c. 1790.—"Le plaisir que cause la fraîcheur dont on jouit sous cette belle verdure est augmenté encore par le gazouillement des oiseaux et les cris clairs et perçans du Koewil...."—Haafner, ii. 9.
1810.—"The Kokeela and a few other birds of song."—Maria Graham, 22.
1883.—"This same crow-pheasant has a second or third cousin called the Koel, which deposits its eggs in the nest of the crow, and has its young brought up by that discreditable foster-parent. Now this bird supposes that it has a musical voice, and devotes the best part of the night to vocal exercise, after the manner of the nightingale. You may call it the Indian nightingale if you like. There is a difference however in its song ... when it gets to the very top of its pitch, its voice cracks and there is an end of it, or rather there is not, for the persevering musician begins again.... Does not the Maratha novelist, dwelling on the delights of a spring morning in an Indian village, tell how the air was filled with the dulcet melody of the Koel, the green parrot, and the peacock?"—Tribes on My Frontier, 156.
KOHINOR, n.p. Pers. Koh-i-nūr, 'Mountain of Light'; the name of one of the most famous diamonds in the world. It was an item in the Deccan booty of Alāuddīn Khiljī (dd. 1316), and was surrendered to Baber (or more precisely to his son Humāyūn) on the capture of Agra (1526). It remained in the possession of the Moghul dynasty till Nādir extorted it at Delhi from the conquered Mahommed Shāh (1739). After Nādir's death it came into the hands of Ahmed Shāh, the founder of the Afghān monarchy. Shāh Shujā', Ahmed's grandson, had in turn to give it up to Ranjīt Singh when a fugitive in his dominions. On the annexation of the Punjab in 1849 it passed to the English, and is now among the Crown jewels of England. Before it reached that position it ran through strange risks, as may be read in a most diverting story told by Bosworth Smith in his Life of Lord Lawrence (i. 327-8). In 1850-51, before being shown at the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, it went through a process of cutting which, for reasons unintelligible to ordinary mortals, reduced its weight from 1861⁄16 carats to 1061⁄16. [See an interesting note in Ball's Tavernier, ii. 431 seqq.]
1526.—"In the battle in which Ibrâhim was defeated, Bikermâjit (Raja of Gwalior) was sent to hell. Bikermâjit's family ... were at this moment in Agra. When Hûmâiûn arrived ... (he) did not permit them to be plundered. Of their own free will they presented to Hûmâiûn a peshkesh (see [PESHCUSH]), consisting of a quantity of jewels and precious stones. Among these was one famous diamond which had been acquired by Sultân Alâeddîn. It is so valuable that a judge of diamonds valued it at half the daily expense of the whole world. It is about eight mishkals...."—Baber, p. 308.
1676.—(With an engraving of the stone.) "This diamond belongs to the Great Mogul ... and it weighs 319 Ratis (see [RUTTEE]) and a half, which make 279 and nine 16ths of our Carats; when it was rough it weigh'd 907 Ratis, which make 793 carats."—Tavernier, E.T. ii. 148; [ed. Ball, ii. 123].
[1842.—"In one of the bracelets was the Cohi Noor, known to be one of the largest diamonds in the world."—Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 68.]
1856.—
"He (Akbar) bears no weapon, save his dagger, hid
Up to the ivory haft in muslin swathes;