The School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad (UoH), an Institution of Eminence, is putting on the second series of Golden Jubilee Distinguished Lectures from July to October 2024 under the organization of the Dean of the School of Social Sciences, Prof. Jyotirmaya Sharma. These lectures featured a range of themes that empowered students to think critically and rationally.
On September 3, 2024 at 3 p.m., Prof. Neeladri Bhattacharya, a renowned historian specializing in Modern Indian History, delivered an insightful lecture on ‘The Curse of Koh-I-Noor: The Making of a Myth’ at the C.V. Raman Auditorium. Prof. Bhattacharya taught History at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi for forty-one years. He has been a Fellow of St. Antony’s College, Oxford, and has held visiting professorships in Europe, South Africa, and the United States. He is currently a visiting faculty of Ashoka University, Sonipat. His work focuses on colonial rural order, law, customs, power dynamics, and discourse. He is currently working on two themes: one exploring law, violence, and cultural politics in colonial governance, and the other on the histories of cultural objects, especially the Koh-i-Noor.
Prof. Suchandra Ghosh, the Head of the Department of History chaired the event by extending a warm and gracious welcome to the esteemed speaker. Prof. Bhattacharya began his lecture by acknowledging his invitation and expressing gratitude to the organizers.
He then delved into the fascinating and complex history of the Koh-i-Noor, tracing its origin and journey through centuries. Punjab was annexed by the British on March 29, 1849, following the conclusion of the Second Anglo-Sikh War. As part of the Treaty of Lahore, the Koh-i-Noor diamond was acquired by Lord Dalhousie, and this treaty was imposed on an 11-year-old monarch, Maharaja Duleep Singh. To transport the Koh-i-Noor from India to England, the Royal Navy requisitioned the ship HMS Medea, and after a series of adventures and delays, the ship arrived in England in June 1850. On July 3, 1850, this diamond claimed to be the largest in the world, was presented to Queen Victoria. After this brief overview, Bhattacharya gave a multifaceted and nuanced understanding of this historical object and its journey. Initially, he emphasised the importance of understanding the spatial and temporal contexts of understanding Koh-i-Noor that would make it into a historical entity. After getting transferred from one ruler to another, Koh-i-Noor became an object of desire and fear. Bhattacharya particularly spoke on the fear psychosis that produced narratives of ‘curse’ associated with this object. Curse is a modern construction and it doesn’t travel from time immemorial. This was also attached to the defeat experienced by the rulers who wanted to possess this object but eventually lost it. The curse narrative surrounding the Koh-i-Noor originated in the West, not in the East. He also placed this contextually by opining that a moral imperative was simultaneously evolving in England that instructed them to pitch the idea of good governance to obfuscate their histories of violence and domination. This was also when Dalhousie faced significant criticism for his aggressive policies.
After this, Bhattacharya charted the paradoxes present in 19th-century English society, renowned for the ideas of enlightenment and rationality. He argued that despite pushing these ideas, they were deeply invested in occult practices, magic, witchcraft, and the power of stones. Through this, he emphasised the contradictory interplay of ‘scientific progress’ and mystical traditions that persisted in this society. To justify this argument, he spoke on certain popular books in England that described the power of stones during that time. These stones were attributed with certain qualities such as ‘harmful’, ‘beneficial’, ‘therapeutic’, and ‘cursed’. He also spoke about the three types of people in the English society who received these books. A set of people believed these stories without questioning, another set informed by the ideas of ‘rationality’ and ‘logic’ completely dismissed them, and the third set differentiated the ‘believable’ and non-believable’ aspects of these stories. Through this, he emphasised the need to understand the complex interplay of ‘rationality’ and ‘mysticism’ that informed English society as even sceptics could become believers after internalizing these stories. He particularly spoke about Pliny, the Elder, and G.F. Kunz, who explored the fascinating world of stones, separating fact from fiction and examining both the believable and unbelievable aspects.
The lecture concluded with a lively Q&A session, as inquisitive students and faculty posed critical questions, further enriching the discussion. Prof. Anindita Mukhopadhyay, Department of History, extended the vote of thanks to Prof. Bhattacharya, followed by a high tea and engaging conversations. The whole event was recorded and beautifully captured by the organizers.
Contributed by Titas Sarkar, Doctoral Research Scholar, Department of History, School of Social Sciences