Why Britain Still Has India's Most Famous Diamond

It is more than four thousand years old, and it is cotton: a scrap of cloth from the Indus city of Mohenjo-daro. This is the whole history of India, from the cities with no king to the Moon landing of 2023, told through one thread: the cloth the whole world wanted, the laws that banned it, the machines that ruined its weavers, and the spinning wheel that took on an empire. You'll see Mohenjo-daro and the undeciphered Indus script, the Buddha, Alexander turning back, Ashoka's apology carved in stone, Roman gold for pepper, the place where zero became a number, the Cholas, the Delhi Sultanate and the Mongols who never took Delhi, the Mughals and the Taj Mahal, Nadir Shah and the Koh-i-Noor, Plassey and the East India Company, 1857, Gandhi's spinning wheel and the Salt March, Partition, the Constitution and the biggest vote on Earth, 1971, the Emergency, 1991, and India today. Chapters 0:00 The oldest cloth 1:49 The cities with no king (2600–600 BC) 4:20 The king who said sorry (500–185 BC) 6:46 Gold for pepper (AD 1–600) 8:59 Raiders and sultans (1000–1526) 11:46 The Mughals (1526–1707) 15:11 The diamond and the Company (1739–1857) 19:45 The wheel (1858–1939) 22:22 Freedom, and the cut (1939–1948) 25:55 The biggest vote on Earth (1950–1991) 28:46 The answer (1991 to today) Sources Romila Thapar, Early India; Upinder Singh, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India J. M. Kenoyer, Ancient Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization; Narasimhan et al. (Science, 2019); Shinde et al. (Cell, 2019) Kim Plofker, Mathematics in India Richard Eaton, Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States; India in the Persianate Age John F. Richards, The Mughal Empire; Audrey Truschke, Aurangzeb William Dalrymple, The Anarchy; William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, Koh-i-Noor Sven Beckert, Empire of Cotton; Giorgio Riello, Cotton Ramachandra Guha, Gandhi Before India; India After Gandhi Yasmin Khan, The Great Partition; Granville Austin, The Indian Constitution Amartya Sen, Poverty and Famines; Angus Maddison, The World Economy (estimates) Legends are told as legends (the turban swap, the Taj builders' hands). Death tolls are given as the ranges historians give. Kashmir is shown as disputed: each part is labelled by who administers it. Animation drawn by hand in code. Music Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com): River Fire, Vadodora, Dhaka, Eastern Thought, Heroic Age, Heavy Heart, Desert City, Five Armies, Clash Defiant, Hidden Wonders, Jalandhar, Teller of the Tales, Ancient Rite, Man Down, Interloper, Night Vigil, Adding the Sun, Lightless Dawn, Immersed, Oppressive Gloom, Bittersweet. Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Scott Buckley: Penumbra, Song of the Forge, Home Was You, Unraveling, In This Moment, Born Of The Sky, Memories of Stone, Starfire, Echoes of Home. Released under CC-BY 4.0. www.scottbuckley.com.au A Man Approaches with Bowed Sitar, Rishikesh – Samuel Corwin (CC BY 4.0); Thakil & Nadaswaram during temple Deeparadhana – Vis M (CC BY 4.0); Sitar and tabla rendition, Freedom Jam 2015 – Ashok Ayengar (CC BY-SA 4.0); Sitar (raga Yaman) – Tito Dutta (CC BY-SA 3.0); all via Wikimedia Commons. Kiravani (veena) – L Ramakrishnan (CC0); Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 and No. 4 – United States Army Band (public domain). Sound effects: Freesound (CC0). #India #History #Documentary