LITTLE KOHINOOR, THE LOST HEIRLOOM OF THE NIZAMS.

Like many of its magnificent monuments and historical sites that have disappeared into history thanks to negligence, Hyderabad has also lost a precious stone, the Bala Kohinoor (Little Kohinoor), whose story is closely intertwined with that of the famed Golconda Diamond of yore. Not many have heard or read about this diamond that was accidentally found about 200 years ago by a goldsmith in Mahbubnagar district during the early period of the Asaf Jahi regime. The Bala Kohinoor was reportedly last seen around 70 years ago; since then there has been no official word about it. English orientalist Sir Richard Francis Burton, who considered the name Bala Kohinoor 'inauspicious', preferred to name the diamond after the ruler of Hyderabad - The Nizam - which is how the gem came to be known as the Nizam Diamond. 
It was the second biggest to be mined in the Krishna Valley, the heaviest being the Great Moghul Diamond. It originally weighed 340 carats, but was tipping the scales at 270 carats when it went missing. It was larger than the Jacob Diamond and the famous Kohinoor, which also came from the Krishna Valley. Burton, who translated the Kama Sutra and the Alif Laila (Arabian Nights) into English, travelled through the princely state of Hyderabad in the nineteenth century. In a publication in 1876, he gives a vivid account of the Nizam Diamond, its discovery, the sleepless nights it caused to the accidental discoverer, his unsuccessful attempts to sell it and how the diamond finally reached the Nizam. Perhaps it was the last documented description of the diamond, after which it lingered mostly in fables and hushed talks about the descendants of the last Nizam after the Police Action in 1948.
"It is impossible to quit Golconda without...noticing the great diamond, whose unauspicious (sic) name, Bala Kohinoor, I would alter to the 'The Nizam'", writes Burton, adding that the history of the Nizam Diamond is 'simply enough'. "About half a century ago, it was accidentally found by a Hindu sonar (goldsmith) at Narkola, a village about 20 miles east of Shamshabad, the latter lying some 14 miles south-west of the Lion City, Hyderabad, on the road of Maktal. It had been buried in an earthen pipkin (Koti or Abhkorah), which suggests that it may have been stolen and was being carried for sale to Mysore or Coorg. The finder placed it upon a stone and struck it with another upon the apex of the pyramid. This violence broke it into three pieces, of which the largest represents half", he wrote. 
Burton, who obtained the glass model of the Nizam Diamond, wrote: "With the glass model in hand, it is easy to restore the original octahedron. The discovery came to the ears of the celebrated Diwan (minister) Raja Chandu Lal, a friend of General Fraser, who governed the country as premier for the term of 42 years. He very properly took it from the sonar before it underwent further ill treatment, and deposited it amongst his master's crown jewels". 
The World Diamond Council has described the Nizam Diamond as "one of the mysterious precious stones of historical importance". Sadly, there is no trace of it now. The value of the diamond would be Rs. 1,100 Crore!
  1. The Nizam preferred to name the diamond after the Golconda.
  2. A few historians claim that the Tarja of Jatprole gifted the diamond to the Nizam after he found it near Srisailam.
  3. The search for the diamond continued for a few years after the Police Action in 1948, but without any success.
  4. There is no record of the Nizam Diamond being officially sold through international auction houses.
  5. The Nizam became angry when in September 1944, the India House in London forwarded the request of G.F. Herbert Smith, President of the Gemological Association of Great Britain, to Sir Arthur Lothian, British Resident in Hyderabad, seeking details of the Nizam Diamond. It almost created a rift between Hyderabad and the British Government.
  6. The Nizam replied to the British Resident on 18th October, 1944 that the Golconda (Nizam) and Jacob Diamonds are the 'heirlooms of the Nizam family'. He described the jewels as a 'sacred trust' in his possession.
---Challapalli Srinivas Chakravarthy---.
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