some
time before the Koh-i-nur made its appearance. Tavernier never heard of
any Koh-i-nur, but his introduction to the Great Mogul is one of the
most fascinating sections of his journal.
He
saw it when he was visiting the court of Aurangzeb, the last of the
really strong Mogul emperors of India, in 1665. He had been there for
some time pursuing his calling in the normal way, buying and selling
jewels, and he was about to take his leave when the Emperor invited him
to stay on for a bit and witness the annual festival. According to
Moslem custom, familiar to us because of the Aga Khan's publicized
activities, Aurangzeb would be weighed in public and would receive
presents on that occasion from the nobles of his court, the governors
of his provinces, and so on. He probably invited Tavernier to stay on
because he liked him. People usually did, especially when like the
Emperor they made jewels their hobby. Besides extending the general
invitation, Aurangzeb offered to let Tavernier see his private, special
collection of choice jewels, among which was the famous Great Mogul.
Tavernier of course jumped at the chance, and wrote at length in his
journal about the whole thing. First he described the preparations for
the great ceremonyr wallowing in thoughts of how profitable
it all was to the Emperor. "In diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls,
gold, and silver, as well as rich carpets, brocades of gold and silver,
and other stuffs, elephants, camels, and horses, the Emperor receives
in presents on this day the value of more than 30,000,000 livres."
Apparently
he was allowed to snoop around the palace very much as he liked,
watching the workmen get everything ready. The courtyards were covered
for the occasion with awnings "of red velvet embroidered with gold," he
wrote, "and so heavy
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