A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c22.s1: Appendix A. Diamonds
A Forgotten Empire (Vijayanagar): A Contribution to the History of India c22.s1
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Appendix A. Diamonds
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HOWEVER much it may at first sight appear that our chroniclers have exaggerated in their description of the wealth of the Hindu sovereign and, his nobles, and of the wonderful display of jewels made on days of high festival by the ladies of their households, an account of which is given us by Paes, I for one see little reason for doubt. Nuniz distinctly states (p. 389) that the diamond mines, in their day the richest in the world, were farmed out on condition that all stones above twenty mangellins in weight—about twenty-five carats—were sent to the Râya for his personal use, and there must have been many of these. Barradas (p. 226 above) states that, according to rumour, even after the downfall of the empire the king at Chandragiri in 1614 A.D. had no less than three large chests full of diamonds in his possession; and every traveller and chronicler has something to say on the subject.
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The principal mines were on the north bank of the Krishnâ river, and in the Kurnool and Anantapur countries, notably at Vajra Karûr. Generically these are known as "the mines of Golkonda," and the phrase has passed into a proverb.
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Linschoten (ii. 136) writes: "They (diamonds) grow in the countrie of Decam behinde Ballagate, by the towne of Bisnagar, wherein are two or three hilles, from whence they are digged, whereof the King of Bisnagar doth reape great profitte; for he causeth them to be straightly watched, and hath farmed them out with this condition, that all diamonds that are above twenty-five Mangellyns in waight are for the King himselfe (every Mangellyn is foure graines in waight).
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"There is yet another hill in the Countrie of Decam, which is called Velha, that is the old Rocke, from whence come the best diamonds and are sold for the greatest price. . . Sometimes they find Diamonds of one hundred and two hundred Mangellyns and more, but very few."
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As regards the diamond "as large as a hen's egg," said to have been found at the sack of Vijayanagar and presented to the Âdil Shâh (above, p. 208), Couto (Decada VIII. c. xv.) says that it was a jewel which the Râya had affixed to the base of the plume on his horse's head-dress. Garcia da Orta, who was in India in 1534, says that at Vijayanagar a diamond had been seen as large as a small hen's egg, and he even declares the weights of three others to have been respectively 120, 148, and 250 *mangelis*, equivalent to 150, 175, and 312½ carats (Tavernier, V. Ball, ii. 433).
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Dr. Ball has gone carefully into the question of the diamonds known as "Bâbar's," "the Mogul's," "Pitt's," "the *Koh-i-nûr*," and others, and to his Appendix I. I beg to refer those interested in the subject.
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It is clear that this hen's egg diamond could not be the same as Sultan Bâbar's, because the former was taken at Vijayanagar in A.D. 1565, whereas Sultan Bâbar's was received by his son Humâyun at Agra in 1526, and could not have been, forty years later, in the possession of the Hindu king of the south.¹
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¹ Its history is known from A.D. 1304, when it was acquired by Alâ-ud-Din Khilji from the Rajah of Malwa.
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Dr. Ball has shown that probably the *Koh-i-nûr* is identical with the "Mogul's diamond." Was, then, this "hen's egg" diamond the same? Probably not. If we had been told that the "hen's egg," when found in the sack of Vijayanagar, had been cut, the proof *contra* would be conclusive, since the *Koh-i-nûr* was certainly uncut in A.D. 1656 or 1657. But there is no information available on this point.
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The "hen's egg" was apparently taken by the Âdil Shâh to Bîjapûr in 1565, and it is not likely to have found its way, still in an uncut state, to the possession of Mîr Jumla in 1656.
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The *Koh-i-nûr* was found at Kollûr on the river Krishnâ, probably in A.D. 1656. Mîr Jumla farmed the mines at that time, and presented it uncut to the emperor, Shâh Jahân. It is said to have weighed 756 English carats (Ball, ii. 444). It was entrusted to a Venetian named Hortensio Borgio, and was so damaged and wasted in his hands that, when seen by Tavernier in Aurangzîb's treasury in 1665, it weighed not more than 268½ English carats. In 1739 Nadir Shâh sacked Delhi and carried the stone away with him to Persia, conferring on it its present immortal name the "Mountain of Light." On his murder in 1747 it passed into the hands of his grandson, Shâh Rukh. Four years later Shâh Rukh gave it to Ahmad Shâh Durâni of Kâbul, and by him it
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APPENDIX A
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was bequeathed to his son Taimûr. In 1793 it passed by descent to his son Shâh Zamân, who was blinded and deposed by his brother Muhammad; but he retained possession of the stone in his prison, and in 1795 it became the property of his brother Sultan Shuja. In 1809, after Shuja became king of Kabul, Elphinstone saw the diamond in his bracelet at Peshawur. In 1812, Shuja, being dethroned by Muhammad, fled to Lahore, where he was detained as a quasi-prisoner by Ranjît Singh, the ruler of the Panjâb. In 1813 an agreement was arrived at, and Shuja surrendered the diamond to Ranjît Singh. Ranjît often wore the stone, and it was constantly seen by European visitors to Lahore. Dying in 1839, the *Koh-i-nûr* was placed in the jewel-chamber till the infant Dhulîp Singh was acknowledged as Ranjît’s successor. In 1849 it was handed over to Sir John Lawrence on the annexation of the Panjâb, and by him was sent to England to Her Majesty the Queen. In 1851 it was exhibited at the first great Exhibition, and in 1852 it was re-cut by an Amsterdam cutter, Voorsanger, in the employ of Messrs. Garrards. The weight is now 106 1/16 carats.
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It would be interesting to trace the story of the “hen’s egg” diamond after its acquisition by the Bîjapûr sultan, Ali Âdil.
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H. de Montfart, who travelled in India in 1608, saw a very large diamond in the possession of the Mogul emperor Jahângîr at Delhi,¹ but this had been pierced. “I have seene one with the great *Mogor* as bigge as a Hen’s egge, and of that very forme, which he caused expressly to bee pierced like a pearle to weare it on his arme. . . . It weighteth 198 Mangelins.”
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¹ De Montfart’s “Survey of all the East Indies.” Translation, edition of 1615, p. 34.