Page:The Folk-Lore Journal Volume 4 1886.djvu/262

 254 The Sikh story-teller naturally likes to assume that the Koh-i-Nûr had belonged to his own rulers for fabulous ages, but such is not, of course, historically the case. A legend current among the Hindus asserts that it was found in the bed of the Lower Godavery Kiver, five thousand years ago, and that Carna, Rajah of Anga, one of the heroes of the Mahâbhârata, wore it as a talisman. In 1304 Ala-ed-dîn Khilji took the stone from the Rajah of Malwa; but on making peace he seems to have given it back to its former owner. Later it belonged to the Mogul emperors, who kept it till Nadir Shah invaded India in 1739. The romantic circumstances under which Nadir got possession of it need not be related here; on first beholding it, he exclaimed "Koh-i-Nûr!" or "Mountain of Light!" and it was thus that it received its name. In 1751 it fell into the hands of the Afghan rulers, and it was only in June 1813 that the Punjab chief Rungît Singh realised the desire of his life and became its possessor. It had always been esteemed a badge of victory and symbol of empire, but as a matter of fact it rather seemed a porte-malheur, which brought horrible sufferings, torture, disgrace, the loss of eye-sight, the loss of empire to all who owned it. Rungît Singh is reported to have acquired conviction upon his deathbed that the stone was unlucky and to have wished to leave it as a propitiatory offering to the shrine of Juggernaut, but his successors could not bring themselves to part with it till 1849, when they were forced to yield it, with all their territory, to the British Crown. It was, I think, Lady Burton who suggested some years ago, that it should be sold to Russia, or at all hazards got rid of, lest the influence of its baleful splendour might be felt anew. Mr. Streeter writes more hopefully: "A strange fatality presided over its early vicissitudes; but its alleged 'uncannie' powers have now ceased to be a subject of apprehension. Its latest history eloquently demonstrates the fact that extended empire is a blessing, just in proportion as it finds hearts and hands willing to fulfil the high duties which increased privileges involve."

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