90 THE KOH-I-NUR.
under
her influence. This beautiful Light of the World must have been
uncommonly fond of jewels, as the emperor says that he had to give her
thirty-five millions of dollars at their marriage to buy the needful
jewels. Also Nur Jehan is said to have invented the now world-famous
perfume, attar of roses. Toward the end of Jehangir's life the
Koh-i-nur and all his other diamonds, we are told, ceased to charm, and
he no longer desired to possess them. Even of diamonds, it appears, one
may have a surfeit.
Shah
Jehan, son of Jehangir, ascended the throne of India in 1627, and was
if possible more addicted to jewels than his father. He caused basins
of diamonds to be waved over his head in order to avert evil. —This
sort of incantation seems to have failed of its purpose in his case
for he was dethroned and imprisoned by his rebellious son, Aurung-zeb,
who kept him in confinement during the last seven years of his life.
His diamonds and his daughter, Jiha-
