Given the long and sometimes bloody history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond and the great esteem in which the diamond was held by Kings, Emperors, and Conquerors, in the belief that the stone had some supernatural powers, that granted superiority to it's holder over his enemies, and the fact that these rulers belonged to different countries and ethnic groups, had given rise to a multitude of claimants for the diamond. In the modern enlightened era of the 20th and 21st centuries, in which relationship between states are defined by principles of mutual co-operation and co-existence, and not exploitation and domination of one state by another, the continued ownership of the diamond by Great Britain, is now being seriously questioned by these claimants. they feel that the diamond was wrongfully acquired by Great Britain, from the successors of the Maharajah of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, who had willed the Koh-i-Noor diamond to the Jagannath Temple in Orissa, while in his death bed in 1839. They allege that Britain legalized this wrongful acquisition, by deliberately including a clause in the Treaty of Lahore, which formalized the occupation of the Punjab by the British in 1849, to the effect that the gem called Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-mulk by Maharajah Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England.
In 1947, the Government of India, asked for the return of the Koh-i-Noor, and the State Government of Orissa claimed that the stone actually belonged to the Jagannath Temple of Orissa. Again in 1953, the year of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, another request was made by India, for the return of the diamond.
But, the real debate about the actual ownership of the historical diamond, was initiated in 1976, when the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, in a letter to the British Prime Minister, James Callaghan, submitted a formal request for the return of the diamond to Pakistan. This was refused, but was accompanied by an assurance by Callaghan to Bhutto, that there was no question that Britain would hand it over to any other country, an obvious reference to India. Pakistan's claim to the Koh-i-Noor was disputed by India, which made another formal request for it's restoration.
As the debate on the ownership continued, a major newspaper in Teheran stated that the gem ought to be returned to Iran. Another claimant to the diamond was Afghanistan.
It's worthwhile examining the merits and de-merits of each of the above claims.
The Indian Claim is based on the following indisputable facts of History :-
(1) That the Koh-i-Noor diamond was mined in one of the groups of mines situated in various river basins on the eastern side of the Deccan Plateau in Southern and Central Provinces of India.
(2) That the stone had belonged to several Indian rulers prior to the 13th century, which probably included the Maharajah of Malwa, and the Kakatiya Kings of Warangal which included, Prataparudra.
(3) That the stone belonged to the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate from 1295 to 1526, which included Sultan Ala-ud-din Khalji, and Sultan Ibrahim Lodi.
(4) That the stone was owned by the entire generation of Mogul rulers, Starting from Emperor Zahir-ud-din Muhammad (Babur-1526-30) to Emperor Muhammad Shah (1719 -48), who ruled first from Agra and later from Delhi.
(5) That the stone had been in the possession of Indian Rulers for a period of 444 years from 1295 to 1739, according to recorded history, save for a short period of seven years (1540-47), when Humayun sought refuge in neighboring Persia.
(6) That this period may be more than 500 years if the period of unrecorded history is also taken into account.
(7) That the stone was plundered by Nadir Shah of Iran in 1739.
The Iranian claim is based on the following facts of history :-
(1) That the Koh-i-Noor was acquired by the greatest Iranian ruler of the 18th century, Nadir Shah, in 1739 as a spoil of war, after defeating the Mogul army and capturing the capital city of the Mogul Empire Delhi.
(2) That the name Koh-i-Noor is of Persian origin, meaning "mountain of light", given by Nadir Shah, when he first saw the diamond after it was surrendered by Emperor Muhammad Shah.
(3) That the diamond was carried to Afghanistan illegally, after Nadir Shah's death, by Ahmed Khan Abdali, the commander of Nadir Shah's 4,000 man Afghan bodyguard.
(4) That the Koh-i-Noor remained in Iran as part of the Crown Jewels for a period of 8 years.
The facts on which the Afghan claims are based are as follows :-
(1) That the Koh-i-Noor was acquired by Ahmad Khan Abdali the trusted commander of Nadir Shah's 4,000 man Afghan Bodyguard. After Nadir Shah's death Ahmed Khan Abdali was elected Shah, by a tribal council and assumed the name Ahmed Shah Durrani.
