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| looted from India Timur Ruby (actually Spinel).thecourtjeweller.com |
The impressive irregularly-shaped cabochon spinel that weighs 361 carat, now part of the British crown jewels in London, was once owned by the Maharajah of Punjab Ranjit Singh. The stone is etched with the names of five of the men who owned it earlier : Jahangir (1569-1627), the 4th Mughal Emperor; Shah Jahan (1592-1666), the 5th Mughal Emperor; Farrukhsiyar (1685-1719), the 10th Mughal Emperor; Nader Shah (1688-1747), Shah of Iran; and Ahmad Shah Durrani (1722-1772), King of Afghanistan. the stone had a chequered history and finally landed in the hands of the ruler of Punjab province (undivided). By 1813, the Timur Ruby was in the collection of Maharajah Ranjit Singh. His son Maharajah Sher Singh, in the 1840s, who inherited it, was assassinated and his younger brother, just five years old Duleep Singh, became the new Maharajha and the owner of the Timur Ruby).
The kingdom being quite vulnerable, the wily and corrupt East India company in 1848-49, waited for the right opportunity and waged war (Anglo-Sikh War; 1845-46) on the Sikh Empire. The English Company annexed the Punjab region and forced the ten-year-old ruler to sign over his kingdom. Duleep Singh was placed in the care of a Scottish guardian and kept him isolated from his fellow country men. When he grew up in England as a lavish county gentleman in a well embellished
Elveden hall, England where Duleep lived pinrest.com
Georgian House ' Elveden Hall'. Later he was back to sikh religion and to the prince Duleep Elveden became a symbol of the 'glittering yet hypocritical excesses of the Victorian aristocracy'. The prince of Wales happened to be his best friend. He never lived in India and died a broken man..
As part of the deal, the company came into possession of yet another world famous diamond Koh-i-noor, besides Timur ruby. The Governor-General of India received the Kohinoor, Timur Ruby, and other war spoils from Dr. John Login, in charge of the Toshakhana (Royal Treasury), Royal Fort, Lahore, under a proper receipt dated December 7,1849, in the presence of the members of the Board of Administration.
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| Timur Ruby of India hejewelerblog.wordpress.com |
The Timur Ruby and other precious stones left England from Bombay on the 6th of April, 1850 and formally handed over to Queen Victoria in a ceremony held on July 3, 1850, at Buckingham Palace by Sir J. W. Logg, Deputy Chairman of the East India Company, in the presence of Sir John Hobhouse. The Timur Ruby is now in the private collection of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It was officially cataloged as a “short necklace of four very large Spinel rubies.
This dishonest transaction is still a subject of controversy as the Maharajah was a minor. You can not take it as part of a peace treaty between Punjab and the English company. Many historians are of the view that it was outright and glaring theft in a foreign soil against the wish of the royal family. It is to be noted that Queen Victoria's role is controversial and unethical. Though she knew very well that both koh- i - noor and the Timur ruby were looted from Punjab, she turned a blind eye to the loot. Positively, it was an unethical act, considering her exalted status. Was it done by the famous queen out of greed or perversion, no body knows?
It is a mystery why young Maharajah Duleep Singh himself was also brought to London when the gemstones were gifted to Queen Victoria by the looter EIC. Yet another puzzle is Duleep Singh was forced by the British government to remain in Europe for the rest of his life, dying in Paris in 1893. That the ex ruler of Punjab had only been allowed to make two brief visits to India in the 1860 still remains an enigma. A web of conspiracy was woven around the ruler for no reason.
Upon closer examination in 1851, it was firmly determined that the gemstone was not a ruby but a spinel. In 1863 the crown jeweler, Garrards made a new gold and diamond necklace with spinel for Queen Victoria. The crown jeweler designed it in such a way as to remove the Timur Ruby from the necklace and replace it with the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, thus the special necklace has dual functions.
https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2021/08/the-timur-ruby-necklace.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timur_ruby
https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2015/01/infamous-largest-timur-ruby-of.html
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Koh-i-noor Diamond:
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| British crown and Koh-i-noor diamond looted from India. commons.wikimedia.org |
Much has been written about the 108-carat Kohinoor gem that had been dishonestly looted from young Maharajah Duleep Singh by the EIC after the final Angelo-Sikh war. Presently the British government has intention of returning the famous diamond to its place of origin - India; it was from the Kollur mines - part of Alluvial deposits of Krishna river, now in Andhra state, S. India.
Regarding the famous diamond the Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur before the Supreme Court of India that Kohinoor diamond was neither “forcibly taken” nor “stolen” by British rulers but given to the East India Company by the rulers of Punjab'' The argument is quite absurd. ''The truth is Koh-i-noor was stolen from a child''.
World famous Koh-i-noor diamond with Britain. .dw.com
Minor Duleep Singh and his mother were under duress when they signed the transfer agreement to hand over the kingdom (on 2nd April 1849 Punjab became part of the British empire) to the English company along with their palace treasures. The British diabolically used the Doctrine of Lapse as a pretext (in case the ruler does not have a legal heir); it was a corollary to the doctrine of paramountcy by which Great Britain could legally control the land. The other one being Subsidiary Alliance ( military and administrative support from the company for an annual fees that may vary each year)
Because of purported curse it is carrying and its history involving a great deal of violence associated with men, the Koh-i-Noor acquired a bad reputation within the British royal family. It would bring bad luck to any man who wore it. Since its arrival in England it has only been worn by female members of the family. Victoria wore the stone in a brooch and a circlet. After her death in 1901, it was set in the Crown of Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII. later it was transferred to the Crown of Queen Mary in 1911, and finally to the Crown of Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) in 1937 for her coronation as Queen consort. Presently, the diamond is on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
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| the looter and the looted, India vs britishrediff.com |
Above image: Illustration by Dominic Xavier, Rediff.com When the Empire collapsed, along with it is reputation. The flashy gemstones like Koh-i-noor, Timur Ruby, Arcot diamonds robbed from India with their aura exposed the empire's dark side, its excesses in killing Indian natives, land-grabbing, looting spree and its guilt.
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| Koh-i-Noor diamond and its journey. .ixigo.com |
Responding to the claims made by the governments of India, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan over the ownership of the Koh-i-Noor the British government categorically said it was was obtained legally (by the corrupt English company) under the terms of the Last Treaty of Lahore and rejected the claims. The Treaty of Lahore of 9 March 1846, was a peace-treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War and was concluded, for the British, by the Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and two officers of the East India Company and, for the Sikhs, by the seven-year-old Maharajah Duleep Singh Bahadur and seven members of Hazara.
''I can tell you the case that hurts me the most is the one in which the little boy is forced to sign the Kohinoor over........
''You take a mother away from a child, you surround him with grown ups speaking a different language, you tell him he must sign this over or else...'
The Kohinoor is a wonderful illustration of how history is often written to misleadingly trumpet the deeds of the conquerors. It is never a tale of the vanquished.............
Back in 1848 the British were inordinately pleased with themselves for having been able to, oh-so bravely, using the might of their army and the smarts of a scheming governor general, swipe the then un-cut, 186-carat diamond from a frail, family-less Sikh boy and rush it to England for Queen Victoria to wear proudly as a badge of the Empire's successes.'' https://www.rediff.com/news/special/how-the-british-stole-the-kohinoor-from-a-child/20170123.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koh-i-Noor
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