The first comprehensive and authoritative history of the Koh-i Noor, arguably the most celebrated and mythologised jewel in the world. On 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal Act of Submission to Queen Victoria not only swathes of the richest land in India, but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light. The history of the Koh-i-Noor that was then commissioned by the British may have been one woven together from gossip of Delhi Bazaars, but it was to be become the accepted version. Only now is it finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology which has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation through an impressive slice of south and central Asian history. It ends with the jewel in its current controversial setting: in the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.
Koh-i-Noor was a fantastic book about a fascinating diamond. Well researched, but chock full of some beautiful storytelling, I was most impressed by how they managed to tackle this subject in a post-colonial world while remaining utterly neutral on the morality of the events that they're chronicling. It was a great way to write as Dalrymple and Anand let none of their prejudices cloud the history of the diamond.
I was entirely absorbed by this and wish I'd read it sooner. Non-fiction can so quickly become dense and bogged down, but Dalrymple's prose for the first half was absolutely riveting. Anand too is an excellent writer, although I must say I preferred Dalrymple's style.
Overall, this was a really fantastic read and one I'll be recommending to everyone, whether they're history buffs or not.
