By Haimanti Dutta Ray
Men have always settled around rivers. Civilizations have grown and prospered along the banks. The river Nile in Egypt, Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia or modern Iraq, the Indus in India and the Yellow and Blue rivers in China have been the seats for ancient civilizations. Water is the source of life. Man’s close affinity with water, made that into a medium for paintings as well. Examples are many and diverse. Paul Klee and Cezanne sit on the tip of an iceberg.
Punjab is an Indian state that has had a very chequered past. This land of Punj (Five) Aab (Water) runs along the rivers like Sutlej, Beas, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum. Post Partition in 1947, only Sutlej, Ravi and Beas flow in the Indian territorial land. Punjab and Bengal suffered the most during the Partition of India, post Independence. While part of Punjab was divided to form part of present-day Pakistan, Bengal suffered similar fate when it was divided to give birth to -first – East Pakistan and -later – Bangladesh. Our Bard of India, Rabindranath Tagore, is the only poet whose lyrics and music form the national anthems of two countries – India and Bangladesh. Jana Gana Mana and Amar Sonar Bangla – by composing these two songs, Tagore became the only poet in the Guiness Book of World Records, to have done so. Partition and its aftermath had spawned radical changes besides altering the demography of the Indian subcontinent. The history of Indian struggle for independence is fraught with tales of sacrifice and avarice. Both men and women laid down their lives so as to ensure that their progeny can breathe in an air that is free and fair.
A state of extreme happiness is always associated with a state of extreme despair. The history of our country ism fraught with tales of treachery, of the power of the strong over the weak and of taking undue privilege over helplessness.
The British Empire was firmly established in our land after the defeat of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah in the hands of the British East India Company at the Battle of Plassey fought in 1757. Thus ended the last vestiges of the Mughal Empire in the country and harked the beginning of British colonial rule. As all battles that were fought round the world, the Battle of Plassey that changed the shape and history of our country, also has tentacles of deception and hoodwink. Mir Jafar had re-aligned himself with the army of the East India Company, thereby ensuring the defeat of the Nawab.
There was no looking back for the victor. They looted, plundered and ransacked the country to their best advantage. They ruled the land for close to two hundred years. Our predecessors, were so much exploited that independence became much like a distant dream. Possible to imagine, but impossible to realize. But dreams -either while sleeping or while waking – rule over our conscious. Ever since the British rule spread and gradually established its tentacles, the feeling of dissent was burning like a fire in some chests. The British took advantage of every possible weakness in Indian rulers and turned them into their own favour. Indian rulers became putty in their hands. The colonialists squeezed the country dry by extracting its richness and transporting them to their own land.
The year was 1846.
The British were at the helm of affairs in the country. The Mughal Empire had long since fallen apart, post the death of its last ruler, Aurangzeb. Punjab was mainly being ruled by the Sikhs, a community established by Guru Govind Singh. But like the fate of all ruling dynasties and empires, the Sikhs too suffered at the hands of our colonial rulers.
Maharaja Ranjit Singh also known as ‘Sher E Punjab’ was addicted to alcohol and women. He had lost an eye due to smallpox in early childhood. Among his wives, four were Hindus. It is believed that when he died, these four women performed sati. They threw themselves in the pyre as an act of devotion to the late Maharaja. But Maharani Jind Kaur, whose only child, Duleep Singh, was the reigning monarch, was a different sort of a queen. She was the youngest among the wives of the late king Ranjit Singh.
“I will reign on my son’s behalf.”
She said when her son, Duleep Singh, was made the ruler, aged five, in 1843. Rani Jind Kaur was famous for her beauty and grace. Ranjit Singh’s three sons were brutally assassinated. It was a time when the First Anglo-Sikh War was being fought with the British East India Company in the Ferozepur district of Punjab. Ranjit Singh had died the preceding year while maintaining a cautious relationship with the British. His widow, Rani Jind Kaur, was acting on behalf of her son – Maharaja Duleep Singh.
“We have lost the war.”
Under strict surveillance, mother and son dialogues were being overheard by armies of both sides.
“Sir Henry Hardinge is there. The Britishers say that I will have to sign a treaty admitting defeat in the war. I will also have to abide by their terms whatever they may be.”
So the Treaty of Lahore – a peace treaty – was signed on March 9, 1846. No one looked into the future. Because a hundred years hence, the country will become free from colonialism. But, there on the banks of the Sutlej river, both the parties did look at the past. The text of Clause Three in the peace treaty said, “The gem called Koh-i-Noor which was taken from Shah Sooja-ool-moolk by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, shall be surrendered by the Maharaja of Lahore to the Queen of England.”
Koh-i-Noor which is the Persian and Urdu name for ‘Mountain of Light’ is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats. It is part of the exhibits of the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, in the United Kingdom. The diamond had graced the Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. It is said that the territory of Golconda, historic fortress site lying five kilometers west of Hyderabad, in the western Telangana state, was renowned for its diamonds derived from the rocky areas of the adjoining region, including the Koh-i-Noor probably. Hence the origin and history of the world’s most infamous diamond can be traced back to our own country – India.
But others say that Alauddin Khilji had stolen this gemstone from the Indians in the fourteenth century. Anyway, it eventually had landed amongst the possessions of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Lahore in present-day Pakistan. Koh-i-Noor diamond was handed to Queen Victoria, the then-ruling monarch and it formed a symbol and totem of their colonial conquest. The controversy regarding the rightful ownership of the diamond still rages.
But unfortunately, the diamond failed to feature in the coronation of King Charles III.
By Haimanti Dutta Ray
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