Legendary Asset of India - koh-i-noor Diamond

There was a period when Indian diamonds were very famous the world over. These included the Koh-i-noor, Orlov, the Great Moghul, Darya-i-noor, Indore pears, Shah and Arcots. These were all part of the treasure 

houses of the great emperors of India. Today, they are all in the hands of outsiders.

The legendary Koh-i-noor has been in the eye of the storm ever since it left the hands of its original owners - a diamond which was never bought or sold, but changed many hands. Koh-i-noor has left a trail that speaks of greed, power, murder, mayhem and unhappiness. 

According to all references, Koh-i-noor was never that great to look at in its early days. It was just another diamond that was dull, non-sparkling and a little yellow in appearance.It is 105 carats or 21.6 g diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world and is considered as the most precious stone.The Koh-i-Noor, meaning "Mountain of Light" in Persian language, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Kuh-e Nur or Koh-i-Nur. 

Many legends say that the Koh-i-noor was mined in India, and at least 4,000 years old. It received a mention in the 1300s, when it was named in the Baburnama. One account states that Babur got his hands on the diamond in Gujarat; another says he got it in the Deccan. But when Babur came to Agra in May 1526, the ruler Vikramaditya most likely gave him the great diamond. There is also evidence that his son Humayun carried a large diamond that his father had handed back to him at Agra and was known as Babur’s diamond for the next 200 years. 

There are still so many unresolved questions surrounding the precious stone. Many believe that the Koh-i-noor was also the Great Mogul and that Babur's diamond was separate; others say the Koh-i-noor and Babur’s diamond were one and same, while the rest identified it with both Babur's diamond and the Great Mogul. Information gathered over the years shows that in fact, three diamonds existed: - the Great Mogul – was the Orlov, weighing 189.62 metric carats, in Kremlin; and Babur's diamond – was the Darya-i-noor, weight 175 gm and 195 metric carats, the Iranian Crown Jewels; and the Koh-i-noor re-cut, Crown Jewels, England. 

When the peacock throne was handed over to Nadir Shah, the hiding place of this diamond was given away. A member of Mohammad Shah’s harem gave away the hiding place of Koh-i-noor. It is said that the Shah kept it hidden in his turban. So, Nadir Shah devised a plan - he ordered a grand feast to coincide with the restoration of Mohammed Shah to his throne. During the feast Nadir Shah suddenly proposed an exchange of turbans, a sign of brotherly ties and eternal friendship. Mohammed Shah was hardly likely to resist. After the exchange, Nadir Shah entered his private apartment only at night, where he unfolded the turban and found the diamond concealed within. When he set his eyes on it, he exclaimed "Koh-i-noor", meaning "Mountain of Light". 

The next sixty years of its history are the most violent and bloodstained. The final owner was Maharaja Duleep Singh, son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, in the backdrop of the two Sikh Wars leading to the annexation of the Punjab by the British. The hoisting of British flag was on March 29th, 1849 Lahore where Punjab was formally proclaimed a part of the British Empire in India. One of the terms of the Treaty of Lahore was:- "The gem called the 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." 

Dr Sir John Login was entrusted with two charges: to take the Koh-i-noor out of the Toshakhana (the jewel house), and also the guardsmanship of the young Duleep Singh. It was formally handed over to the Punjab government of Sir Henry Lawrence (1806-1857), his younger brother John Lawrence (afterwards Lord Lawrence, the man who in February of 1859 would break ground on the future Lahore railroad station), and C.C. Mausel. 

The Koh-i-noor sailed from Bombay in H.M.S. Medea. It was put in an iron box and kept in a dispatch box and deposited in the Government Treasury. For security reasons, this piece of news was suppressed, even among officers of the Treasury - and withheld from Commander Lockyer, the ship's captain. HMS Medea's voyage turned out to be a perilous one - cholera broke out on board in Mauritius and the local people demanded its departure. They asked their governor to open fire and destroy the vessel if it did not respond. After leaving Mauritius, a severe gale hit the vessel that lasted for about twelve hours. They reached Plymouth, England, where the passengers and the mail were unloaded, but not the Koh-i-noor, which was forwarded to Portsmouth. 

From there, the two officers took the diamond to the East India House, handing it over to the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of the company. 

