Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond

by William Dalrymple

One of Nader Shah’s harem attendants immediately informed [his most senior Afghan general] Ahmad Khan Abdali. With 3,000 Afghan troopers from the Abdali battalion and other troopers from the Uzbek battalion, Ahmad Khan stood guard until morning over the royal harem. At dawn, he clashed with a group of Qizilbash renegades and evil Afshar who were plundering the royal coffers, routed them, and took charge of all the money and valuables. As a reward for this service, the first lady of Nader Shah’s harem gave Ahmad Khan the Koh-i-Noor diamond, one of two diamonds – the other being the Darya-i-Noor – which Nader Shah had seized from Muhammad Shah Rangila and which had been under lock and key in the harem, along with a peerless ruby [the Timur Ruby, which Nader had called the Ayn al-Hur, the Eye of the Houri]. Ahmad Khan then left with the Abdali Afghan cavalry and reached Kandahar in safety.24