100 carats in the rough was brought to England from India by Sir George Pigot, the BEIC governor of Madras in mid 18th century. It was at the time largest diamond in Europe. It was cut in to oval shape weighing 47.5 carat and its current location is uncertain. Then there is the 31 carat, deep blue, Wittelsbach-Graff diamond from Kullur mines that was sold in 2008 for $23 million, the highest price for a diamond till then. It was resold to Amir of Qatar for at least $80 million in 2011. There is a long list of such diamonds, each with a rich, long and interesting history, and deserving of a separate book length narrative. Golconda is an enchanting word. It invokes images of a land littered with diamonds -large flawless diamonds of purest crystal and clarity. It produced diamonds that continue to be coveted by the rich and the glamorous, though the price range -in millions of dollars- is beyond the reach of ordinary souls. Luckily many of these rare gems have now been placed on public display in museums for the ordinary mortals to behold. This article was published in The Friday Times dated 19 Oct Parvez Mahmood retired as a Group Captain from PAF and is now a software engineer. He lives in Islamabad and writes on historical and social issues. He can be reached at parvezmahmood53@gmail.com