It was at this point, presumably, that the other great Mughal gems went their separate ways. The Darya-i-Noor stayed in Persia. It was extracted from Shah Rukh, the grandson of Nader Shah, by especially gruesome torture. But long after Shah Rukh had told his captor, a sallow-cheeked former court eunuch named Agha Muhammad, the hiding place of the Darya-i-Noor and all his other crown jewels, the eunuch continued to torture him, asking him to reveal the hiding place of the one gem he did not have – the Koh-i-Noor. Frustrated in his designs, Agha Muhammad finally had Shah Rukh tied to a chair,
...more
