Maharaja's last halt awaits his ashes, Kohinoor

(By - Aditya Rishi)

Once Kohinoor was the dazzling beauty of

Bassian Kothi

. Today it's brides and actresses who come for the shooting of prewedding photographs and Punjabi music videos.

Formerly an ammunition depot, the 200-year-old mansion at

Bassian

village near Raikot in Punjab's Ludhiana district is where in 1849 after annexing Punjab, the British kept a 15-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh on the New Year's Eve before they took the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh to

England

on the sly and placed him under the guardianship of army surgeon John Spencer Logan, who pushed a Bible into his hands and erased the Bhagavadgita and Guru Granth Sahib from his mind.

Converted to a heritage museum and restored by INTACH with the help of the Punjab government, the 13-acre complex is in the care of six-member Mararaja Duleep Singh Management Committee, says its secretary, Parminder Singh Jatpuri. This is where Sikhs want the Kohinoor to be brought back and displayed.This is where the replicas of the big diamond and the golden throne of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh are still kept. Maharaja Duleep Singh surrendered the original treasures to Queen Victoria.

The throne is now at Albert Museum in the British capital and the diamond part of crown jewels at the Tower of London. The Kohinoor (mountain of light) was once set between two diamonds that Majaraja Ranjeet Singh wore on his armlet.

Maharaja Duleep Singh wore the Kohinoor on his 11th birthday and gave it up on his 13th anniversary .

This memorial awaits the ashes of Maharaja Duleep Singh from Elveden Hall, UK, for which the managing trust has written to the Union Home Ministry .The Supreme Court order has said it can't order the government to bring back the Kohinoor or any property kept in a foreign land. The paintings on display at Bassian Kothi are based on Duleep Singh's life in Punjab, UK, Paris, and Kolkata, where he was reunited with his mother in 1860.

The museum has had its own struggle for survival, before the Punjab government chipped in with Rs 5 crore for restoration and Rs 3 lakh for paying the pending three-month wages of a maintenance staff of 10.

`Show film to Sikh censor board'
The trust that preserves the memory of the last ruler of the Lahore kingdom wants SGPC to examine the film. Trust secretary Parminder Singh Jatpuri says the “film might be based on works of history writers such as Khushwant Singh and Captain Amarinder Singh, who absolve Dogras and Patiala kingdoms and make an accused out of Lehna Singh Sandhawalia, who helped Maharaja Duleep Singh become a king“. Kavi Raz says the film is based on years of research “but yes, it's also a story of betrayal, which you must see before you draw conclusions“.

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