fiction, India, gems

Kipling and Balestier’s novel follows Nicholas Tarvin, an ambitious American from the fictional town of Topaz, Colorado, who travels to the Indian state of Rhatore in pursuit both of his fiancée, Kate Sheriff, and of a fabulous jeweled necklace known as the Naulahka. Kate has gone to India to work as a nurse, while Tarvin hopes to obtain the necklace and use it to advance his commercial schemes at home. The story contrasts American enterprise and optimism with the authors’ portrayal of princely India, combining romance, adventure, political intrigue, and descriptions of court life. Of particular gemological interest is the Naulahka itself, a legendary state necklace composed of extraordinarily valuable diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other gems, whose history, appearance, and attempted theft form a central element of the plot. The novel provides a late nineteenth-century literary portrayal of Indian royal jewels and the fascination they exercised upon Western observers.