The Curse of the Kohinoor Diamond

The curse of the world-famous diamond that nations have fought over reads, “He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes.” However, this is only half the curse.

The Kohinoor diamond in the British crown of the Queen; Image source: The Guardian

Never ever was such a huge diamond seen by them. The beauty of such a diamond was mesmerizing. It was captivating. This is the story of a diamond whose powers align with the Lord of the Rings where the wearer of the ring shall rule the world but destruction follows in such a reign.

Mined in the Kollur Mine of India, the diamond was owned by the ruler of a region which is today’s Telangana. At that time, Allauddin Khilji was on his expansion drives towards the south. The ruler of the Telangana offered a peace treaty with Khilji offering him the diamond.

Allauddin Khilji was no pushover but the bewitching powers of the diamond captivated him. Khilji agreed. He took back the diamond to his state. Allauddin Khilji himself had a good reign but after his death, his son could only rule for a year and even the later ruler of the Khilji dynasty couldn't gain the same stability again. The Khilji dynasty ended. The curse of the diamond made itself known in the streets of Dilli.

The diamond was passed along to the Delhi sultanate rulers after that. It went from the Tughlaqs to the Lodhis. All of the rulers in the Delhi Sultanate had short-term rules and the dynasty kept on changing. It was finally in 1526 when Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodi and the diamond was passed on to the Mughal dynasty.

The lines of the curse of the diamond made it to Hindu scriptures and the Mughal rulers decided to lock away the diamond. It seems any person who seems to want to adorn the diamond opens the path to the destruction of their dynasty.

The diamond was away until Shah Jahan, an emperor who was a true admirer of beautiful things decided to cut the diamond and have it fitted in his peacock throne. He believed as long he didn't wear the diamond himself, it wouldn't matter much. Kohinoor lost a lot of its size but the brilliance of the diamond increased by folds after cutting it.

As history knows it, Shah Jahan lost his most precious diamond, his wife Mumtaz, for whom he went on to create the Taj Mahal. His son jailed him and it was only upon Shah Jahan’s death that he was allowed to be buried beside his beloved wife Mumtaz. The curse struck again.

The rule of his successor Aurangzeb was filled with massacres and depletion of their treasury. Moreover, the successors of Aurangzeb has been named ‘Later Mughals’ as the great empire was slowly losing its grandeur.

In fact, during the reign of Muhammad Shah, one of the later Mughals, Nadir Shah of Persia, defeated the Mughals brutally massacring and plundering the city. Along with it, he looted the peacock throne that had the priceless Kohinoor diamond.

Nadir Shah was one of the greatest Mongol leaders of his time however after his conquest in India he was assassinated and his empire quickly disintegrated. The curse of the diamond had struck again. The diamond was passed among other successors of the region and each one of them was dethroned and before that blinded.

Finally, it was Ranjit Singh, the Sher of Punjab who brought the diamond back to India. The rule of Maharaja Ranjit Singh was magnificent. He had the 2nd best army in the Indian subcontinent (after the British). In fact, the British made an exception for Ranjit Singh and never tried to interfere in his matters. His kingdom was the very definition of thriving.

However, just after his death, there was a war of succession; 4 kings got placed on the throne in just a matter of 2 years. The British quickly grabbed the opportunity and made Punjab part of their territory after defeating them in the two battles of the Anglo-Sikh war.

With the fall of one of the last standing empires, the Kohinoor was in the pockets of the British. Lord Dalhousie made arrangements for the ruler of Punjab, Duleep Singh to present the Kohinoor diamond to the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.

After the diamond was presented to the British, the diamond was cut again to be fitted as a brooch for Queen Victoria. At that time it wasn't part of the British crown. After Queen Victoria’s death the Kohinoor was fitted in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII and then transferred to Queen Mary’s crown and finally the current Queen, Queen Elizabeth.

Now you might be wondering how come the curse didn't work for the lineage of Queen Victoria for her lineage is still going strong to date. This brings us to the second part of the curse-

“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.”

Kohinoor seems to be kind to women. The British were well known to the story that surrounded the diamond and they seem to believe it as well because the diamond is only worn by the female heir of the throne or in the case of a male heir it is worn by the wife of the male heir.

Kohinoor stands for ‘mountain of light,’ however has been a witness to massacres, destruction and the end of several dynasties. Queen Elizabeth, the queen of England wears the crown that adorns the Kohinoor diamond, one of the most disputable jewels of the world.

A replica of Kohinoor; Image source: Wikipedia