Ch. 5: Celebrated Diamonds (con't)

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	86	THE DIAMOND

	partly cleavage planes and partly cut facets, the names of three Persian rulers were engraved. Later, it was cut to 86 carats, and the inscriptions were taken out in the process, unfortunately. Another engraved diamond with ancient oriental associations was the " Akbar Shah." Like most of these relics of India, it was not cut to suit the modern ideas of Europe, or the modernized tastes of the new generation of Hindu princes. As far as known, its first owner was the Great Mogul Akbar, who died in 1605. Later, one of his successors, Shah Jehan, engraved on two sides of it the following inscriptions in Arabic: Shah Akbar The Shah of the World 1028 A. H. and, To the Lord of two Worlds 1039 A. H. Shah Jehan It is difficult to interpret the dates. If founded on the Hejira or Fuselli era, they would correspond to somewhere about 1618 and 1629 of the Christian era. Shah Akbar died in 1605 and Shah Jehan reigned from 1627 to 1658. As there was much confusion in India regarding eras and methods of computing time, it seems possible that the figures upon the stone referred to the date of some event, or at any rate had some connection with a time during the lives of these monarchs, but of exactly what nature, there does not appear to be any evidence. The stone disappeared from public knowl-

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