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Diamonds hold a special
fascination for man. It can elevate itself to a great height
of beauty, but can be cause for conflict and discord too.
Recent revelations bring to light that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,
Pakistan’s past president, had lobbied hard with the
British Government to restore the Kohinoor to the country,
the logic being that it was here that the stone was surrendered
though it was mined in Golconda. The Nizam’s jewellery
exhibition in Hyderabad makes Ranjita Biswas ponder on the
stone’s attraction
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Diamonds, purportedly a ‘woman’s best friend’,
has been much in the news lately. For one, the ‘bling’
is projected rather negatively as a ‘blood diamond’
in the eponymous film with Leonardo DiCapiro, Jennifer Connelly
and Djimon Hounsou currently doing the rounds. A blood diamond
refers to a conflict diamond which is mined in a war zone
and sold, usually clandestinely, to finance insurgents or
invading army's war efforts. In this Hollywood film by Academy
Award winning director Edward Zwick and set in Sierra Leone,
diamond-money is shown as being used for buying arms and ammunition
by terrorist groups.
The De Beers group, world’s largest diamond mining company
from Africa, is worried enough about the negative effect of
the film in this festive shopping season to go on a public
relation exercise at damage control.
Diamonds somehow create, more than any other stone, awe and
admiration, and also superstitions. Legends about great diamonds
are legendary, to say the least. The great Hope diamond is
steeped in superstitions as it is said to bring disaster and
death to the owner. Each famous diamond carries it own story.
One such is in India itself, i.e. the Jacob’s diamond
at the Nizam’s jewellery collection currently on display
at the Salar Jung Museum in Hyderabad. It is also known as
the ‘Imperial’, ‘Great White’ and ‘Victoria’
diamond. This brilliant oval diamond was found at the famous
Kimberley mines of South Africa in the 19th century and was
smuggled out to England. The story goes that one Alexander
Jacob, a small time jeweller from Shimla, offered it for sale
to the then Nizam, Mahboob Ali Pasha on behalf of the owners;
but there was some hassle or the other, and the Nizam also
did not like it much at first glance of its model. Ultimately,
when he did it buy it he was supposed to have planned to present
it to Queen Victoria for her Diamond Jubilee celebration.
But there were oppositions from different quarters to this
idea and he lost interest in the diamond, wrapped it in a
rag and tossed it to a corner in his chest of drawers. The
next Nizam discovered it, put it in an old slipper and stashed
it away. Later he had it encased in gold and used it as a
paperweight!
Today, as the 184.75 carat Jacob diamond glitters in the special
display case, these stories, of maharajah and intrigues, of
great wealth, flit across the mind. The Nizam’s jewellery
exhibition carries it own stories and problems even today.
Recently, when there was a fire in the Museum, the first question
many asked: was the vast jewellery collection affected, even
though the museum has many other priceless objets d’
art. Then again there were reports about the uncertainty about
the exhibition. The collection is supposed to be permanently
exhibited in a special gallery at the National Museum in Delhi
but it is yet to be ready.
In fact, the opportunity to see one of the most fabulous treasures
in the world almost did not happen due to prolonged litigation
cases involving the Nizam’s descendents. In the mid 90s
news broke out that the trustees were trying to auction a
part of the collection. Naturally, auctioneers worldwide were
interested as they knew about its great value. However, the
auction was stopped at the last moment by the intervention
of the government on the ground that it was part of the national
heritage and hence could not be allowed to be auctioned to
foreigners. The treasure was then put in the vault of the
Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai until recently when it came
into public view.
To anyone visiting the exhibition, it becomes obvious why
the government stopped the jewellery collection, valued at
around Rs 18,000 crore from moving out of the country. It
was not just about value of the gems, it was also about exquisite
craftsmanship and art hard to replicate today. Diamonds and
gems glitter from every bulletproof glass case to draw the
mind to days of opulence and royal patronage that facilitated
their creation. The Golconda mines in the hinterland of Hyderabad
that also gave the world the Koh-I-noor - now ensconced in
the Tower of London, was one of the richest in the world.
New revelations bring to light that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan’s
past president, had lobbied hard for the restoration of the
stone to Pakistan, the logic being that it was in Pakistan’s
soil that the gem was surrendered. Some of the crown jewels
across the world flaunt diamonds mined in Golconda: the ‘Star
of Egypt’, the “Orlov’, ‘Florentine’,
for example. French traveller Tavernier who came to India
in the 15th century was awed by the richness of Golconda’s
treasure
Beautifully crafted pieces in this collection truly dazzle
the eyes. The treasure comprises 173 pieces of rare value
and antiquity, a seven-strand pearl necklace strung with 150
large and 230 small pearls, with a two-diamond pendant attached
to it; a pair of bracelets studded with 270 diamonds. There
are also rings, brooches, buttons, studded swords, diamond-studded
images of camels, gold ingots and so on.
Not all gems are from India though. Emeralds from Columbia
form some of the most enticing items in the collection. They
are mainly from the mines of Muzo and Chivor. Though emeralds
were highly prized from Mughal times, they are not found in
India. Some of the priceless emerald pieces actually came
from the aristocrat families of Russia. After the Revolution
many of the noble families started selling off their jewellery
to connoisseurs with money around the world.
The influence of the West under colonialism is evident in
some of the jewellery pieces like the sarpech or turban ornament
popularised by Dutch jeweler Arnold Lulls in Europe. On display
is one such piece with Burmese pigeon-blood rubies, diamonds
and other gems. There is another made for a child with Golconda
diamonds weighing approximately 100 carats.
Meanwhile, the European jewellers also realised the potential
of a ready market in the maharajas and nobles with an insatiable
hunger for beautiful jewellery. Many of them set up workshops
in the country and through them Indian jewellery style became
quite a rage among the rich in Europe for some time.
Bedazzled, literally, after coming out of the exhibition what
remains in the memory is the beauty of the gems that earth
throws up from its womb and man’s eye for beauty and
imagination that shaped them into such things of beauty. Blood
diamonds they are not.
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