The lovestory between man and diamonds
The love story between man and diamonds is so old that we can no longer trace back its origins. It was probably love at first sight: a rough diamond crystal is often so beautiful and elegant that it radiates an irresistible charm. If it is a well-developed octahedron, its perfection sometimes makes it hard to believe that it is really a chance product of nature.
Man first acquired the knowledge to process diamonds in the fourteenth century. Till then, proving your mastery over the hardest material known to mankind, the diamond, was beyond imagination. Thus, up to some hundred years ago, every diamond was a rough diamond and all documents and writings from the ancient and middle age always refer only to rough diamonds.
Although the diamond could not be machined for so long and thus could not be used as a gemstone, it was still the most expensive material of all, right from the time of its appearance till the 20th century. The high value and the reputation of these curious, well-shaped unprocessable stones with their strange lustre was based on the perception that these stones must have an unusual origin and remarkable powers.
Until some hundred years ago, diamonds were found only in India. Even in the early, ancient world, diamonds were known only there. Only in the time of Alexander the Great did diamonds travel from India to the Mediterranean region. Owing to this, the most important part of the history of diamonds has its roots in India.
There are ample written records from the time from 500 B.C. to 500 A.D. to be able to imagine the enormous, social role of the diamond in ancient India. The ancient Sanskrit texts make for highly interesting reading. From these, the characteristic features of diamond trading, which are actually inexplicable in the modern day context, become explicitly clear.
In the Indian scripture “Ratnapariksa” (assessment of precious stones), which has its origins in the 5th century, the author provides an insight into the history of creation of diamonds: “owing to the great power attributed by the learned to the diamond, the diamond must be treated as the first (amongst precious stones…: the eight great diamond deposits are in: Saurashtra (Himalayas), Matanga, Paundra, Kalinga, Kosala, the shores of the Vainya and the Surpara. ….if there is a diamond anywhere in this world, which is completely transparent, light, with a beautiful colour, with absolutely even surfaces, with no scratches, no scars, no damage, no scrawls, no signs of cracks – even if it is only the size of an atom, then it is indeed a gift from God; provided that the corners and edges are well-formed….the one who…. always wears a diamond that has sharp points, without any marks or flaws of any kind, wakes up every morning to some good fortune, as long as he/she lives: children, prosperity, grains, cows, cattle….
“The diamond played such an important role in ancient India that its properties and magic powers were studied right to the minutest detail. Everything was recorded with great accuracy and implemented painstakingly in social life. For instance, the colour shades of the diamond were divided into four basic colours and assigned to the four main castes. The four main castes in the Indian society are the same today as it was 2500 years ago: the Brahmins (the priests, the scholars, etc.), the Kshatriyas (the warriors), the Vaishyas (the business people), the Shudras (the lower cast, mostly farmers and labourers). In the ancient scriptures, diamonds were divided into the same four caste groups, according to the colour:
“the diamond has four colours, according to its caste. The diamond that has the velvety lustre of the mother-of-pearl, the rock crystal, the moonstone is a Brahmin. The one that is slightly red, monkey brown, beautiful and pure is called Kshatriya. The Vaishya is a lustrous, pale yellow. The Shudra shines like a polished sword: the experts have classified it into the fourth caste on account of its shine.”
The fortune bringing properties; the inner values of the diamonds were also attributed analogous to their four colours assigned to the four basic castes of India: the diamond of the Brahmin caste was naturally the most valuable, since it is the highest caste. The Kshatriya; the brown diamond brought all the good qualities of a warrior: courage, physical strength, etc. The Vaishya, the diamond of the tradespeople, brought prosperity and the Shudra, the diamond of the farmer caste brought agricultural prosperity.
The Ratnapariksa reports:
“the king , who according to what he has been told, wears a beautiful, light, sparkling diamond, possesses a power that triumphs over all other powers and will become the ruler of all the neighbouring land…. he who wears a Kshatriya diamond will have perfect limbs, be valiant, well-built, invincible, a terror for his enemies.
Courage, physical and mental vigour, fortune, dexterity and prosperity are the fruits reaped on wearing a Vaishya. Greater yields, abundant prosperity and grains, commodities and accommodation are obtained on wearing a Shudra. A Shudra also comes at a high price, if it has good markings. However, this caste is powerless if the good markings are missing.”The remarks on the Shudra with respect to price and good signs allude to the fact that this caste is actually the lowest caste. In spite of that, even a Shudra can be relatively expensive since it brings along good returns, if the markings are good; if the octahedron crystal has eight even surfaces, twelve sharp edges and six pointed corners.
Moreover, the author of the Ratnapariksa writes:
“the dangers of an early death, snakes, fire, enemies, diseases recede far away the moment a house becomes the sojourn of one of the four castes.” Thus, all those who can afford the possession of diamonds of the best quality in all four colours are then immune to all misfortunes in general. The effect of individual diamonds apparently intensifies when they appear in a complete set.
