The Koh-i-noor, the mesmerising diamond that is now one of the British crown jewels is said to be cursed throughout history.
Where does it come from? Who were its previous owners?And is it really cursed?
To really understand why the myth of being cursed surrounds this gem for centuries, we need to take a long trip back in history, to 1306.
The gem was mined from one of the alluvial mines in India centuries ago. People believed that it was gifted to them by an Indian god.
There isn’t an exact date to when the diamond was mined but it is mentioned in some historical texts as belonging to an ancient oriental kingdom as far back as 3000BC!
After that the stone isn’t mentioned a lot until 1739.
In 1739 Nadir Shah defeated Muhammad Shah, and when he left the city he was accompanied by so much gold and gems-including the peacock throne – that 700 elephants, 4000 camels and 12,000 horses had to pull it!
And of course this said “cursed” stone was on the back of one of those elephants making its way to Persia.
It was Nader Shah who gave the diamond the name of “Koh-i-Noor” meaning mountain of light. Nader was assassinated 8 short years after that, by his own guards! Therefor, the stone came into the possession of Ahmad shah Durrani.
In 1813 the diamond finds its way back to India when shah Shuja Durrani is put into exile and is forced to give up the diamond to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the sikh empire.
After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh the kingdom is left to his sons, and there begins a bloody battle over who takes the throne. Maharaja Singh’s 3 eldest sons are killed one after the other brutally and the only person left to reign is his 5 year old son, Duleep Singh.
When Duleep turned 10, he had to sign over the kingdom and the gem to the British after the British won the second Anglo-Sikh war.
In 1852 the diamond travels the longest it ever has and is taken to England. There it is showcased in public, but people were very disappointed due to the diamonds uncut look. Hence, queen Victoria’s husband, prince Albert, orders to cut the diamond, which reduces the stones weight by 42%, from 186 carats to 105.6. carats.
After the cutting of the diamond it was ordered by the queen that the gem must only be worn queens because of the myth surrounding it.
The diamond has now become one of the crown jewels and is being guarded in the tower of London.
So to ask the very first question again, is the “kooh-i-Noor” cursed?
Well, what does it take to declare an object cursed?
Assassination? Exile? War? Killing your own brothers?
Well then the Kooh-i-Noor brought all of that with it. But isn’t it wiser to look at the kings who started wars and killed instead of deeming an object cursed?
Whichever way you would like to look at it, one thing is sure: The mountain of light, lies above a sea of blood.
