THE KOH-I-NOOR: IS IT UNLUCRY ?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2431, 7 January 1876, Page 3

THE KOH-I-NOOR: IS IT UNLUCRY ?

Hor Majesty (says a oontempor.uy) is asked" to throw away what is litoi ally " tho brightest iowol in her orownj" for Mrs Burton, tho accomplished wifo of tho .famous Easbrn traveller, has just revived, by hor letter to a contemporary, the old talk about tho ilMuok attaohing to tho Koh-i-noor. Mrs Burton tells how it was disoovered 225 years ago in tho mines of Golconda, undor Mir Joomla's visriorship, and supposoa that sorao awfu\ dood of oruolty was perpetrated upon tho flndor, so that his dying ourso oleavos to the diamond. Then, having started with this molodramatio hypothesis, she tracks tho stone through two oenturios and a quarter of ' vioiesitudos and eighteen different hands, n always bringing disaster or death, and being fchoreforo so desperately unluoky that sho would have Hor Majosty sell tho gem now at onoo to tho Emperor of Buuio, wbioh Is suohaoomplimont to the Czar's strength of mind that wo aro sure ho will exouso tho slight indifteronoo to b<* personal fate wbioh the proposal implies. Wo must oondensb the melanoholy resume* which Mrs Burton has drawn up. Sho tolls how Mir Joomla trcaoherously Jnvibd tho Mogul Emperor Aurungzebe to invade his master's domfoions, and how tho King of Goloonda had to sue for peaoe, mating over the Koh-i-noor, as well as a considerable slice of his territories » how tho K'ng of Goloonda lost all the rest of his kingdom, aid how Mir Joomla died a miaerablo death of disease in exile, Aurungzebe, tho seoond royal possessor of tho Koh-i-noor, eho cays, was at tho time of getting it in the zenith ofi hie power, but immediately trouble after trouble rained upon him and misfortunes accumulated t?.H ho died in 17C7. The third prince who obtained tho Koh-i-noor, Shah Alum, died in 1712, five years after his succession. Then it oamo into tho hands of Johand or Shah, who was deposed and strangled at the end of one year. Forok Shir, the next owner of tho stone, mot a similar fato in 1719, m the course of which year two other occupants of the throne— sixth and seventh holders of the Koh-i-noor— passod in the same way to the grave. Horo was flvo princes possessing the stone, along with six who oomneted for it, come already to. grief, and Mrs Burton prooeeds to tell i»» of tho Emperor Mahmoud Shah, " under whoso reign the once great emoire of Aurungzobo speedily foil to pieoes." His iJI fortune culminate i in tho oapturo of Delhi by Nadir Shah, who entered as a oonquoror into tho capital, dolivering over tho whole oity to massacre and pillage, so that from the dawn of light till tho day was far advanced, without regard for ago or sex, all woro put to tho sword by his ferocious soldiery. Nad<> Shoh marohod homewards, oauying with him troasure amounting to twenty millions sterling, jewels of enormous value, and the Koh-i-noor, considered by the Persian oonquoror his greatest prize ; but ho was not more fortunate with it than tho previous owners, for after his return to Persia, in the height of his glory, " everything went wrong with him, and ho was shortly afterwards assassinated, leaving no heir, while Ahmod Abdalleo— • onoo his trusted officer—went oil with most of Noiir's treasure, and amongst it tho Koh-i-noor," Pursuing the the thread of hor mournful history, this lady then tolls us how Ahmc 1 "met with tho same fato j" how his son Timour, " after a short and inglorious reign, " left his throne to Humayoon, twelfth pessossor, who foil into tho hands of Zomaun Shah, by whom he was cruelly blinded, and "rendered incapable of reigning orermoro." Zemaun Shah, tho thirteenth custodian of the Koh-i-noor, in his turn was captured by Mahmoud, who also put out his eyes, and succeeded him, but was soon conquered by another brother, Shah Shooja, afterwards our Affghan ally. He, after various vioissitudos, fled to the Pnnjab, oarrying tho Koh-i-noor, of whioh he was tho flftoonth and last Mohammedan holder. Runjoet Sing, tho then sovoroign of tho Punjab, insisted upon tho groat diamond being given up to him. The captive prince had no alternative, and tho Sikh potentate became the sixteenth keeper of tho Koh-i-noor. "At that time," wo aro told, "no nativo Sovereign in India was so great as Eunjoet, and no kingdom seemed moro likely to last than tho Sikh monarchy ho had founded; but, by a curious ooinoidonoo, the samo ill fato that had always followed tho possessor of the Koh-i-noor pursued it into this family. Runjoet himself died in his primo, and whb suoooeded in 1889 by his son Kurbuok Sing, who died by poison tho following year. Beforo tho f nnoral ooremonios woro completed his son was purposely killed by a railing beam," Shore Sing, who suooooded, had but a triumph of short duration. Near tho close of 1843 he also was assassinated, and this led to wide-spreading anarchy, culminating in two successive wars, and ending in tho final Annexation of tho Punjab by tho British, and tho acquisition by them of the oolobratod diamond. lord Dalhouaid, ps we all Jraow, sent tho gem to Hor Majesty, but Mrs Burton pursues Ft with tho ftagor of fear and distrust, Didding us note that tho \ioeroy did not live very long, and diod a miserable death, "justo* he might havo expected to be vised to tho highest honours of tbo Stato j while the Duko o£ WelUogton, who gave tho first turn to tho cutting, died tbreo months after ; and wo thon loflt Prinoo AlboU." At, fcl»'» point Mrs Burton draws breath, while that of hor listeners may well bo ooming ?n gasps, as they look along so horriblo a vista of events, and hoar themselves bidden to oonuoct tho beautiful and faultless diamond with this long line of dark crimes, ogonies, and miseries. Butfs&ye tho London Telegraph) wo would ask this olever lady if she taints it quito fair

