Fascinating History. Interesting Medieval Incidents from Indian and Middle Eastern past.

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 r...

The very name of Golconda evokes images of glittering, grand diamonds. Its mines have produced a galaxy of famous diamonds that have dazzled the royal as well as the common people. The word 'Golconda' itself now stands for diamonds of highest purity with nearly total absence of nitrogen atoms. Merriam-webster dictionary explains that 'By the 1880s, "Golconda" was being used generically by English speakers to refer to any particularly rich mine, and later to any source of great wealth'. For long centuries, from 2500 years ago till early 18th century, the Deccan mines, most in the state of Golconda, were the only source of diamonds in the world -except for a very small quantity produced in the island of Borneo. For this article, multiple sources have been used but especially the credible 'Diamonds in the Deccan' by SV Satayanaryan and 'Six voyages by JB Tavernier'. Tavernier's account is especially fascinating. He was gem trader and diamo...

Persian invasion of India in 1739 under Nadir Shah was the greatest armed heist in the history of the world. The accumulated wealth of the previous three centuries, estimated at the then value of rupees 70 crore, was looted from Delhi and taken to Persia. It included such famed treasures as Koh-i-Noor (now in crown jewels of UK), Golconda d'or (Last stolen from Melbourne), Shah diamond (currently at Kremlin Diamond Fund), Darya-a-Noor (In Central Bank of Iran), the Great Mughal diamond (since lost) and the Peacock throne. Also included in this list is the famed 'Akbar Shah' diamond, whose history I describe here. The stone is, or was, remarkable because the names of the three greatest Mughal emperors, i.e. Akbar, Jahangir and Shahjahan were elegantly inscribed on its sides. To preserve its history, the years of inscription were also mentioned along with the names. The diamond is also known as 'Lustre of the Peacock throne' because it is said to have adorned an eye...

During his invasion and massacre of Delhi, Nadir Shah acquired a number of jewels and artefacts from the Mughal treasure vaults. It is said that accumulated wealth of 350 years changed hands in one day. This is the story of ' Golconda d'or ', one of the diamonds stolen from Mughal treasury by nadir Shah. For this article, I have mainly relied on Dr Shihaan Larif, the founder of the Internet Stones.com, who is an authority on history and trading of precious stones. Before diamond mining commenced in Brazil in 1730 and in South Africa in the late 19th century, Golconda, near Indian city of Hyderabad, was the only regular producer of diamonds in the world for two millennia and is known for having produced high quality colourless diamonds. The Golconda d'or diamond is said to be one of the few yellow diamonds discovered from this site. The mines, whose exact location remains unknown, were eventually abandoned in mid 18th century because of exhaustion. This diamond is one...

In the first part of this article published last week, it was submitted that while referring to the Golden Age of Islam, Iqbal favoured the mystics and religious guides over the rational thinkers and scientists. It will be opined now that Iqbal was nostalgic for the Muslim past and in doing that, he lost touch with reality. Iqbal desired the Muslims to merge in one large nation that stretched over the continuous block from the Atlantic shores of Africa, through the Arab and Persian heartlands, to the eastern fringes of the Turkistan. In his dreamy scheme for Ummah he, in one of his verses, saw one nation along the geographical line from the banks of Nile to the soil of Kashghar. This was in suppression of historical, ethnic, sectarian, cultural and linguistic realities. While the verse is allegorical and heart warming, the concept harks backs to the Abbasid times when this was the extent of the Caliphate. This axis leaves the status of Indian Muslims as vague and excludes the Muslim ...

It is a tragic epitaph on the literary life of Iqbal that his poetry is more often employed by the religious clerics in their public sermons to further their obscurantist message and by the military to strengthen the morale of their profession, than by the practitioners of natural, liberal or secular sciences. A study of his poetry clearly reveals that this direction of Iqbal's poetry is well deserved. This series of articles will draw attention to a few dichotomies in the ideology of Iqbal as enunciated in his poetry. His poetical progression was divided in two phases; the first as an articulator of an Indian nationalist and the second as a proponent of Islamic revival. These articles will propound the confusing signals that emanate in the second phase of his literary journey. Iqbal was a beneficiary of education from Murray College in Sialkot. Without this missionary school, he wouldn't have stepped on the first ladder of the steep elevator that took him to the British est...

