SLICE OF HISTORY
Maharaja’s jewels & their honest custodian
K.R.N. Swamy

A fabulous necklace from the collection of the Maharaja of Kashmir

IN October 1947, the palace of Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir was in great turmoil. Brigadier Manekshaw (later C-in-C and Field Marshal of the Indian Army), who had been sent with the State Secretary V.P.Menon to get the Maharaja’s signature on the accession to India, states that the palace halls were strewn with valuable jewels. Soon a cavalcade of 40 automobiles headed south to seek refuge in Jammu—the winter capital of Kashmir. Renowned French jeweller Victor Rosenthal, who was in the party, mentions that the Kashmir monarch was silent throughout the two-day trip to Jammu, as he knew that his rule over Kashmir was over.

In 1950, he was deposed and left Kashmir. But before he left, he deposited eight steel trunks full of priceless treasures, conservatively worth Rs 1400 crores today, in a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Jammu, under the trusteeship of his officer Iqbal Nath. The 80-year-old Iqbal Nath (born in 1903) was responsible for the treasures for 36 years, till in 1983 he expressed his concern that who would be its custodian after his death. Throughout this period (from1947 to 1983), he ensured the safety of the treasure in the dilapidated treasury room of J & K Bank.

There is reason to believe that successive chief ministers of Kashmir knew of the treasure, but considered it too much of a burden to keep it in their care. In 1963, two boxes — box number 5 and 3 — containing nearly 717 kg of gold (worth today Rs 38 crore) were "donated" from the treasure for the Defence Fund started by the Government of India to fight the Chinese. Chief Minister Sheikh Abdulla wanted to auction off the treasure for development projects of Kashmir, but Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru vetoed the scheme. According to D.D. Thakur, who was the finance minister of Kashmir from 1975 to 1982, the Chief Minister discussed the matter of the treasure with the Cabinet twice. "The six to eight trunks containing precious jewels and other artifacts were inspected twice in the Cabinet room at Srinagar. Iqbal Nath accompanied the treasure on both the occasions as the custodian."

On July 20, 1983, when Iqbal Nath was away from Jammu, the J&K Government decided to make an evaluation of the vast hoard. A representative of the famous auctioneer firm Sotheby’s N.R.Reyner had been brought by the J&K Government to evaluate the jewels and he worked for four days!

The important treasures listed were as follows:

A glittering ring studded with traditional nine gems arranged around a 10-carat diamond, worth approximately Rs 15 lakh.

Scores of large uncut diamonds and emeralds. Two diamond necklaces, containing 200 blue diamonds, estimated at Rs 50 lakh.

Hundreds of rubies from Sri Lanka and Burma, all of the same colour. Normally, it is difficult to get even two rubies of exactly the same colour.

Twenty thousand pearls—the largest known collection—mostly imported from Basra in Iraq which was as well known for its priceless pearls as Golcunda was for its diamonds. Most of the pearls were sewn into dresses made of blue velvet, meant for the princes of the Kashmir.

The costliest item in the hoard was a pearl and diamond necklace, dating back to 1802 and worth Rs 1.02 lakh then. A report filed by The Sunday Times correspondent Mary Anne Weaver in 1983 said : "The dilapidated state treasury seems an unlikely setting for such extraordinary wealth. Its green painted walls were flaking. An overwhelming stench of mildew thickens the hot, listless air. The trunks were brought in by bearers, straining under the weight. Out of the boxes came out ceremonial horse harnesses, with emeralds as large as a portly man’s fist. Next were the diamond encrusted toys of the junior princes—miniature horses and elephants—and a diamond studded spinning top! Inside one box was a two-foot-long diamond and emerald necklace, with a yellowed slip of paper, on which was scrawled Rs 4 million. There were thousands of diamonds. The largest single diamond weighed 34 carats. There were some 100 diamonds between 15 and 20 carats, and 100 between 10 and 14 carats. There were 30 emerald belts. The loose emeralds in the treasure were at least 200 fifty carats each. The only precious stones that were missing were the famous Kashmir blue sapphires. Pearls were plenty in thousands".

In 1983, last Maharaja of Kashmir Karan Singh, son of the deposed Maharaja Hari Singh and a Member of the Parliament, staked his claim for this treasure. According to him, the J&K Government had no right to these treasure boxes. It was a transaction between the "depositor (Karan Singh’s father) and the custodian (the J&K Bank)". His contention was that the jewels kept in the treasury of J&K Bank were family heirlooms handed down through generations of his family. A legal battle between Karan Singh and the government turned in the former’s favour, as he was able to show to the High Court, that he knew of these treasures and had paid "seven hundred thousand rupees as wealth tax on these treasures". In 1989, the J&K High Court declared Dr Karan Singh as the rightful owner of 42 of the (worth 42 million rupees) 993 items that were in the six boxes. The remaining items were to be held, as disputed property, by the state treasury. Dr Karan Singh lost these when the matter went to the Supreme Court of India for its verdict. In the strife-torn Kashmir, it is not known where are these priceless treasures now.

Out of this panorama of events, Iqbal Nath’s name became famous, as the most honest of custodians, who had kept faith for 36 long years—guarding from the outside world this treasure worth millions of rupees. He belonged to an eminent family, whose ancestor Dewan Jwala Sahai was the first Dewan (Prime Minister) of Kashmir in 1845. It is said that the then Maharaja Gulab Singh was short of Rs 75 lakh, which were wanted by the British to sell him the vast tract of Kashmir and Jwala Sahai loaned the amount to him. In return, Gulab Singh decreed that one member of the Jwala Sahai family would always be in service of the kingdom in a senior capacity like that of a minister. (MF)