was
easy on his former ally, and eventually a family alliance was arranged
between a daughter of King Abdullah and a son of Aurungzeb. Emir Jemla
set off to Delhi to confer with Shah Jehan upon the subject.
It
is an axiom of Asiatic etiquette that no one ever comes before a king
without laying a gift at his feet. Emir Jemla, anxious to obtain the
favor of Shah Jehan, took care not to stand before him empty-handed,
but presented him with "that celebrated diamond which has been
generally deemed unparalleled in size and beauty." So says Franzois
Bernier, a FrenchÂman, physician to Aurungzeb, who lived many years in
Delhi and whose familiarity with the court enabled him to speak
accurately of recent occurrences.
After
Emir Jemla had presented his matchless diamond to Shah Jehan, who was a
man of taste in gems, he gave the Emperor to understand that the
diamonds of Golconda were quite other things from " those rocks of
Kandahar," which
