Chasing the Mountain of Light [Paperback]

Kevin Rushby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2004

In the beginning diamonds came from India. And the greatest of those ancient stones, the Koh-i-Noor, the Mountain of Light, cut a deep and bloody path across the history and legends of the country. Fought over, cursed and occasionally lost, from the mines of Golconda in the south to the mughal palaces of Agra and Delhi in the north, it finally reached the Sikhs in the Punjab, only to be seized by British agents eager to please the young Queen Victoria. It now lies in the Tower of London, its ownership still disputed. Kevin Rushby follows the trail of this great jewel through fascinating corners of India and crossing the path of dealers, smugglers and petty crooks. The historical characters are no less colourful, from the bloodthirsty tyrants who built mountains of human heads to the man-god Krishna. He unravels the religious symbolism and mysticism behind our passions for diamonds, on a journey that is humorous, informative and, as it progresses, more than a little dangerous.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A shiny piece of carbon is what ensnares writer Kevin Rushby, luring him into a strange world of hidden towns with no names, a land of charms, chakras, cardamom, and missing gem mines. But it's not just any chunk of glittering jewel with which Rushby is obsessed: he's pursuing the history of the Koh-I-Noor diamond, a 106-karat piece of crystalline perfection now part of England's Crown Jewels. Research pulls him across India and into a diverse culture that is so exotic--and simultaneously so mystical, esoteric, and often criminal--that he may as well have fallen into Middle-earth.

The diamond now sits in the Tower of London, but the magnificent gem's past proves elusive, its light flickering in a maze of mirrors, cloaked in myth, lies, and mystery. The truth about whence it came and which palms it crossed may ultimately never be uncovered. Nevertheless, Rushby artfully uses the pretext to uncover rich stories: of the excesses of wealthy jewelers, of impoverished farmers who discover gleaming wealth in the fields, and of clandestine diamond markets, where cloth-wrapped baubles are sold on the streets like peddled crack.

Names of Indian places and people do get confusing--and there are more characters spinning around in this book than a Russian novel--but that doesn't matter. Rushby weaves Chasing the Mountain of Light with lush detail, creating a tale as compelling, multifaceted, and breathtaking as the diamond itself. --Melissa Rossi --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Rushby's interest in the ancient diamond trade was piqued after a chance meeting with a diamond smuggler in Ethiopia. Driven to unearth the history-drenched underbelly of the diamond trade, Rushby (Eating the Flowers of Paradise: A Journey Through the Drug Fields of Ethiopia and Yemen) treks across India in search of old gemstone mines and ancient accounts. Rushby isn't quite sure what he's looking for, but he narrows his focus to the fate of Koh-i-Noor, the world's largest diamond, from its origins circa 1000 B.C., when it was believed to be a gift from the Sun God, to its present home in the Tower of London. He seeks out unorthodox storytellers, be they miners, peasants, gem dealers, diplomats, gurus or Jesuit priests. Unfortunately, Rushby is limited to the stories told by those who speak English; he very eloquently describes the frustration of watching someone gesture and talk excitedly, only to receive a two-word translation from a jaded interpreter. However, Rushby's keen sense of humor and sharp eye more than compensate for this handicap. Acutely written, this meandering adventure will appeal equally to mystics, gemologists, historians and travelers. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Robinson Publishing M/D (March 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 184119882X
• ISBN-13: 978-1841198828
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,430,427 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travel Writing at its Very Best, May 21, 2000

By 

A Lover of Good Books (Gill, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond (Hardcover)

This is not a book about diamonds. Instead it is the chronicle of a wonderful offbeat trip through India tracing the path that the Koh-i-noor diamond may have followed.

The author is that rarest and most estimable kind of travel writer who acts as the reader's eyes and ears. When Rushby describes a scene you see it, hear it, smell it and feel it. When he describes a conversation he captures the person's speech patterns, their personal idiosyncrasies, and makes them come alive. Unlike many other current travel writers, Rushby does not waste your time with pages about himself and his personal problems or his reactions to the people and places he visits. Instead, he gives you enough data so that you can make up your own mind about the poeple and places he describes.

And what fascinating places they are! Southern Indian haunts of small time diamond smugglers, the ruined palaces of Mughal emperors, the studies of eccentric professors, the shabby apartments of claiments to the wealth of deposed rajas. All these are there and more, as the author moves through a series of cheap hotels via questionable transport of the sort that the reader loves to hear about but is glad not to have to actually use.

This book reminded me a lot of Eric Hansen's Motoring with Mohammed, another of my favorite travel books. It's a definite "must read" for any serious armchair traveller!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rambles in A Faceted Land, October 16, 2000

By 

John W. McCarthy (Washington, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond (Hardcover)

Rushby follows the legend(s) of the Koh-i-Noor diamond (the title's "Mountain of Light") as well as the history of Indian and Middle Eastern gem trading in this entertaining book. Like all good travel books, a unifying theme, once found, is seldom respected slavishly, so someone expecting a diligent history of the diamond itself and its travels would be better served by the Encyclopedia Brittanica. For others who wish to see an unusual side of the Indian subcontinent and its history, Rushby's an affable and able guide.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpected Dividend, May 7, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Chasing the Mountain of Light: Across India on the Trail of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond (Hardcover)

I bought this book to learn about more about the Koh-i-Noor and I found a much more interesting story in the despcriptions of India before partition and the gardens and architecture of the Mughals. At the start it's a bit on the 'ho hum, another traveling around India on the cheap' but once Rushby gets to Gujarat and beyond it's teriffic.