THE STORY BEHIND
The largest known diamond in the world, once the largest in the world, was originally found approximately 5,000 years ago; evidence suggests that it originated in the Golconda Kingdom, in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, a state of 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 immense diamond.
The Persian king Nadir Shah gave the stone its name “Kohinoor”, which means “Mountain of Light”. He had taken it from the Mughals when he invaded Delhi in 1739. Before receiving this name, 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 a history, it is also one of the most controversial diamonds in history and there is a belief that it has a curse.
This highly controversial diamond has fascinated mankind for centuries, myself included, 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? are almost all Asian countries claiming ownership of the diamond? “
“He who possesses this diamond will be master of the world, but he will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can carry 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 woman. All the men who have possessed it have 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. Thorough investigation and facts show that whoever possessed it has had their fair share of misery and disgrace.
Whether people believe his curse or not, the history of the Kohinoor is enough to make people wary.
THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE CURSE OF KOHINOOR
The history and lives of the rulers who owned the Kohinoor diamond were full of violence, murder, mutilation, torture, and betrayal. The men who fought for it, the kingdoms and empires that were won and lost, have led to many stories of bad luck that devastated the 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 possessed this diamond and installed it in a temple of a Hindu goddess as her eye.
2. 1294 – Malik Kafur led Khilji’s army through the Mountain Range, attacking the capital city of the Yadava kingdom of Devagiri. The army of the Turkic Khilji dynasty began raiding the kingdoms of southern India in search of loot. Malik Kafur, a eunuch and military general of Alauddin Khilji, made a successful raid on Warangal. He looted the treasure of the kingdom of Kakatiya and the Hindu temples. The ruler was Pradapapudra. The loot, according to 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 the following dynasties of the Delhi Sultanate. According to Babur Nama, (first version of the written version of the custody of the diamond by Emperor Babur) Allauddin Khilji was the first ruler to wrest Kohinoor from the Hindu king.
3. 1306 – The Rajah of Malwa was forced to hand over the diamond to the rulers of the Kakatiya Empire. Soon after, in 1323, the Kakatiya Empire fell after a rule that spanned from 1083 to 1323.
4. 1325 to 1351 – The diamond was taken by Muhammad bin Tughluq, who was the Sultan of Delhi during that period.
5. 1323 – 1526 – Remained in possession of the Delhi Sultanate, which consisted of many Muslim dynasties that ruled India. During the Delhi Sultanate, Muslim armies consisting of Mongolian, Turkish, Persian and Afghan warriors invaded India.
6. 1526 – The Kohinoor passed to the Mughal Empire when Prince Timurid Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Sultans of Delhi, in the First Battle of Panipat. Mughal is the Persian word for Mongolian. Babur mentions in his memoirs, the Baburnama, that the diamond had belonged to an unnamed Malwa rajah.
7. 1592 – 1666 – The Mughal Empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for two hundred years and the Kohinoor passed from one emperor to another. Violence and bloodshed followed these years often marked by the children of emperors who rebelled and overtook their parents. Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, who was famous for building the Taj Mahal, had the Kohinoor diamond placed on his ornate Peacock Throne, the Mughal throne of India. He had four children, 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 brought 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 that was used to render the enemy powerless, thus making him a burden on society.
10. 1813 – Shuja Shah Durrani, the deposed ruler of Afghanistan brought him to Punjab and made a deal with Rajah Ranjit Singh to deliver the Kohinoor in exchange for help to regain the Afghan throne.
11. 1839 – Rajah Ranjit Singh took possession of the empire and the Kohinoor. After his death, his successors did not have the courage and 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 British Raj / Rule in India.
12. 1849 – The British Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie, got the credit for acquiring the diamond. He arranged that the Kohinoor diamond should be presented by Ranjit Singh’s successor, Duleep Singh, to Queen Victoria, the Empress of India. On March 29, 1849, Punjab was formally proclaimed as part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Lahore Treaty was: “The gem called Kohinoor will be delivered by the Maharaja of Lahore to the Queen of England.” Dr. Sir John Login was tasked with two charges: taking the Kohinoor out of Toshakhana (the house of jewels) and also being the guardian of the young Duleep Singh. The Kohinoor sailed for England on April 6, 1850 and arrived 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 to be cut from 186 carats to its current 108.93 carats, thus increasing its brightness. He carefully sought out a highly reputable diamond cutter and headed to the Netherlands, where he gave the mission of cutting the diamond to a Mr. Cantor who began the difficult task of cutting it. Cantor took 38 days to work on the diamond. Then she got on a tiara with more than two thousand more diamonds. The Kohinoor diamond was later used as the centerpiece of the crowns of the queen consort of British kings. The Queen Consort Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary wore the crowns.
14. 1936 – The diamond was set in the crown of Queen Elizabeth, wife of King George VI. Queen Elizabeth is who we have known as the Queen Mother.
15. 1939 – 1945 – In World War II, Russia and the United States took the credits, leaving Great 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. Their 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 Malaysia become independent
20. 1962 – Uganda becomes an independent country; free from british rule
21. 1963 – Kenya becomes independent from the British.
22. 1965 – The white settlers of Zimbabwe created many problems and became an unrecognized independent country under Ian Smith.
23. 1982 – Great Britain had a real struggle clinging to the Falkland Islands.
24. 1997 – Great Britain had to hand over Hong Kong to China. Princess Diana also died in a tragic car accident that same year, plunging the world into deep mourning.
25. 2003 – Britain faced the wrath of the Iraqi people
The history of this gem speaks for itself, the British Empire that had once spread across the world is now restricted to a fixed territory.
“All the men who owned it have lost their throne or suffered other misfortunes!”
They say that it takes between 10 and 25 years to experience the effects of the curse. It only gives luck to those who know his procedure on how to keep it purified. Otherwise, it forces the possessor to dispossess his territory and disturb the peace of the home. It is equally unfortunate for the queens, who must loot many valuables and lands to protect themselves from their evil effects, or face some tragedy.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh obtained this jewel in 1813 and it affected him after 25 years and suffered a paralyzed attack in 1839 and died that same year. In 1849, exactly after 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 seen publicly in the Queen Mother’s crown that was placed on her coffin for her lie and funeral when she passed away in 2002.
The magnificence of the diamond and its value symbolizes the power of an Empire. It was said that “He who possesses this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes.” Done or not, I leave the judgment to you. All I can say is that Britain may have lost a large part of its vast empire, and despite this, it is the third most powerful country in the world. The British pound is also the third strongest currency at the beginning of this financial year. So is the Kohinoor a curse or a blessing?
