Kohinoor Diamond — and Why the British Won't Give It Back
- Kartikey Goel
- Feb 18
- 6 min read
Indian people’s demand to bring back the Kohinoor diamond hits the news captions constantly. With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the people of India again raised their demand to bring back the Kohinoor diamond, an Indian age. It isn't only about the diamond, but there are other agedness too, like Shivaji’s brand and Vagdevi of Dhar, which are placed in London’s galleries, and thus a demand is made time and again to bring those kohinoor back.
A petition from the UK to return Kohinoor to India is going viral on social media. After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, calls for Britain to return diamonds to India grew louder. Indian Twitter users said the "loot" should now be returned to India, where Kohinoor originated and where it was plundered centuries ago.
Venktesh Shukla, founder and managing partner of investment firm Monta Vista Capital, who started the petition, is aiming to gather 1 million signatures. “The UK must immediately return the Kohinoor diamonds to India”, Shukla said in a LinkedIn post sharing the petition. Every time a crown with Kohinoor as its jewels appears, it reminds the world of Britain's colonial past and the shameful way the five-year-old prince was forced to 'gift' the crown to Britain. “Britain is a noble country, Let us remember that the noblest cause is to return such “loot” to its rightful owners”.
Venktesh Shukla’s Petition to Take Back KohinoorThis petition tells the story of Kohinoor’s journey from mining to the hands of the British Crown. The petition states that after changing hands of successive kings, the Kohinoor finally fell into the hands of King Ranjit Singh, who was ruling Punjab at that time.
The British conquered the Kingdom of Punjab after his death in 1849 and installed his five-year-old son Duleep Singh as king under British regent. Later, they forced the child to “gift” this diamond to the British. They also brought Duleep Singh to Britain, converted him to Christianity and did not allow him to meet his mother or any other Indian to prevent them from knowing about his origins”, the report said.
In his petition, Shukla said it was no longer “morally justifiable” for Britain to keep the loot. The most honorable thing now is to voluntarily return the Kohinoors to India, which in a way is an act of washing away the sins of the colonial past. Shukla aims to collect 1 million signatures for this petition. “Furthermore, on January 26, 2023, we must go to the nearest British Embassy/Consulate/High Commission, wherever we are and submit this petition peacefully and honestly,” the petition reads the report concludes by stating that Britain wants to be a successful and respected country in the world, and they deserve this opportunity. However, it should be noted here that the British Government does not believe that there is any legal basis for the return of Kohinoor.
The Indian government tried to negotiate the return of the diamond. In his book Dark Ages, Shashi Tharoor says: “The diamond was sent to Queen Victoria by Maharaja Duleep Singh of Sikh ancestry, who had no choice in the matter.
The Kohinoor diamond is now part of the British royal jewels. It changed hands several times over the centuries before becoming British property. Before the British it belonged to the Mughals, Persians, Afghans and Sikhs. The coronation of Charles III of England reopened discussions about India's Kohinoor diamonds and led some Indians to demand their return to India.
Kohinoor diamonds have fascinated Indians and the world for centuries. It is now the British Crown Jewels and was passed from one dynasty to another until it came into British possession. For most people, the trajectory of Kohinoor ownership is the same: the Mughals, the Sikhs, and the British. But everything is much more complicated. Even the origins of the world-famous diamond are not entirely clear.
Origin of the Kohinoor
Koh-i-Noor is linguistically spelled as Koh-i-Noor in Persian, meaning ‘mountain of light’. The exact origin of the Kohinoor diamond is unclear, but according to the Odisha State Archives, the general assessment by scientists is that it was mined from the Kolur mines in modern-day Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty. The Kakatiya dynasty exercised influence in the eastern Deccan from 1175 to 1325, according to Austin Cynthia Talbot's Real Pre-Colonial India: Society, Region, and Identity in Medieval Andhra.
The archive's website explains: “However, most historians believe that it was mined from the Kolur mines in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh, India, during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty and installed in the temple of the Hindu goddess with her own eyes. In the early 14th century, the armies of the Turkish Khilji dynasty began raiding southern Indian kingdoms in search of booty (war spoils). Alauddin Khilji’s general, Malik Kafur, was able to successfully raid Warangal in 1310 and obtain the Koh-i-Noor diamonds.”