(3) That the Koh-i-Noor remained with the Durrani rulers of Afghanistan for a period of 63 years from 1747 to 1810.
(4) That the grandson of Ahmed Shah Durrani, Sha Shoja, sought refuge in Lahore, the capital city of the Maharajah of Punjab, Ranjit Singh.
(5) That the Maharajah of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, exerted undue pressure on Shah Shoja to extort the diamond from him.
Finally let us consider the historical facts relevant to the claim made by Pakistan for the Koh-i-Noor diamond.
(1) That the Koh-i-Noor was acquired in 1810 by Ranjit Singh, the Maharajah of Punjab, whose capital city was Lahore, from the deposed ruler of Afghanistan, Sha Shoja, who sought political asylum in Lahore, after he was deposed by his brother Mahmud Shah.
(2) That the Koh-i-Noor diamond was acquired by Ranjit Singh, in return for the political asylum granted to Sha Shoja and his family .
(3) That the Koh-i-Noor diamond remained in the Punjab for a period of 39 years.
(4) That the Koh-i-Noor diamond remained as a property of the Ranjit Singh family up to March 29th 1849, the day Punjab was formally annexed to the British Empire of India.
(5) That the city of Lahore, from where the diamond was confiscated and later taken to England, now lies in Pakistan, after the partition of India in 1947.
(6) That Lahore is still the capital of the Punjab Province of Pakistan.
Having laid down the merits of each of the main claimants for the ownership of the historical diamond Koh-i-Noor, i. e. India, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, we leave it to the intelligence of the reader, to make the necessary conclusions as to the most valid and sustainable claim.
In the light of all these claims and counter-claims it is interesting to find out the official British position in respect of this controversy. The British Government seems to think that it has a clear title to the diamond, in that it was not seized in war , but formally presented to Queen Victoria, by the last successor to Maharajah Ranjit Singh, his youngest son Dulip Singh. In other words the British Government seems to think that the Koh-i-Noor rightfully belongs to them, and they may not part with the diamond under any circumstances. The Government also seems to take cover under the confused historical status of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which can be interpreted to mean that since the history of the diamond is confused, no one has the right to claim it except the present owners of the diamond.
Unfortunately, both lines of argument adopted by the British are highly untenable. In the first place historical records clearly show, that the Koh-i- Noor was confiscated as a spoil of war by the British, as stated in writing in the treaty of Lahore, which reads as follows :- "that the gem called Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk, by Maharajah Ranjit Singh, shall be SURRENDERED by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England." Moreover Queen Victoria was so impatient after the confiscation of the diamond in Lahore, that she ordered it's quick transfer to England from India, which her obedient servant the Governor General Lord Dalhousie, did in July 1850, barely one year after it's confiscation. The so called presentation ceremony, in which Dulip Singh "PRESENTS" the diamond to Queen Victoria takes place much later in 1851, after Dulip Singh had arrived in England. That the so called "PRESENTATION" of the diamond is not actually a presentation but a "SURRENDERING" of a spoil of war is proved beyond any doubt by the letter written to Sir George Cooper in August 1849, by his friend the Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie. The relevant portion of that letter reads, "The motive was simply this, that it was more for the honor of the Queen, that the Koh-i-Noor should be "SURRENDERED" directly from the hand of the conquered Prince into the hands of the Sovereign, who was his conqueror, than it should be presented as a gift by any, joint stock company among her subjects. "(East India Company).
However in spite of all the political and historical debate the Koh-i-Noor had generated in respect of it's rightful ownership, the gem still remains a property of the British Royal Family, and is on display with other Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.
The accurate weight of the diamond determined by a modern electronic balance was published in 1992, and was given as 105.602 carats, and it's dimensions are 36.00 x 31.90 x 13.04 mm. The stone is set in the Maltese Cross at the front of the Crown, made for Queen Elizabeth, the Queen consort of King George VI, and the mother of Queen ELizabeth II. In the year 2002, when the Queen Mother died at the ripe old age of 102 years, the Crown with the Koh-i-Noor, was placed atop her coffin as she lay in state.
No comments:
Post a Comment