118 THE GREAT DIAMONDS OF THE WORLD.
speaks
of it as already " famous," Baber gives it no particular name, and it
did not take its present designation till it passed into the hands of
Nadir Shah. The illustrious historian mentions, however, that it " had
been acquired by Sultan Ala-ed-din," which enables us to trace its
existence some two hundred years further back. The Ala-ed-din here
spoken of belonged to the Khilji dynasty, which succeeded that of the
Ghuri, and which ruled over a large portion of Hindostan for 33 years,
from A.D. 1288 to I32i,when they were replaced by the Toghlaks.
Ala-ed-din Khilji had obtained possession of the " famous diamond" in
the year 1304, when he defeated the Rajah of Malwa, in whose family it
had been as an heirloom from time out of mind. One tradition carries it
back to the somewhat legendary Vikrama-ditya, an ancestor of the Rajah
of Malwa here spoken of, and of Baber's Bikermajit, Rajah of Gwaloir.
This Vikramaditya flourished in 57 B.C., and is said to have driven the
Saca (by which are no doubt meant the Scythians) out of India. But no
value can attach to the tradition, which is evidently a sort of
afterthought, suggested by the similarity, or rather identity, of the
two names Bikermajit and Vikramaditya. At the same time the association
is significant, as it' serves to show that the gem was at all times
regarded as the property of the Rajahs of Malwa, who are sometimes
spoken of as Rajahs of Ujein and Gwalior ; for all these places were
formerly included in the territory of Malwa, which has since been
subdivided among the States of Bhopal, Indore, and Gwalior— the
dominions of Scindia. We now understand how
