1 94 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 Jahan. In 1739, it formed part of the plunder
3 which Nadir Shah carried away with him to Persia.
4 On the murder of the Shah at Kelat in 1747, it
5 passed to his grandson, Shah Rukh, by whom, four
6 years later, it was presented to Ahmad Shah, the
7 founder of the Durani dynasty at Kabul. It came
8 into the possession of Shah Zeman in 1793, and of
9 Shah Shuja in 1795. As to the means by which
10 Ranjit Singh induced his captive to part with the
11 diamond accounts differ. There is no doubt, however,
12 that Shah Shuja held on to his treasure as long as he
13 could, and that he eventually handed it over as the
14 price of the Maharaja's friendship. According to
15 Sir J. D. Cunningham, the latter, after much chaffer-
16 ing, " visited the Shah in person, mutual friendship
17 was declared, an exchange of turbans took place, the
18 diamond was surrendered, and the Shah received the
19 assignment of a jaghir in the Punjab for his main-
20 tenance, and a promise of aid in recovering Kabul." x
21 Even after the bargain had been struck, Shah Shuja
22 found his position at Lahore too like that of a
23 prisoner to be pleasant. He therefore contrived to
24 make his escape ; and after a brief refuge with the
25 chief of Rajaori, found his way across the Sutlej to
26 Ludhiana, where he was received by the British
27 Government, if not with open arms, at least with
28 kindness, and was granted a pension of Rs. 4,000 a
29 month for his maintenance.
30 Ranjit Singh's next attempt on Kashmir, made the
31 following year, 1814, ended in disaster. Emboldened
32 by his recent victory and by the knowledge that
33 1 Cunningham's History of the Sikhs, p. 161.