The stone :
 
Prince Albert (Prince Consort) and Sebastian Garrard stated that the Koh-i-noor was badly cut, it is rose-not-brilliant-cut. It was decided to seek the advice of practical and experienced diamond cutters. A small steam engine was set up at Garrard's shop, while two gentlemen, Messrs Coster, Mr. Voorzanger and Mr. Fedder, travelled to London to undertake the re-cutting of the diamond. The Koh-i-noor was embedded in lead, two weeks later, after examining the stone. Mitchell thought that it had lost nearly all its yellow colour and become much e9fff3r. The re-cutting took 38 days and cost £8000 ($40,000). The final result was an oval brilliant diamond weighing 108.93 metric carats, which meant a loss of weight of just under 43 per cent. Its was now in stellar brilliant-cut, possessing the regular 33 facets, including the table, while the pavilion has eight more facets than the regular 25 bringing the total number of facets to 66. 

In 1853, it was mounted on a magnificent tiara for the Queen, which contained more than two thousand diamonds. Five years later, Queen Victoria ordered a new regal circlet for the diamond. In 1911, Garrards made a new crown that Queen Mary wore for the coronation - it contained diamonds, among them the Koh-i-noor. In 1937, this was transferred to the crown made for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, based on Queen Victoria's regal circlet and is set in a Maltese Cross at the front of the crown. 

Perfect cut of Koh-i-Noor Diamond :

  Diameter 

    The width of the diamond as measured through the girdle.

   Table

    This is the large, flat top facet of a diamond.

 
Crown

    The upper portion of a cut gemstone, above the girdle.

 Girdle

    The narrow rim of a diamond that separates the crown from the pavilion. It is the largest diameter to any part of the stone.

  

 Pavilion 

    The lower portion of the diamond, below the girdle. It is sometimes referred to as the base.

   Culet

    The tiny facet on the pointed bottom of the pavilion, which is the portion of a cut gem below the girdle.

  Depth

     The height of a gemstone, from the culet to the table. 

The controversy :
 
The 20th century saw a war of words over Koh-i-noor and its rightful ownership. In 1947, the government of India asked for the return of the diamond. Also, the Congress Ministry which ruled Orissa staked claim to the stone, saying it belonged to the Lord Jagannath. Ranjit Singh's treasurer mentioned that it was the property of their estate. Pakistan's claim to the diamond was disputed by India. Shortly thereafter, a major newspaper in Teheran stated that the gem should to be returned to Iran. 

Sir Olaf has pointed out that the Koh-i-noor had been in Mogul possession in Delhi for 213 years, in Afghan possession in Kandahar and Kabul for 66 years and in British possession for 127 years. Historically, it maybe difficult to pass judgement on the validity of the various claims, but on the other hand, from a gemological aspect, as a paper report said, the Indian claim is the most valid because it was in that country that it was mined. 

              Why Koh-i-Noor Diamond is special 

  

        It isn't possible to put a value on this diamond.

The legend :
 
Legend goes that Sun God gave this gem to his disciple Satrajit, but his younger brother Persain snatched it from him. A lion in the forest killed Persain and Jamavant took this gem from the body of Persain and delivered it to Lord Krishna, who restored it to Satrajit. Later, this jewel again came back into the hands of Lord Krishna as dowry when Satrajit gave the hand of his daughter Satyabhama in marriage to him. Lord Krishna gave it back to the Sun God .The Koh-i-noor came into the hands of numerous rulers till it was possessed by Porus, the king of Punjab, who retained the diamond after a peace treaty in 325 BC when Alexander left India. 

Chandragupta Maurya (325-297 B.C.) became the next possessor and passed it on to his grandson Ashoka who ruled from 273-233 B.C. Later it slipped into the hands of Raja Samprati of Ujjain (Ashoka’s grandson). This jewel remained in the custody of Ujjain and the Parmar dynasty of Malwa. When Ala-ud-din Khilji (1296-1316A.D.) defeated Rai Ladhar Deo, the ruler of Malwa in 1306 AD, he acquired the diamond. From this stage up to the time of Mughal Emperor Babur, the history of this precious stone is lost once more. Koh-i-noor comes to light again in year 1526.

Humayun is said to have given the stone to the Shah of Persia for giving him refuge after he lost to Sher Shah. From 1544 to 1547, the Koh-i-noor remained in the possession of Shah Tehmasp of Iran. The Shah sent the Koh-i-noor along with other precious gifts to Burhan Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar (Deccan) for the rulers of the Deccan - Ahmednagar, Golkunda and Bijapur regarded the King of Persia as their religious head. This stone remained in the possession of the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmednagar and the Qutb Shah dynasty of Golkunda in the Deccan for a period of 109 years. How it came back to the Mughals is another gap in history. 

