The Jewels of the Nizam

At the Salar Jung Museum in central Hyderabad, is a visiting exhibition of the Jewels of the Nizam. It was meant to finish one month ago, and the exhibits were to go back to the vault in the Central Bank Of India, but due to some bomb scares in Mumbai and Delhi, it was decided the jewels were safest in Hyderabad for the time being. So this was our luck, and we braved the high security and the price tag of 500 rupees entry for foreigners, to take a look. We were not allowed to take anything in but our tickets, and had a full body search twice before entering the exhibition.

The jewels were sold to the government of India from the 8th Nizam in 1996. He had inherited an powerless empty throne from his grandfather the 7th Nizam in the sixties, well after Indian independence. His forefathers had for 7 generations ruled the area with the British, and were close allies. But now the 8th Nizam had to fund the paying back of some of his debts, which included a run down cattle station in WA, where he resided for some time. There was an ancient prophecy that the lineage of the Mogul Nizams would last until the 7th Nizam, and thereafter would cease to be. Certainly the 7th Nizam was the last Nizam to reside in his court in Hyderabad with his 156 wives and hundreds of natural and adopted children. He was a simple man, who ate of basic metal plates, although he was swimming in silver and gold cutlery. He also wore the same shirt for up to one week. (I guess his only excess was in the wives department). In sharp contrast his son, the 6th Nizam only ever wore the same shirt for one day in his life. He owned the worlds largest wardrobe, which is located in the Chowmohalla Palace in Hyderabad. He had in his time of rule purchased the South African Jacob Diamond, through a secret deal in Europe, which resulted in a court case.

At the start of the exhibition there were some fascinating photographs of some of the many wives of the 7th Nizam at court, bedecked in their incredible jewels, made principally of gold, diamonds, emeralds and pearls. Each wife has a complete set including huge necklaces, bangles, earrings, hair ornaments, and gigantic gold and diamond encrusted anklets. The jewels were originally stored in anything from huge crates to cardboard shoe boxes, and there was literally truckloads of the stuff. In fact the last Nizam found the Jacob Diamond, one of the largest diamonds in the world of more than 250 karat, in his fathers shoe, where he had placed it for safe-keeping. The new Nizam then used it as a paper weight for a long time, not knowing its full value. This diamond was on display in the exhibition. It is even today difficult to put an exact value on it.

Apart from the display cabinet containing the Jacob Diamond, there were around 30 cabinets, each filled with kilos of gold and diamond jewels. The diamond mine on the outskirts of Hyderabad, at Golconda, was famous for its diamonds, and it is from here that most of the diamonds in the jewels originate. But the Nizam’s purchased rubies as far away as from Bolivia. They would not pass up on good gems if they could find them. Most of the jewellery was made of gold with encrusted diamonds, many of them raw and uncut, which was interesting to see, as they really very much resembled glass. They were so huge, that had someone worn a necklace today, I am sure I would have thought that this was a bit gaudy, and not real.

Many of the necklaces had large set stones and drops made from raw emeralds, from where I imagine green became a favorite colour of the Moslems. The ladies anklets were incredibly huge and heavy, and encrusted with diamonds, and had pearl edging, and enamel patterns on the reverse side. One ceremonial belt (very useful) of the Nizam weighed 1.5 kilos, and was completely covered in diamonds. Another favorite design theme is the 9 precious gems, which is still very much in fashion here in India. It is thought that these 9 gems are very good for the whole body if worn against the skin. The 9 gems include diamond, pearl, red coral, emerald, ruby sapphire, moonstone and 2 others, which I have not yet worked out. I see many people wearing rings with these, but in the Nizams collection there were HUGE bracelets, and brooches. It was very interesting to see all the designs, as I can now clearly picture where the origin of many contemporary Indian jewelry pieces have come from. It is now easy to see why they call Hyderabad the City of Pearls – they should really add gems to that as well!

The whole collection was so dazzling, that we almost had sore eyes when we finally emerged from this real-life Alladin’s cave. Sandeep said I am a bit sick of looking at diamonds!… A friendly tour guide then told us that what we had just seen was only 2% of the entire jewellery collection of the Nizams! We were wondering if the rest was all hiding in Swiss vaults, and as the 8th Nizam left Hyderabad often having no great interest in the place, the palace was most likely looted by courtiers and anyone with access. Many people come to the exhibition claiming to be grandsons and daughters of the Nizam, which is easy to believe, but difficult to prove no doubt. Some of the wives now live in the US, probably benefiting from the wealth of their jewels. A fascinating exhibition indeed, and it was easy to imagine how everyday it must have felt to be drooping in diamonds, pearls and emeralds in the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad.