Girish Linganna
The Koh-i-Noor and Cullinan diamonds went on display at an exhibition at the Tower of London on Friday (May 26, 2023) as representations of victory and a ‘symbol of conquest’. The Koh-i-Noor has been displayed as a tourist attraction and is backed by a video which follows the journey of the jewel around the globe.
The Persian word, ‘Koh-i-Noor’, means ‘Mountain of Light’. For the notorious diamond, ‘Mountain of Misery’ could be a better moniker. Marauding emperors from the Mughal dynasty, Persian shahs, Afghan kings and Sikh maharajahs all battled for control of the jewel throughout Central Asia. In 1849, the East India Company stole the diamond from its final Indian owner, a 10-year-old maharajah named Duleep Singh, and gave it to Queen Victoria.
Since then, the Koh-i-Noor has glistened among Britain’s crown jewels. Afghanistan, India, and Pakistan have all requested for its return throughout the years, but their requests have been ignored. The diamond, in particular, serves as a reminder of the sufferings inflicted by colonizers on thousands of people in India.
Part of this saga is told at a new exhibition at the Tower of London. The Koh-i-Noor is defined as a “symbol of conquest” in the first new exhibition of royal bling in a decade. On a big screen, you can see a picture of its route across the Indian subcontinent. Under that, the armband that the East India Company took from the young maharajah shines in a case. The label says the boy was forced to hand over the Koh-i-Noor and his Punjabi kingdom to the British.
It leaves out Britain’s long list of other bad things. For instance, the child was taken away from his mother, who was put in jail, and sent to live with a Scottish pair. According to Charles Farris, the lead curator, the goal was to focus completely on the stone. He stresses that this story had to be told quickly because if people stayed for a long time, the busy museum would get crowded.
The exhibition on the Cullinan diamonds also alludes to the violence of Britain’s colonial past. The two largest stones are part of the Sovereign’s Sceptre with Cross and the Imperial State Crown. Following the Anglo-Boer war of 1905, a miner from what is now South Africa, in 1905, found at the Premier mine in Transvaal, modern-day South Africa, the original diamond-the largest in the world at 3,100 carats-and a jeweller then cut nine smaller stones from it.
The Transvaal government, a Boer republic of white settlers, bought the jewel and gifted it to King Edward VII on his birthday. The sign suggests that this gift symbolized “the healing relationship between England and South Africa” in a poetic manner. (Boer, an Afrikaans word for farmer, refers people in southern Africa who had Dutch, German and French Huguenot settlers as ancestors who arrived in the Cape of Good Hope from 1652).
Historians who have an alternative view suggest that Britain had an eye on the wealth in the red soil, including gold and diamonds. Imperial forces took on both Boers and black South Africans in the conflict. Alan Lester, the author of ‘Deny and Disavow: Distancing Britain’s Imperial Past in the Culture Wars’, perceives that the Cullinan diamond was utilized as a means to re-establish black South African subjugation, while, at the same time, uniting the British and Afrikaners. According to Lester, the diamond’s history is synonymous with South Africa’s modern era.
The present is facing the consequences of the past. Before the coronation of King Charles III, the Economic Freedom Fighters, a Leftist political group in South Africa, asked Britain to give back the diamonds. This idea has been repeated by multiple advocates.
Notwithstanding the fact that the exhibition does not bring attention to the history of Britain’s colonial brutality, it is clear how controversial the subject matter is. For the monarchy, a great many of these actions were carried out in its name. So, it is understandable that King Charles III is eager to demonstrate that a royal family is beneficial for Britain. Notoriously highlighting the violence related to these jewels would make his objective more difficult to achieve.
As the controversy over Britain’s colonial history continues, King Charles has decided to move with the times. He has given permission for scholars to look through the royal archives to research its connections to slavery. Queen Camilla chose not to wear the diamond-studded crown at her coronation ceremony recently in which the Koh-i-Noor sparkles. Nevertheless, Buckingham Palace has refused to comply with requests to send back the remains of an Ethiopian prince interred at Windsor Castle.
In a new outlook on the past of colonialism, people of the younger generation in Britain are less trusting of their nation’s record in world history compared to their parents. As a result of historians inspecting resources from ex-colonies, the truth about Britain’s colonial empire is being brought to light. The population is hungry for knowledge. Community members that were included in research for the exhibition were keen on learning more about the Koh-i-Noor and Cullinan diamonds. Also, many galleries from the West are becoming more open about objects in their collections, ownership of which may be contested.
Professor Lester states that certain politicians are limiting open conversations about the history of the British Empire, labelling it an example of “anti-British wokery”. Nonetheless, these wonderful artefacts are a significant part of Britain’s cultural background and wrapping them up in the culture war takes away from their importance to the British people from all over the world. For this reason, it would be more beneficial to display them with both their beauty and their imperfections, he adds.
(The author is a Defence, Aerospace & Political analyst)
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