After Aurangzeb, this diamond remained consigned into the coffers of the Mughal treasury from 1707 to 1739 A.D. Muhammad Shah Rangila (1719-1748) used to carry this wonder diamond with him in his turban. Nadir Shah got hold of Koh-i-noor when he ransacked Delhi in the 1700s and it went to his successors, landing in the hands of the Afghan ruler Shah Shuja who handed it to Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1813.

The Koh-i-Noor left the shores of India on April 6, 1850, and on reaching London on July 2, 1850, it was handed over to the Board of Directors of the East India Company. Sir J.W. Logg, the Deputy Chairman of the East India Company, presented it to Queen Victoria. The queen recorded in her journal: "The jewels are truly magnificent. They had also belonged to Ranjit Singh and had been found in the treasury of Lahore.I am very happy that the British Crown will possess these jewels for I shall certainly make them Crown Jewels".

Many still await the many treasures which were “stolen” by the British Raj, and no one knows how long the wait will be. But today, if you happen to visit London, please make a stopover at Tower of London and look at the Crown Jewels for the Queen and the Koh-i-noor placed in her crown up front inside a Maltese cross.

Dignity of King Porus

The Greek/Latin name Porus is a rendering of the Indian Puru, the throne name of the ruler of the kingdom Paurava. This state was situated between the rivers Hydaspes (modern Jhelum) and Acesines (Chenab). Its capital may have been at the site now known as Lahore.

When the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great arrived in India in the spring of 326, he was welcomed by Omphis, the king of Taxila (Takshaçila, near modern Rawalpindi), another kingdom in the Punjab and Porus' archenemy. To Porus, the arrival of the westerners was a great threat: after all, it was obvious that Omphis would use his allies in a war against Paurava.
However, for the time being, he seemed safe, because the approaching monsoon rains would make it impossible to cross the Hydaspes. Therefore, he refused to send envoys to Taxila to offer tokens of submission. This was a grave error, because Alexander wanted to conquer all of India. In May, the Macedonian army started to march to the Hydaspes.
Porus was prepared for war. With his army, he had taken up a position on the east bank, intending to prevent Alexander's crossing. A bit more to the north, one of his sons was guarding the river, to make sure that Alexander would not outflank the Pauravans. As it turned out, Porus' son was no match for the Macedonians: during a thunderstorm, they crossed the Hydaspes, and the Indian chariots were unable to move through the rain-soaked mud. He was defeated and killed, and Alexander started to move against the army of his father.

The Indians were outnumbered and outclassed by the Macedonian army. However, Porus still had one dangerous weapon: the elephants, an army unit that the Macedonians had never encountered before. He placed these animals before his infantry men, knowing that the Macedonian cavalry could not attack them because horses fear elephants unless they have had a special training. On his wings, the Pauravan king stationed his chariots. When the Macedonians reached the place where he was waiting for them, they deployed their phalanx and moved slowly towards their enemy. Alexander commanded the heavy cavalry and the mounted archers of the Dahae, which were on his right wing.

Porus saw that his left wing chariots were outnumbered by the Macedonian cavalry and moved his right wing chariots to the left; at that moment, the Macedonian cavalry commander Coenus suddenly moved to the now undefended Indian right wing and encircled the enemy lines, attacking them in their rear. Meanwhile, the heavy cavalry in Alexander's neighborhood and the Dahae were victorious against Porus' chariots, and archers were attacking the elephants. The Macedonian archers and phalanx started to kill the elephants' drivers and the animals panicked. From this moment on, the Indians were attacked from all sides: they had to defend themselves against the phalanx and their own elephants in front of them and the Macedonian cavalry in the rear. Nearly all Indian cavalry were killed; a few infantry men managed to flee; a wounded king Porus surrendered only after the destruction of his entire army. When Alexander asked him how he wanted to be treated, he gave the famous reply "as a king"...!

Awesome Conversation of King Porus &  Alexandor the great :
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When defeated Porus bring in front of Alexander......, Alexander Asked " Porus ! What do you want ? How  you wanted to be Treated ?"
Porus replied " As A King Behaves towards Another King ! "
Listening This meaningful statement given by Porus even  after his  defeat ,won the heart the heart of Great Alexander.Alexander not only give freedom to Porus but also made Porus his friend ,his ally.