The science of the properties and effects of diamonds was so well-developed in ancient India that there were standard reference works for it. The Ratnapariksa refers to the so-called “Ratnashastra”books. Ratna is the Sanskrit name for precious stone. This term is used even today. For instance, there is a city in Sri Lanka called “Ratnapura” (pura = city), which has the famous sapphire mines in its vicinity. The term “Shastra” is also used today and means “Science”. The “Ratnashastra” books, which the author of the Ratnapariksa refers to, were evidently scientific textbooks about precious stones.
These textbooks not only contain the classification of different types of inclusions and a description of their effects on the wearer of the diamond, but also the colour of the inclusions and their specific position in the diamond:
“according to the experts in the Ratnashastra books, “the spots occur at three places: on the edges, the angles and the inside of the diamond. When on the inside, there is danger from fire, if on the edges, then an imminent danger due to snakes, when on the angles (it means) fame. This is the experts’judgement. If there are four kinds of drops (inclusions) in the diamond, they could mean something good or something bad; they are called avarta, vartika, raktabindu, and yavakrti. The rewards of Avarta include a long and happy life. Vartika health; Raktabindu the loss of wife and children; Yavakrti exile….
red, yellow and white are the colours of the barley-corn (a certain kind of inclusion). We will describe the good and the bad of every inclusion. the red barley corn results in the loss of elephants and horses; the yellow one the breakup of family; the white one – a long life, grains, prosperity, luck.”
The science of the properties of diamonds and their effects was virtually infinite in ancient India. Even the position of the folds on the surface of the rough diamonds and all other possible features had a specific effect on the wearer of the stone. Although we cannot prove any direct connection between the knowledge of the ancient Indian and the present day value for grading characteristics of diamonds, it is apparent that there are striking parallels between then and now.
The reason for appraising the diamond today is its outstanding status as a gemstone. Its high refractive index (the diamond has the highest refractive index possible for an optical material: 2.42), makes the diamond the only optical material, which can reflect up to 100% of the incident light back in the direction it came from.
This happens due to the double total reflection on the back wall inside the brilliant. No other precious stone reflects as much light as the diamond or sparkles as much. Apart from this one special feature, none of its other properties are considered as value enhancing for the diamond. For instance, the fact that the diamond is the best thermal conductor in the world (better than copper) hardly has any effect on women and on the price of the stones. The same applies to its other outstanding properties, such as its unrivalled hardness.
But if the high light reflection by diamonds is the only important criterion for its rank among the precious stones and for its high price, then the present day price relationship of different stones with different grading criteria is completely incomprehensible.
A flawless brilliant throws back 100% of the incoming light. A stone with a “SI” (= small inclusions) purity has an inclusion, which holds back a part of the light. Thus, a cut diamond of the SI quality does not throw back 100% of the incoming light. Therefore, a SI stone costs less than a flawless brilliant. However, the inclusion in a SI stone normally only withholds about 1 to 2% of the light. This is because the surface of the inclusion is rarely larger than 2% of the surface of the brilliant. But the price difference between flawless stones and SI stones is not just 1 to 2%. An SI stone costs only half as much or only one-third of a flawless stone, depending on the size and quality.
This incongruity can be explained from the price relationship of absolutely pure stones to stones with inclusions, in ancient India: “the diamond flawed with even extremely small, barely perceptible damages is only worth one-tenth of the value or even less. The diamond, large or small, which has several noticeable flaws, is not even worth a hundredth of the value.”
This extremely strict appraisal of the purity of the diamond in ancient India still influences our value formulation. In the ancient age, the reason for the low price of diamonds that were impure was the infamous occult effects of the stone. At that time, the stone was not used as a piece of jewellery. In this respect, the optical effect of the stone was not the decisive factor. And the great liking for “flawless stones” or stones that are completely pure does not have anything to do with their optical effect even today. The optical difference between a flawless stone and a stone with a purity level of SI2 cannot really be determined. In spite of that, a flawless stone costs twice or even thrice as much.
