Travels in India (Tavernier) 59.2

59.2

The first piece which Akil Khan placed in my hands was the great diamond, which is a round rose, very high at one side. At the basal margin it has a small notch and a little flaw inside. Its water is beautiful, and it weighs three hundred and nineteen and a half (319½) ratis, which are equal to two hundred and eighty (280) of our carats — the rati being ⅞th of our carat. When Mir JumlA, who betrayed the King of Golconda, his master, presented this stone to ShAh JahAn, to whose side he attached himself, it was then in the rough, and weighed nine hundred (900) ratis, which are equivalent to seven hundred and eighty-seven and a half (787½) carats; and it had several flaws.