Missile Inventor - King Tipu Sultan

Tipu Sultan, the celebrated Tiger of Mysore, made critical innovations in the Mysorean rockets that his father Hyder Ali first used as weapons of war, and built a 6,000-strong artillery brigade in the 18th century, a technology later borrowed by the British when they went to war.

Over 200 years later, the Ministry of Defence has finally decided to give Tipu and Srirangapatna their due when it announced it would mark the Rocket Court, the laboratory where Tipu tested his mini-missiles at the birthplace of rocket technology. 

Refrences can be found to prove the use of rockets in the battle of Pollilur (1780) in which the Britishwere defeated - a scene celebrated on the walls of Darya Daulat in Srirangapatna - a strong contributory cause is thought to have been the explosion of Colo Baillie’s ammunitiontumbrils, touched off by Mysore rockets. It is interesting to note that no other armies seem to have used rockets at this period or just prior to that. Where the Mysore rockets simply modifications of the cannon ball?Certainly not as can be seen by the Interest of the British in Mysore rockets.These were different in that they were not accompanied by the recoil as in a cannon.

  

Thanks to the interest of the British in these rockets, they were studied more scientifically!! The industrial revolution provided the tools and materials needed to further the development of rockets. William Congreve was given the job of improving the range of the rockets for possible use against the French. However, it was as late as the end of second world war that Rockets were used as effective weapons.

Rockets were also used in the 3rd and 4th Anglo-Mysore Wars as well; although they caused much confusion and fear especially when used against massed troops or cavalry, they were too inaccurate to tilt decisively the fortunes of battle in favour of Tipu. The Galaxy bazzar (Taramandal Pet) is the place were the rockets and fireworks were manufactured.These rockets are supposed to have consisted of bamboo poles with sharp ends.

Historians say after the fall of Tipu in 1799, 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets and 9,000 empty rockets were found in the Rocket Court. Two of the specimens are still preserved in Royal Artillery Museum in London. 

The sorry state of affairs is that the only specimen of the Mysore rockets used by Tipu Sultan is in London in the Royal artillery museum .The Rocket court in Srirangapatnam now lies in ruins, being used as a public toilet.Its indeed worth investigating the origins of the rockets in India prior to the Mysore Rockets. The fate of rockets in Mysore seems to have suffered the same fate as rest of the scientific and technical developments in British India.

The recent interest in the rockets of Mysore was stimulated by our former President APJ Abdul Kalam. In his book "Wings of Fire" he mentions, how he saw the picture of the Mysore's Rocket war in NASA. The fact that today India is not inferior to any other nation in its potential to develop and launch rockets is very reassuring. The Tiger of Mysore, Tipu Sultan would have indeed felt proud of this fact.

Never Beats - Chanakya

Chanakya (370–283 BCE) is considered as the pioneer of the field of economics and political science and his work is thought of as an important precursor to Classical Economics. In the Western world, he has been referred to as The Hindu Machiavelli.

Chanakya was a teacher to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340–293 BCE) - the first emperor in the archaeologically recorded history to rule the complete Indian Subcontinent. Chanakya is generally considered to be the architect of Chandragupta's rise to power at a young age. Traditionally, he is also identified by the names Kautilya and Vishnu Gupta, who authored the ancient Indian political treatise called Arthaśāstra.

Selected Quotes of Chanakya are:

1. A man is great by deeds, not by birth.
    
2. A man is born alone and dies alone; and he experiences the good and bad consequences of his karma alone; and he goes alone to hell or the Supreme abode.
    
3. As long as your body is healthy and under control and death is distant, try to save your soul; when death is immanent what can you do?
    
4. Even if a snake is not poisonous,
   it should pretend to be venomous.
    
5. As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it.
    
6. The happiness and peace attained by those satisfied by the nectar of spiritual tranquility is not attained by greedy persons restlessly moving here and there.
    
7. The fragrance of flowers spreads
   only in the direction of the wind.
   But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction.
    
8. It is better to die than to preserve this life by incurring disgrace. The loss of life causes but a moment’s grief, but disgrace brings grief every day of one’s life.
    