Over the centuries, Kohinoor passed from one dynasty to another until it finally reached the Mughal dynasty. Here the diamond's trajectory becomes much clearer.
The history of the Kohinoor diamond
There’s a popular — but historically doubtful — belief that the Kohinoor diamond is ancient and was formerly respected by Lord Krishna, a manifestation of Hindu God Vishnu, notes the Smithsonian Magazine. There’s also a belief — inversely doubtful — that the diamond could be from ancient Mesopotamia, which is the region of present-day West Asia covering eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey, and the utmost of Iraq. The Britannica Encyclopaedia notes,“ Some sources note that the first references to the diamond, which latterly came known as the Kohinoor, appeared in Sanskrit and conceivably indeed Mesopotamian textbooks as early as 3200 BCE, but this claim is controversial. ” Upon his subjection of Hindustan, the first Mughal sovereign Babar came in possession of the Kohinoor. Still, the written record first appears in 1628, notes the Smithsonian Magazine, when Shah Jahan commissioned the Peacock Throne that had the diamond speckled in it. The Smithsonian Magazine says,“ Among the numerous precious monuments that adorned the throne were two particularly enormous gems that would, in time, come the most valued of all the Timur Ruby — more largely valued by the Mughals because they preferred multicoloured monuments and the Koh- i- Noor diamond. The diamond was lodged at the very top of the throne, in the head of a glistering rock
Peacock. ” also, in 1739, Persian sovereign Nadir Shah raided the Mughal conglomerate and defeated the sovereign. He ransacked Delhi and despoiled the megacity, taking with him immense riches accumulated over the centuries by the Sultans of Delhi and Mughal emperors. He also carried the Peacock Throne — in which the Kohinoor was bedded with him to Persia. From Shah, the Kohinoor passed to the Durrani Dynasty in present-day Afghanistan(1747-1856) with Ahmad Khan Abdali. He was a commander of the Shah, who parted ways with the Persians. With the Kohinoor in his possession, he was culminated as the sovereign of all Afghan people in 1747, taking up the name of Ahmad Shah Abdali and launching the first ultramodern Afghan state. In 1813, the Kohinoor diamond returned to India when it came into the possession of the Sikh sovereign Maharaja Ranjit Singh. It’s around this time that the emblematic value of the Kohinoor developed that drew the British to the diamond. “ It was during his reign that the Koh- i- Noor first began to achieve real fame and gained the singular status it has retained ever since Now the Koh- i- Noor was worn alone, snappily getting a symbol of all Ranjit Singh had strived for and the independence he’d fought so hard to achieve,” note William Dalrymple and Anita Anand in their book Kohinoor The Story of the World’s utmost ignominious Diamond. Singh’s death paved the way for the Sikh conglomerate’s political decline and the posterior transfer of the Kohinoor to the British.
Conclusion
Under the vittles of the agedness and Art Treasure Act, 1972, the Archaeological Survey of India(ASI) takes up the issue of reclamation of only similar agedness as have been immorally exported out of the country.
The PIL has made Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Culture, High Officers of the UK, Pakistan and Bangladesh as parties to the case. It has also sought return of the ring, brand and other credits of Tipu Sultan, Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rani of Jhansi, Nawab Mir Ahmad Ali Banda, and other rulers of India. Before this month, the Culture Ministry had spoke in its reply to a Right To Information (RTI) query filed by news division PTI that the ASI is not in a situation to exercise the matter. To a question seeking details of details which are in the UK’s trust and India wants to assert them ago, the Culture Ministry spoke, ”There is no list accessible with the Archaeological Survey of India about the details in Britain’s trust”. Subsequently, the Supreme Court asked the government to clarify its stage on the PIL seeking return of Kohinoor to the country. ”Everybody is avouching the Kohinoor. How multitudinous nations are avouching Kohinoor? Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and indeed South Africa. Notoriety also's asking for the Kohinoor. Do you see about it?” the apex court judge headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur asked.
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