KOHINOOR STORY

KOHINOOR STORY FROM STARTING TO END

The Kohinoor is one of the oldest and most famous diamonds in the world. The history of the Kohinoor goes back in history to more than 5000 years ago. The current name of the diamond, Koh-i-noor is in Persian and means “Mountain of Light”. Below you will find a timeline of this priceless diamond.

Up to 1500

It is believed that the diamond was first mentioned more than 5000 years ago in a Sanskrit script, where it was called the Syamantaka.

Syamantaka

It is worth mentioning that there is only speculation that the Syamantaka and the Kohinoor are the same diamond. After this first written mention, for over 4,000 years the diamond is not mentioned.

Maharajah Ranjit Singh

Up until 1304 the diamond was in the possession of the Rajas of Malwa, but back then, the diamond was still not named Kohinoor. In 1304, it belonged to the Emperor of Delhi, Allaudin Khilji.

In 1339, the diamond was taken back to the city of Samarkand, where it stayed for almost 300 years. In 1306 in a Hindi writing, a curse is placed on the men who will wear the diamond: “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.”

Babur

Babur

In 1526 the Mogul ruler Babur mentions the diamond in his writings, Baburmama.

The diamond was gifted to him by the Sultan Ibrahim Lodi.

He was the one who described the diamond’s value equal to half-day production costs of the world.

One of the descendants of Babur, Aurangzeb , protected the diamond diligently and passed it on to his heirs.

Mahamad, the grandson of Aurangzeb, however, was not a fear-inspiring and great ruler like his grandfather.

Nadir and Mahamad

Nadir Shah

The Persian general Nadir Shah went to India in 1739. He wanted to conquer the throne, which had been weakened during the reign of Sultan Mahamad. The Sultan lost the decisive battle and had to surrender to Nadir.

It was him the one that gave the diamond its current name, Koh-i-noor meaning “Mountain of light”.

But Nadir Shah did not live for long, because in 1747 he was assassinated and the diamond got to one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Durrani.

A descendant of Ahmad Shah, Shah Shuja Durrani brought the Koh-i-noor back to India in 1813 and gave it to Ranjit Singh (the founder of the Sikh Empire). In exchange Ranjit Singh helped Shah Shuja get back the throne of Afghanistan.