to tho diamond to call Arungzobo unlucky, who reigned in glory and greatness thirtyseven years with tho Koh-i-noor "j hia turbap, and died what Juvonul calls v " dry death," m the cJour of suoh sanctity that tho monoy ho bad made by the sale of Kornns copied by his own hand paid for his funeral and feasted tho poor P Take Ahmed Shah Abel aloe again. It ib hardly doing the beautiful gem common justice to Bay it brought nothing but bad luck to that do 1 ing soldier, whon Mvs Burton is much too well informod not to know that while ho held it ho won tho mighty battlo of Paniput, whore 2C 3,000 of his Mfthratta enemios foil, and the power of Bivajee's kingdom was broken for ever, In like manner we might show of Shah Soojah that he novor had muoh ill-fortune till tho stone passod from hia hands j while Runjeot Sing died simply of dissipation and excesses, and was so far from thinking this groafrdiamond an aooursed thing, that in his will he bequeathed it to tho shrine of Juggornauth, Many of the prinoes enumerated by this lady had wonderful suocobs and muoh splendour and powor in their timoj and if some of thorn met violent deaths, othors, not mentioned, passod easy lives, and diod quietly in their bods. And when it opmos to tolling us that the great duke suooumbod booauso ho took a turn at tho cutting-wheel, wo ought to hoar that the Amsterdam lapidarios also perished who re made tho jowol..

Logio and history aro, in fact, both made to bond to a woman's will in this devk pros* pootus. The faol; is, the jowol brought no evil where it found nono, and gloamod too often on guilty bosoms to bo associated with happy lives or deaths, Liko tho mantle in the old ballad which sat ill over unworthy shoulders, but foil into fair and graceful folds upon a virtuous wqarer, the great diamond has lost any evil spell in its now reating-plaoo. It shines now upon an unshamod forehead, and is seourod against disastor by the simple oharm of a good and noble lifo. Long may Her Majesty wear it in poaoo and in doflance of all evil omens and foolish credulities. If thoro was anything unoanny about the beautiful stone wo may trust tho Dutchman's wheel ground it oil away twenty yoars ago.