Darya-I-Noor is the name that the Persians gave to the diamond when they brought it from India. The commentary of the name in Persian is the “Light Ocean”. It’s a diamond with an estimated weight of 186 carats. The reason that we can’t set the exact weight is that the diamond is assigned in one of the Iranian crown jewelry. The high cleanliness level of this diamond of this diamond wasn’t diagnosed in a lab, but John Malcolm, who visited Iran at the start of the 19th century and met the Shah, saw the diamond and told it’s one of the purest diamonds he ever seen. It’s predicted that the diamond is in ILA level of cleanliness.
The origin of Darya-I-Noor diamond was a subject to research in the 60’s. The researchers checked the rumor that this diamond is originally from “Big Table Diamond” which mentioned in the books of Tavernier, a French jeweler who did 6 journeys to India in the 17th century. The researchers verified the rumor that the “Big Table Diamond” that originally from India was split in two and “Darya-I-Noor Diamond” produced from this diamond, and another diamond called “Nor-Al-Ain.” It’s probably happened in the 1st decade of the 19th century.
When Tavernier visited Golkonda (India) in 1642 the diamond (“Big Table Diamond”) owned by merchants and it was the only time Tavernier saw it. In his 6th and last visit to India, he was a guest of Orzagnev, the 6th Mongol sovereign, who invited him to be his guest. During the stay, he invited to the birthday party of the sovereign and took the opportunity to check the royal jewelry collection. He saw many jewelries including Peacock Crown, which the diamond is assigned to. There is no doubt that he didn’t see the diamond again.
It’s likely that the “Big Table Diamond” owned by Orzagnev’s father, Shah Jahan, in the red fort in Agra. It’s held there after his son announced his father in capacity and took his place. When Shah Jahan died, his jewelry inherited to his son Orzagnev, and it’s likely that the “Big Table Diamond” was between them. It was a mystery until the “Big Table Diamond” seen again, after 149 years. It happened during a visit of Harford Bridges, a British diplomat, in the city of Shiraz in 1791. Bridges invited by Ali Kahn Zand who was the king of Zand Kingdom (It was one of the three divisions of Iran after the murder of the Shah in 1747), in order to estimate the value of his jewelry collection. Zand wanted to sell his jewelry in order to finance the establishment of an army.
Harford who checked the jewelry collection immediately diagnosed the “Big Table Diamond,” exactly according to the description of Tavernier in 1642. The report of Harford was the last time the diamond documented. This report conflicting an old conjecture that the diamond was split between India before it was transferred to Iran, but the reasons for diamond’s arrival in Iran are still unclear. The conjecture supported by most of the historians is the diamond held in a Mongol treasure and taken by force by Shah Nadir in 1739. Even there are other conjectures; this is the popular opinion.
According to a research done in the 60’s we know for sure that the “Big Table Diamond” was split in two to Darya-I-Noor & Nor-Al-Ain. The diamond continued to roll between the corrupted Iranians sovereigns and seen in the coronation of the last Shah in 1967. At the end, the Shah expelled in Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution and the diamond concealed. Today the diamond is present in the museum of the main bank in Tehran.
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