9. The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth.
    
10. The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. ! It will destroy you.
     
11. Do not reveal what you have thought upon doing, but by wise council keep it secret being determined to carry it into execution.
     
12. Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years.
    For the next five years, scold them.
    By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend.
    Your grown up children are your best friends.
     
13. There is some self-interest behind every friendship.
    There is no Friendship without self-interests.
    This is a bitter truth.
     
14. Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be
    and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply
    and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead.
     
15. Once you start a working on something,
    don't be afraid of failure and
    don't abandon it.
    People who work sincerely are the happiest.
     
16. We should not fret for what is past, nor should we be anxious about the future; men of discernment deal only with the present moment.
     
17. The world’s biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman.
     
18. Education is the best friend.
    An educated person is respected everywhere.
    Education beats the beauty and the youth.
     
19. The life of an uneducated man is as useless as the tail of a dog which neither covers its rear end, nor protects it from the bites of insects.
     
20. Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune.
     
21. He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby.
     
22. God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple.
     
23. The serpent, the king, the tiger, the stinging wasp, the small child, the dog owned by other people, and the fool: these seven ought not to be awakened from sleep.
     
24. As a single withered tree, if set aflame, causes a whole forest to burn, so does a rascal son destroy a whole family.
     
25. Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness.
     
26. Whores don’t live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don’t build nests on a tree that doesn’t bear fruits.
     
27. There is poison in the fang of the serpent, in the mouth of the fly and in the sting of a scorpion; but the wicked man is saturated with it.
     
28. He who is overly attached to his family members experiences fear and sorrow, for the root of all grief is attachment. Thus one should discard attachment to be happy.
     
29. There is no austerity equal to a balanced mind, and there is no happiness equal to contentment; there is no disease like covetousness, and no virtue like mercy.
     
30. Purity of speech, of the mind, of the senses, and of a compassionate heart are needed by one who desires to rise to the divine platform.
     
31. O wise man! Give your wealth only to the worthy and never to others. The water of the sea received by the clouds is always sweet.
     
32. The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability.
     
33. If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?
     
34. One whose knowledge is confined to books and whose wealth is in the possession of others, can use neither his knowledge nor wealth when the need for them arises.
     
35. The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.

Alexander - The sign of Victory horse Bucephalus

The story of wondrous horse, Bucephalus, the horse that Alexander the Great rode for thousands of miles and through many battles to create his mighty empire.

The legend begins with Philoneicus, a Thessalian bringing a wild horse to Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great. Philip was angry at Phinoneicus for bringing such an unstable horse to him but Alexander had watched Bucephalus and set his father, Philip, a challenge. Although Alexander was only 12 years old he had noticed that Bucephalus was shying away from his own shadow. Alexander gently led Bucephalus into the sun so that his shadow was behind him. Eventually Bucephalus allowed Alexander to ride him, much to the public humiliation of Philip. Philip gained face by commenting "Look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee". Alexander named the horse Bucephalus because the horse's head seemed "as broad as a bulls".

Bucephalus, the mighty stallion, died of battle wounds in 326B.C in Alexander's last battle. Alexander founded the city of Bucephala (thought to be the modern town of Jhelum, Pakistan) in memory of his wonderful horse.

Like his hero and ancestor Achillis, Alexander viewed his horses as "known to excel all others-for they are immortal. Poseiden gave them to my father Peleus, who in his turn gave them to myself"

Thomas Alva Edison - The Failed Inventions

Thomas Alva Edison held 1,093 patents for different inventions. Many of them, like the lightbulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera, were brilliant creations that have a huge influence on our everyday life. However, not everything he created was a success; he also had a few failures.

One concept that never took off was Edison's interest in using cement to build things. He formed the Edison Portland Cement Co. in 1899, and made everything from cabinets (for phonographs) to pianos and houses. Unfortunately, at the time, concrete was too expensive and the idea was never accepted. Cement wasn't a total failure, though. His company was hired to build Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

From the beginning of the creation of motion pictures, many people tried to combine film and sound to make "talking" motion pictures. Here you can see to the left an example of an early film attempting to combine sound with pictures made by Edison's assistant, W.K.L. Dickson. By 1895, Edison had created the Kinetophone--a Kinetoscope (peep-hole motion picture viewer) with a phonograph that played inside the cabinet. Sound could be heard through two ear tubes while the viewer watched the images. This creation never really took off, and by 1915 Edison abandoned the idea of sound motion pictures.