The Koh-i-Noor Diamond

Koh-i-Noor 

Weight (uncut): 191 carats = 1.35 ounces (after 1852 re-cutting): 105.6 carats = 0.75 ounces. Current dimensions: 1.4 inches long, 1.3 inches wide, and 0.5 inches deep. Age: Unknown. Estimated to be found between 1300-1500. Worth: Part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, which are estimated to be more than 3 billion dollars.

History of the Koh-i-Noor 

Koh-i-Noor, also written as Kūh-e Nūr, translates to “Mountain of light” in Persian. It was believed to be found in an Indian diamond mine, the exact date of discovery is unknown. The Diamond first came into written record in 1628 when the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan commissioned the Peacock Throne and Koh-i-Noor was the head diamond of the gemstone peacock. Persian ruler Nader Shah invaded Delhi in 1739 and took the Throne to present-day Afghanistan where the diamond remained for 70 years. He returned to India in 1813 under the rule of Ranjit Singh who established the diamond as a symbol of prestige and power.

Acquisition by the British Empire 

As the British East India Company expanded their control over Indian commerce, they kept their eyes fixed on the Koh-i-Noor Diamond and vowed to seize the diamond by any means necessary. After violence forced the throne to pass between four rulers in only four years, the position was left to a ten-year-old boy, Duleep Singh. Following his mother's imprisonment, British officials made Duleep sign a legal document that forcibly relinquished the Koh-i-Noor to the British Crown in 1849. The Koh-i-Noor is now placed in the crown of the Queen Mother and was last seen by the public at her funeral in 2002.

Similarities of the Koh-i-Noor and the Moonstone

Koh-i-Noor

• “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or woman, can wear it with impunity.” 
• A pattern of gore, tragedies, and violence were apparent in the diamond's history 
• Stolen by English forces from Indian throne during British colonization

Moonstone

• “The deity predicted certain disaster to the presumptuous mortal  who laid hands on the sacred gem, and to all of his house and name who received it after him” (54)
• “The shrine of the four-handed god was polluted by the slaughter of sacred animals; the images of the deities were broken in pieces” (55) 
• “I got to the door, and saw the bodies of two Indians….laying across the entrance, dead” (56) 
• “John Herncastle, with a torch in his hand, and a dagger dripping with blood” (56) 
• “He declared in his boastful way, that we should see the Diamond on his finger, if the English Army took Seringapatam” (55)
• “Soldiers found their way, by an unguarded door, into the treasury of the Palace, and loaded themselves with gold and jewels” (56) 
• “the Diamond first fell into the hands of my uncle Herncastle, when he was serving in India fifty years since” (60) 

Similarities: Religion

Koh-i-Noor

• Some believe that the diamond was a gift to the world from the sun god Surya or that it was once in the possession of the Hindu god Krishna
• Others believe that the diamond is the Syamantaka, a famous jewel from Hindu mythology that is said to have magical powers
• Ranjit Singh planned to leave the Koh-i-Noor over to Hindu priests after his death

The Moonstone

• “The earliest known traditions describe the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god who typifies the Moon” (53)
• The Moonstone is transported to another city when its home city is seized by a different leader: “[the Moonstone] was removed by night, and was transported to the second of the sacred cities of India - the city of Benares” (54)
• The Moonstone is also watched over by priests: “The deity commanded that the Moonstone should be watched, from that time forth, by three priests in turn, night and day, to the end of the generations of men” (54)

Similarities: Jewelry as a symbol of power and status

Koh-i-Noor

• Incorporated as the central stone in the Queen’s state crown fashioned for use by Queen Elizabeth at her coronation in 1937
• Queen Victoria often wore the diamond as a brooch, representing her high class and status
• “In many ancient Indian courts, jewelry rather than clothing was the principal form of adornment and a visible sign of court hierarchy, with strict rules being laid down to establish which rank of courtier could wear which gem in which setting… 
• The world’s oldest texts on gemology also come from India, and they include sophisticated classification systems for different kinds of stones.”(Boissoneault). 
• “The British public to be dismayed at how simple it was. “Many people find a difficulty in bringing themselves to believe, from its external appearance, that it is anything but a piece of common glass…” 
• The British thought of gemstones more along the lines of vanity, while the people of India thought of the gemstones as symbols of power, and were well-versed in gemology. 

The Moonstone

•  “as queen of the day, was naturally the great attraction of the party. On this occasion, she was more particularly the centre-point towards with everybody’s eyes were directed; for she wore (to my lady’s secret annoyance) her wonderful birthday present- the Moonstone… Mr. Franklin, had contrived, with the help of his neat fingers and a little bit of silver wire, to fix it as a brooch in the bosom of her white dress”(121). 
• Jewelry was one of the many indicators of class and status among people of the Victorian Era. The more jewelry worn, the more money one expressed as having, therefore placing them higher in status/ class
• Yellow Diamond’ 
• “Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition which represented it as feeling the influence of the deity whom it adorned, and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the moon”(53). 
• Superstitious, wealth-oriented, family. 
• “A similar superstition was once prevalent, as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying however(as in India), to a diamond devoted to the services of a god, but to a semi-transparent stone of the inferior order of gems”(53).

Questions

• How is the Koh-i-Noor diamond an example of the British Empire’s attitude toward Indian culture and possessions?
• What do the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the Moonstone reveal about one’s class/status? Who gets to wear them?
• Should the British royal family return the Koh-i-Noor to its country of origin? Does their unwillingness to do so express the lingering effects of imperialism? 
• Wilkie Collins stated that the Koh-i-Noor diamond directly inspired The Moonstone. Do you think the sensationalized and popularized history of the Koh-i-Noor created the ideal national audience for publishing The Moonstone?