The original diamond is integrated into a crown that is part of the British crown jewels. This is a replica housed at the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India, Mumbai.

This diamond, which translates to “Mountain of Light” in Persian, has a rich and fascinating history, full of mystery, power, and controversy.

Though it is now part of the British crown jewels, having had a place of prominence on the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the Koh-i-Noor Diamond originally came from India. Up until the discovery of diamonds in Brazil in the early 1700s, in fact, all diamonds came from India.

Likely one of many diamonds taken from an alluvial mine (which is the mining of stream beds), according to historians Anita Anand and William Dalrymple, the first time it can confidently be said to appear in history is 1628. At that time, Shah Jahan, Mughal ruler of India, ordered the construction of a throne inspired by that of Solomon the Great. It was to be so elaborate and breathtaking that the cost of it ended up being over four times that of the Taj Mahal.

Ahmad Shah Lahore, a chronicler at Shah Jahan’s court, said this of what became known as the Peacock Throne:

“The outside of the canopy was to be of enamel work studded with gems, the inside was to be thickly set with rubies, garnets, and other jewels, and it was to be supported by emerald columns. On top of each pillar there were to be two peacocks thick set with gems, and between each of the two peacocks a tree set with rubies and diamonds, emeralds and pearls.”

The Koh-i-Noor diamond had a place of prominence on the very top, set into a peacock’s head.

The curse doesn’t begin here, however. The Mughal Empire was far richer than anyone else in all of Asia and boasted a population of over two million people. It would last for over a century more before it ultimately fell to Nader Shah, a Persian invader.

Touched by Thousands of Ghosts

It is here, perhaps, that the curse began, for when Nader Shah invaded, it is estimated that in as little as six hours, he butchered 20,000 to 30,000 men, women, and children in India. At least 10,000 more women and children were taken as slaves. If we believe even one murdered individual can haunt a place or a thing, what could tens of thousands of angry spirits achieve?

Nader Shah took the Peacock Throne with him as a symbol of victory, but removed the Koh-i-Noor diamond and had it placed on an armband for him to wear.

Nader Shah on the Peacock Throne, courtesy of Wikipedia

As Nader Shah began a series of attacks in India, however, the British East India Company began to swoop in and gobble up vast swathes of the war-torn country. It was not long before they began to covet the diamond as a symbol of power and control over India, even more so than simply as a precious gem.

A Symbol of Authority

When the diamond passed to Ranjit Singh, who willed it to a group of Hindu priests upon his death, it was apparent that the British already regarded the gem as being somehow theirs by rights. One anonymous editorial ran in the British papers which said that “the richest, the most costly gem in the known world, has been committed to the trust of a profane, idolatrous and mercenary priesthood,” and by God the British ought to prevent that from happening.

The diamond in its setting when stolen by the British East India Company, courtesy of Wikipedia

In 1849, when the Koh-i-Noor eventually fell into the hands of ten-year-old ruler Duleep Singh, it was seized by the British East India Company as part of the Treaty of Lahore, which ended the first Anglo-Sikh War. Duleep Singh was also forced to relinquish all claims to sovereignty and bow to his new empress, Queen Victoria.

The diamond was then taken to England as a spoil of colonization and displayed for the British people at the 1851 Great Exposition in London. However, the people were disappointed in its appearance and suspected it was little more than a puffed-up piece of glass.

Queen Victoria wearing the diamond as a brooch, courtesy of Wikipedia

Upon the urging of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, the diamond was re-cut and polished. This reduced the stone’s size by at least half what it had been, such that the queen was able to wear it as a mere brooch. Eventually it was set into the crowns of both Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, before making its last appearance on the crown of the Queen Mother, mother to the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Today, the Koh-i-Noor Diamond is on display at the Tower of London as part of the Crown Jewels. It continues to attract visitors from all over the world, who are fascinated by its size, beauty, but also the controversy attached to who is the rightful owner of it.

“If you ask anybody what should happen to Jewish art stolen by the Nazis, everyone would say of course they’ve got to be given back to their owners,” Dalrymple says. “And yet we’ve come to not say the same thing about Indian loot taken hundreds of years earlier, also at the point of a gun. What is the moral distinction between stuff taken by force in colonial times?”

While some argue that the Koh-i-Noor should be returned, others ask to who it should be returned, as the empires that once owned it are gone. Others would, at the least, like to see the true history of the stone’s past shared, and not the polite lie that it was a “gift” of India to the people of England. Perhaps in this spirit, beginning May 26th of 2023 the stone is part of a new exhibit and has been marked as a “symbol of conquest” in the Tower.