Even the penchant for white inclusions as compared to black inclusions, which is prevalent even today, is primarily due to the belief in the occult effects and not due to optical reasons. Even today, the diamond with black inclusions is not sold in India. The belief that a diamond with black inclusions brings misfortune is still widespread there. The colour of the inclusions has no effect, with regard to the light reflection. A white inclusion blocks the light flow in the stone exactly like a dark one The significance of diamonds in ancient Indian society was so great that there was a separate profession for it: that of the “Mandalins”, the diamond experts. Even today, a lot depends on the diamond expert in the large diamond institutes. The layman cannot imagine the importance of these institutes. There is a lotof money involved in this. Whether a stone is still flawless, or only VVS1, and whether the colour obtains a River D or only River E, can account for 40% of the sales value. Here, the effective neutrality of the expert is often under extreme pressure. And many institutes simply do not ensure objectivity of the assessment. Thus, we only recommend the expertise of the institutes GIA, HRD and DPL. A thousand year old Sanskrit text gives an insight into the power of the mandalins in ancient India: “
a diamond should be such that the edges, the facets, the points, the surface, the head have the desired properties. It must first be weighed on the scales and its price is then determined ….. all munis (= girls, court ladies) want to know what the diamond expert has to say. The mandalin is called since it is his/her profession to determine the price. The person, who identifies a diamond as native and coming from one of the eight mines, or as foreigner, coming from another dvipa, is a mandalin. The type, colouring, shape, size, quality, source, nuance and price are the eight basic values that must be assessed. Diamonds are sold in the following regions: Akara, Purvadeca, Kashmir, Madhyadeca, Ceylon and in the Indus valley. All those who do not belong to one of the four castes, or have disfigured limbs or other bad signs are not permitted to be officers and are even more strictly prohibited from counting among the mandalins.
As soon as a mandalin is available, the Sura, the Daitya, the Uraga, the Graha immediately retreat and do not come in the way. There is no doubt about this. One must have a mandalin with such qualities. But it is not easy to find such a mandalin, even in heaven, where such treasures are guarded; that the buyer, who has respectfully requested for his experience, offers a seat, fragrances and garlands of flowers to the main mandalin; that the initially consulted expert carefully checks the quality and the flaws and then secretly declares the prices using a sign of hands. It could happen that the seller determines the price of his/her stones without any knowledge. This is no obstacle to the head of the mandalins. If a low price is quoted for a high-quality stone, a high price for a low-quality one, due to fear, confusion, greed, misfortune will always follow. …. Some merchants demand an exorbitant price based on a particular property. They neither consider any flaws nor quality. The mandalin must check this. Being experts on the Ratnashastra, all mandalins remain stable, impartial adjudicators; but there are many who allow the place and time to govern the fixing of prices. Occasionally, there is one to be found, who is well-versed with the text and meaning of the Shastra and capable of appraising all stones. If such a mandalin is handy, he/she can be relied upon to look after the price determination.There are disreputable people who manufacture false diamonds. All those who know the Shastra can spot these by means of touchstone, knocking and scratch tests….”
Only with the campaign of Alexander the Great did the first diamonds come from India to the Mediterranean region. Experts speculate whether the export of diamonds from India was prohibited before Alexander the Great. Some historians also suspect that the diamond was used for taxation in ancient India. If that was the case, then possibly the tax in the case of the higher social classes (nobles and rich merchants) was settled in diamonds. At its zenith, the early Indian culture was considerably ahead of the contemporary Egyptian culture. For instance, the wheel was invented in India, not in Egypt. The ancient Indian philosophy of the Vedas and the Upanishads is so far-reaching that even Schopenhauer said: “There is nothing more comforting than reading the Upanishads”. It is hard to believe that the prominent position of the diamond in ancient Indian culture was only based on a simple superstition. And that too in a country like India, which studied the word of mysticism and occultism with so much energy and devotion. A superstition can last for maybe one generation, or two or maximum three but not over several thousand years and not with such a radical effect.
Thus, there must be something other than pure superstition behind the diamond phenomenon. Psychological factors such as man’s inherent pursuit of perfection are definitely one of them. The accurately crystallised octahedron rough diamond presumably symbolised classic perfection, like nothing else. And then facts such as its hardness and indomitability. Apart from psychological reasons, even socio-political reasons could have influenced the role of the diamond. There was presumably a requirement for a symbol of value for kings and noblemen – maybe even for a kind of parallel currency, which combined a lot of value in a small space.
As far as the belief in occult powers is concerned, the Indians, just like us, assumed that there are other worlds parallel to the physical world known to us, which are unfathomable to our mental awareness. The ancient Indians were specialists in the study of these worlds. Ultimately, we discern only a certain part of what exists. A presumably much larger part of everything remains unobserved by our perception and our awareness. And it at least appeared plausible that the diamond occupied a special position in this concealed part of the universe. There is no physical material on this earth that embodies as many superlatives as the diamond: it is the hardest material; the material with the highest optical refractive index; it is the best thermal conductor in the world. And there is still a whole series of other superlatives that follow the string of special features of the diamond. The fact that one substance embodies superlatives from so many different areas shows that it is a very special material. The fact that the diamond also has outstanding qualities in areas unknown to us can at least not be refuted. Thus, the desire to own such an exceptional piece of nature’s perfection is certainly justified – as is the belief in the exceptional powers of this rare crystal, which is indomitable in so many areas. It seems befitting, that this fantastic material has been at the top of the value structure of an entire culture, especially if we compare it to the object that is at the top of our value structure today: the car.