Book on Kohinoor’s extensive journey launched in Karachi

Authors William Dalrymple and Anita Anand present a brief
account of the infamous diamond’s history at the ceremony

“Kohinoor has been the object of greed, lust, plots and conniving in history,” said William Dalrymple in the light of the intrigues and plots the diamond is associated with.

The British historian and biographer was addressing the launch of ‘Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond’ that was jointly authored by him and British broadcaster and journalist Anita Anand.

After the formal launch hosted by the Oxford University Press (OUP) Pakistan at a local hotel on Wednesday evening, Dalrymple – the pioneer of the Jaipur Literature Festival that set the pace for the Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad litfests – started off with the narration of the Kohinoor saga.

Diamonds in southern India, he said, were mined from an area of alluvial soil. About the diamond, he said: “It has a charisma, a history and a power to create.”

Diamonds from southern India, he said, were very popular in China and formed an important part of the Gandhara artefacts.

He quoted an account by a Portuguese missionary, Manrique, who happened to visit a Mughal ceremony in Agra and saw for himself the glittering diamonds.

Both Dalrymple and Anita came up with highly valuable information that we had not read in our history books.

In 1638, said Dalrymple, Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan commissioned a furniture maker to build the peacock throne. The Kohinoor was part of the peacock throne, being placed right on the head of the bird.

Then one of the later Mughal princes, Muhammad Shah Rangila, inherited the Kohinoor. Dalrymple made some humorous remarks about Rangila’s romantic escapades and his unmitigated liking for women.

Then the stone found its way to Kandahar in Afghanistan after Nadir Shah rampaged Delhi. According to Dalrymple, Nadir Shah had 10,000 elephants transport the loot to Kandahar.

From this juncture Anita took over the narration and started with Ranjit Singh’s advent. “Ranjit Singh turned the Kohinoor into a symbol of unassailable power.”

Now the whole account centred on Lahore, which happened to be the seat of the Sikh rule. She narrated the rise of Maharani Jindan, who, she said, tried her level best to keep the gem in her family.

And finally, she narrated how the British imprisoned Jindan, locking her up in the Lahore Fort and how the stone passed on into British hands with its final journey aboard the Medea, reaching England in 1850.

Even though both lectures extended well over an hour and a half, they were most engrossing and the audience listened with rapt attention. At no juncture did they become boring or dragging. The lectures were interspersed with humorous remarks and witticisms, which made it all the more engrossing.

Dalrymple, in particular, made light work of many things as he seemed to have no compunction in using the kind of language that normally would not be expected from a Briton in particular and the older folk in general.