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| The Taj-I-Mah diamond of Indian origin.www.internetstones.com, |
The Taj-I-Mah, meaning ''Crown of the Moon,'' in Persian is a diamond of Indian origin, positively from the Golconda mines of south India, now kept in the Royal Iranian treasury. It is also the largest unmounted Indian diamond of fine quality, colorless, mogul cut and weighing 115.06 carat. size: 32.0 × 24.3 × 14.7 mm. It is one of the three legendary Indian diamonds in the Iranian collection, the other two being the Darya-I-Nur (Sea of Light) and the Nur- ul-Ain (Light of Eye). The previous weight of the stone was 146 carats, as reported by one Sir John Malcolm,British administrator and diplomat on his visit to Persia. He was permitted by the then Shahanshah Fath Ali Shah to examine the royal collection. The Darya-i Nur weighing 186 carats and the "Taj-i-Mah weighing 146 carats were important diamonds in a pair of bracelets. The Taj-i-Mah stone seems to have been re-cut after the early 19th century, hence the weight was reduced to 115.06 carats from original size. This diamond was part of Mogul treasury until 1739 and at later period ended up in Persia. Thanks to the invasion of Nadir Shah, who plundered the Indian cities of Delhi and Agra during the reign of Muhammad Shah.
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| Muhammad Shah-during his timeNadir Shah-invaded-Delhi-internetstones.com |
Though this high quality diamond had been with the Mogul dynasty for some time, the puzzle still continues as to the first discovery of this diamond, name of the Mogul king, year and mode of acquirement - through war or purchase from diamond traders! The nature and quality of diamond point out
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| Sir John Malcolm. www.bornrich.com |
this diamond came from the famous Kollur mines near Golconda where diamond mining activities had been going on for more than 100 plus years. Invariably many of the world class diamond came from Kollur mines.
After the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747 by his own commander, his son Shah Rukh inherited the vast treasures. His reign did not last long, later ruler Agha Muhammad Khan Qajar of the Qajar dynasty of Iran, captured Shah Rukh and his vast treasures. Tragedy again struck this time his own servants killed ruler Agha in 1797, Fath Ali Shah,nephew of Agha inherited all the crown jewels. In the early 19th century. Some experienced gem experts question the validity of classifying the Darya-I-Nur and the Taj-I-Mah worn by Fath Ali Shah in one of his armbands. as sister stones. The former is a pink diamond and the latter - Taj-I-Mah is colorless, very much similar to Kohinoor. It is still the largest unmounted Indian diamond in the collection.
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