CHAPTER 3: Jewelled Heads
1857 London, April 13th.
Queen Victoria, symbolic ruler of the greatest Empire in modern history. On her crown, made by Dutch jewel impressarios, the Crown. Its centrepiece, the Koh-I-Noor, the Mountain of Light. Taken away from the Maharaja Duleep Singh by Lord Dalhousie through the Treaty of Lahore. Taken from Shah Shuja by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Taken by Ahmed Shah Abdali from Nader Shah. Taken by Nader Shah from Muhammad Shah Rangila. Placed on the greatest throne ever made, the Peacock Throne, by Shah Jahan. Taken from the Lodi dynasty by Babur. The possession that Humayun couldn't leave, never mind Islamic sensibilities towards rubies and spinels. It was, the modern day Syamantaka gem, the ultimate prize. It had been controversy, and destruction for all those who had taken it.
Every dynasty of the Sultanate, ended, in a terrible failure.
Delhi raided, by the Persians
Nader Shah killed, by household.
Ahmed Shah Abdali, consumed by leprosy
Timur Shah Durrani, natural death, but loses imperial holdings.
Shah Shuja Durrani, blinded, loses Empire, sees son tortured, gets tortured himself
Ranjit Singh, massive strokes leave him paralysed, unable to speak, leading him to unintentionally opening quarrels in the Empire, over the diamond.
Kharak Singh, poisoned.
Nau Nihal Singh, crushed under falling building.
Sher Singh, murdered
Duleep Singh, betrayed, loses war, loses kingdom.
East India Company, ?
British Empire, ?
With such a history, it was understandable that Victoria felt a bit queasy about it, because, as was proved before, she herself had faced certain tragedies, inexplicably linked with the timing of the East India Company trying to send her the diamond
The ship Medea, struck with cholera, no-where to go, driven from Mauritius.
Sir Robert Peel, dead.
Queen Victoria, struck by assailant.
Government of Lord Aberdeen, falls.
Napoleon III's ball was very good, but there were certain things, that overshadowed it, about the diamond.
It was simply speaking, bad, nay, terrible luck.
DUM DUM CANTONMENT, APRIL 1857
The massive resentment from the introduction of the Enfield Rifle, which was still a source of massive controversy between Indian sepoys in the Bengal Army. The members of Dum Dum Cantonment where majority Hindu and Muslim upper class soldiers dominated, where aware of a particularly grisly rumour about the British, two in fact. One was that during the siege of the Chunar Fort, the British had massacred all the civilian members of the Rani's household, and another was that, of the Enfield P-53 rifle. Introduced in Meerut cantonment, the Rifle was a controversial addition to the arms of the Company. The fact that it possessed greased cartridges , angered quite a few. Both these rumours, most likely false, spread through the cantonment like wildfire, and soon enough, events were passing at an unstoppable pace. For one, there were seeds of dissension in the Punjab Irregular Force, when the 1st Regiment of the Punjab Infantry, which was usually loyal, refused to conduct a tactical exercise along the border to drive away bandits, if they were overseen by British officials. Sir Henry Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of Punjab, weary of the problems he had had to face, accepted, and allowed the Regiment to do as they pleased. After this, events moved incredibly fast. On the date of 12th April, 1857, large numbers of fires begin to spread through the former cities of the Oudh state, origin unknown. As rebellion seemed more and more likely, the British revoked the cartridges which had themseves replaced the greased ones of 1856. However, by a stroke of bad luck, and terrible timing, a British officer at Meerut cantonment asked his men to fire the rifles with the cartridges in parade. Certain men of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry refused.
They were court-martialled, sentenced to 10 years hard labour. This angered the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry, as well as the people of Meerut. On the date of 10th May, 1857, a Sunday, the city of Meerut broke out in heavy rioting. Many shops and European establishments were destroyed, and the bazaar was up in flames. The members of Meerut Cantonment at that point were mainly Native, since the European garrison had gone away to church, or was on a break. Commander-in-Chief of the Bengal Army General Anson, gave the order to the members of the cantonment to break up the riot. The Native members refused. From the account of Captain Darcy, a officer in the 11th Bengal Native, stated that everything was so spontaneous, that it was hard to remember. But a clear picture of the events that followed could be constructed. The 3rd Bengal Light, after refusing orders, swung towards the Officer's barracks, massacred the former-mentioned unlucky officer, and his associates, and then began rounding up all Europeans in the city. It was a hard task, as many had already died after the rest of the cantonment rose up in revolt, and along with the crowd, had been responsible for murdering many an European. Even worse was the fact that certain regiments had already delivered their officers and families outside the city, and therefore were bereft of leverage. As the realisation of the events dawned on both the British and the Bengal Army, they understood one thing, the rebellion had begun.