Fight for return of Kohinoor is at best symbolism

It is only a stone, or is it? Legend apparently has it that the gem, to be worn exclusively by a woman or God, would own the world. The British almost did own the world even as the Kohinoor sat as the jewel on the Queen Mother’s crown, bright and prominent inside the Maltese Cross. Remember the times when the Sun never set on the British Empire.

The first sighting of the gem inside the glass cabinet at the Tower of London, back in the early ’80s, brought a lump to the throat and a bit of youthful anger too – after all, this was our gem, wasn’t it?

Given its convoluted history of myriad curses to men and blessings to women wearers, it seemed to nestle there peacefully. The Beefeaters outside the Tower seemed to have a presence imposing enough to scotch any mischievous thoughts of jewel thieves. Why not leave it, let it rest, after centuries of strife in which kings fought over it?  The stories behind the diamond are fascinating enough to make this the world’s treasure. That it sprang from the only diamond mines existing in the world then, long before Kimberley was discovered, should instil sufficient pride in us Indians.

Even so, it is national property that was taken from India, if not snatched, from an 11-year-old Duleep Singh - tragic survivor but a boy king as three brothers were slaughtered - who signed away his kingdom and a gem richer than all his tribe.

This was the worst side of imperialism, of a winner-take-all formula. Was there great honour in all this as vanquisher downed his foes in battle? Considering how much Robert Clive of the Carnatic stole from us, from nearer home in Chennai, the Kohinoor is probably small change, though historically and symbolically it seems far more valuable than all the treasures of India carted away as bounty in ships of the East India Company.

Let’s face facts though: Possession is nine points of the law. Even the most contrite Brit was never going to give away the gem from the top of the crown. And the one legal point of being the source of the soil of the little carbon stone itself becomes clouded considering how far it travelled, from source to Delhi, Persia, Afghanistan and then Delhi again, then Lahore in the Punjab and so on. So now everyone has a claim, including Iran as that ace plunderer Nadir Shah took away the stone and the throne, of which the Mughals were so proud, to Persia. As wrong as imperialism was, the Brits were not the only aggrandisers, nor the sole colonisers although their occupation of India for three centuries hurt us the most, particularly since Indians were never colonisers even at the height of their not so great maritime prowess.

Can all the wrongs of history ever be undone? Reparations are fine most of the time they tend to come as a token. And reparation will, of course, never come in the form of anything so valuable an artifact of history like a fascinating, glittering diamond. The arguments over the Elgin Marbles have been going on for years between Greece and the ace coloniser. Let us just say that those artifacts will also not leave their place of current residence for a long time to come although their provenance and where they stood in the Acropolis for centuries is far more easily proven than a portable diamond with several claimants.

The Chief Justice of India has given Indians some hope of carrying on fighting whereas the Attorney General first brought an opinion saying India can have no legal claim to the diamond.  It is the death of hope that kills. Having been under the heel of imperialism for longer than most in the modern era, India has a greater reason to feel miffed. Fighting for the Kohinoor is a feel-good symbolism. But to expect any positive result might be diehard optimism that may not be rewarded in real life.