The story of the Koh Noor diamond, the most notorious diamond in history

Queen Elizabeth II died, but the stories did not end with her yet, after a long journey of tug of war between India and Britain that stretched for about 172 years, its climax was about 70 years ago, when I wore Elizabeth The Queen’s Crown and the appearance of the diamond “Koh Noor” adorning the top of the royal crown, recently renewed when King Charles III took over the rule of the United Kingdom, succeeding his late mother, to become one of the most famous cut diamonds in modern history.

The story of the diamond “Koh Noor”, which India recently ceded to Britain, to close the curtain on this issue that extended for years, or as it is called in other accounts “Kohnur” or “Kohi Noor” or “Mountain of Light”, dates back to the year 1850, when it was It was one of the other treasures from the Lahore treasury in Great Britain among the gifts dedicated to Queen Victoria, then the queen learned that the bad reputation embedded in the gemstones brought misfortune to all its owners, as the ancient legend says that “the one who possesses these diamonds will be the master of the whole world.” But he also knows all his problems.”

India was mentioned in some ancient Sanskrit texts 4 thousand to 5 thousand years ago, and it was called “Samantika Mani”, meaning the queen of diamonds, and it was in the possession of the Hindu god Krishna, according to legends, and some ancient Hindu texts say about the diamond: “He who owns this diamond owns the world.” But he suffers all the misfortunes in the world and only God, or only a woman... Who can wear a diamond with impunity.”

In 1739, the diamond “Koh Noor” became the possession of the Persian King Nader Shah, who named it by this name, which means “Mountain of Light” in Persian, and in 1747 King Nader Shah was assassinated and his empire disintegrated, and after his death one of his generals seized the diamond, called General Ahmad Shah Durrani, who awarded the diamond to Sikh King Ranjit Singh, King of Punjab and leader of the Sikh Empire that ruled the northwest of the Indian subcontinent in the first half of the XNUMXth century.

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Later it was inherited by Maharaja Dulip Singh who was only 5 years old, the last ruler of Punjab and Sikh Empire.

Years passed after another, and when they arrived in 1849, British forces invaded the Punjab and concluded a treaty stipulating in one of its clauses the delivery of the “Koh Noor” diamond to the Queen of England, where Lord Dalhousie arranged in 1851 a ceremony to present the diamond to Queen Victoria, and the presentation of the large diamond was in A celebration in Hyde Park in the capital, London, and since then the diamond has not come out of Britain.

After the departure of Queen Victoria, ownership of the diamond passed to Queen Alexandra in 1902, then to Queen Mary in 1911, then Queen Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1937, and the diamond became part of the British crown of Queen Elizabeth II during her coronation ceremony in 1953.

Since that time, the "Koh Noor" diamond made its way through many royal families and various treasuries before finally settling in the hands of the British during the colonial era, and the diamond became a historical dispute over its ownership by at least 4 countries, including India, Until India ceded its claim in April of 2016.

As for the “Forbes” magazine website, it was mentioned that we can trace the history of the diamond, which weighs 186 carats, since the year 1300, as the diamond stone “Koh Noor” was a decoration for the turban “Raja” of the dynasty of the state of Malwa in northern India, and later passed to the grandchildren of King “Tamerlin” When the great Mughal power spread throughout India, in the seventeenth century, the stone became the decoration of the legendary golden “Peacock Throne” ruler Shah Jahan famous for building the Taj Mahal.

But soon one of his sons was driven crazy by the brilliance of the stone, he staged a coup and killed his brothers, and imprisoned his father because he believed that "Koh Noor" should bring great power to his owner, already in the eighteenth century, the Persian Shah seized "Jabal Al-Noor" by deception, But it is not difficult to guess that the diamond did not bring him happiness.

After that, the cursed stone moved from owner to owner, wandering in the east and bringing suffering and death to many of those who carried it, the last owner in India was the Punjab Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the wise ruler knew what the terrifying cursed stone “Kohinoor” is doing and decided to get rid of it in any way, But he could not do anything, because he died suddenly of a serious illness.

Moreover, in the once prosperous united Sikh state, a period of bloody chaos began, behind the wise ruler, and after the final collapse of the empire, Koh Nur just passed to the British in 1852, it was decided to cut the yellow stone in a more It was a novelty, and it was defined as a pure diamond weighing 105.6 carats, and in 1902 it was already introduced into the crowns of queens on the throne.