Maestro of Indo-Pakistan cinematic poetry Among the trio of creators of an enchanting eastern melody, while the singer gets the most acclaim and composer an honourable mention, the lyricist often goes unnoticed. That is a tragedy because a memorable song cannot emerge unless it evolves from good words. A great song consists of fascinating lyrics and hypnotizing voice knit around mesmerizing tune. Presence of all these three essential components creates harmony; one or two would just writhe around agonizingly without finding any bliss without the third. This article is about Tanvir Naqvi, one of the greatest Geet (song) writers of Indo-Pak film industry, and two of his Geets; a film song and a national song. Geet is one of the numerous forms of Urdu/Hindi poetry. As opposed to the more sacred Ghazal, whose one verse is unrelated in meaning to others, a Geet has a central theme. The two genre also differ in rhyme (Radif and Kafia) though they are similar in that their verses mostly co...

The song and the musician A haunting melody stirs the strings of our soul. More than any other form of music, it moves us spiritually, bringing our sublime feelings to the fore. In the film industry, the music of some films such as Parwana (1947), Mahal (1949), Aawara (1951), Madhumati (1955), Sahib Bibi aur Ghulam (1962) and some more, had a captivating, apocalyptic and eerie feel. It must be clarified here that haunting music is not horror music. The former is alluring, mesmerising and captivating whereas the later is repulsive, scary and disturbing. The former attracts whereas the later repels. Sub-continent music industry has produced many musicians, such as Madan Mohan, Salil Chaudhari, Shankar-Jaikishen and some others, who have given us memorable haunting melodies. However, the prince of haunting music remains Khawaja Khurshid Anwar. He did not produce this genre of music for just one song or one film. In his professional life, he gave us a series of film adorned with hauntin...

To suffer in silence is a persistent theme in the ghazal genre of Urdu poetry. The lover in its verses strives to keep the identity of his beloved obscure and hidden from the world. Even when the people close to the lover suspect by his demeanour that he is madly in love, he endeavours to keep the existence of his beloved under wraps. Though the lover in a ghazal constantly laments the indifference of the beloved, yet he is secretive about that diffident heartthrob. A faithful lover quietly endures pain, heartbreak and indignities or whatever comes his way, in the quest for his love. This strain of suffering in silence continues even when the lover is dictated by circumstances and society to accept the ultimate ill-fate, and lay down his life. A true lover, our Urdu poetry teaches, opts to willingly give his life with a smile on his face rather than scandalise the name of the beloved. Consider this verse by Qateel Shifai; Khud nu'mai to nahin shay'wa-a-ar...

It was the middle of 1972. I was nineteen and a flight cadet in PAF Academy, Risalpur. I was spending my summer break in Lahore with my family. We were residing in a rented apartment at 'Yadgar Chowk' -now renamed Azadi Chowk. The apartment block is opposite Minar-e-Pakistan, across the Old Ravi lake on the corner of Ravi Road. A part of that apartment building has now been demolished to construct a slip road for traffic coming from the River Ravi and turning left for the Circular Road, under the magnificent oval traffic bridge. The lower portion of the building housed the well known 'Ravi Chargha'; easily located on the google map. People familiar with the area would know that the place is a walking distance to the Shahi Mosque; and that’s what I used to do most mornings during holidays. With everyone at my home out for their daily chores, I would walk to the Mosque for my favourite past time; reading. As I had grown up in the area and had visited the Mosque-Fort co...

I grew up in Gumti Bazaar area of walled city Lahore and would often pass by this exquisite mosque that stands where Dabbi and Kaisara Bazaars merge with Kashmiri Bazaar. It has three main domes; a larger one in the middle and two smaller ones on the sides. It has smaller domelets on top of its two tall and four short minarets. It also has a long row of nine, flanked by two shorter rows of six each, small decorative domelets on top of the fore wall of the main prayer chamber. All these domes and domelets are golden in colour. In addition, all these domes have decorative golden petals at their bases. It was intriguing to me at that tender age that the only other structure in the City having similar style and golden colours is the memorial complex of Guru Arjun Dev cum Raja Ranjit Singh, adjacent to the Shahi Mosque that I often used to frequent. Having become wiser, I now know that the gilded domes, the petals and domelets are part of Gurudawara rather than Mosque architecture. A mosqu...