By Vinaya Kumar

14 years ago, when A.Vidyaraj of Bangalore made the announcement that he had the largest rubies in the world, many thought that it was the joke of a prankster.

But in the intervening years, Vidyaraj's claims have been proved genuine and the Guinness book of records have entered his name as the owner of the largest rubies in the world.

How much are his rubies worth? Let us consider the fact that in 2006, an eight-carat stone sold for close to four million US dollars (USD)/176 million rupees.

Price per carat was roughly 500,000 USD/22 million rupees.

Vidyaraj's rubies are name as Ravirathna, Rajarathna and Neelanjali.You can buy the Raviratna, at 2805 carats world's largest star ruby cut like a cabochon on top, for a billion US dollars.

Or it's smaller cousin, the Rajarathna, the largest star stone in the world, weighing 2475 carat, for 500 million US dollars.

If you cannot afford either, you might consider buying the Neelanjali, a double star sapphire weighing 1370 carat displaying twelve star lines, on offer for 200 million US dollars.

How did Vidyaraj came in possession of these priceless treasures! For this you have to go back in history to the time of Emperor Krishnadevaraya (1509-1530) of the Raya dynasty , who was the most wise ruler of the famous Vijayanagar empire.

His successors were not as capable as him and in 1565, the Vijayanagar empire collapsed against an attack by the Bahmani sultans of South India.

Krishnadevaraya's successors had to leave the imperial capital of Hambi, now one of the Unesco world heritage sites and fled to different parts of south India.

After the fall of the Vijayanagara kingdom, a jagir (gifted land) was granted by King Hoysala Ballala Narsimharaya II of Karnataka to "Vidyaraj', the ancestor of the 20th century Vidyaraj, and their family inherited a bowlful of religious images known as shaligramas.

According to Vidyaraj, he is 14th generation descendant of Krishnadevaraya.

A lawyer by profession, Vidyaraj had heard of his famous lineage, but had not bothered about it.

But he knew that his family had quite a number of ancient religious treasures known as shaligrams, symbolic of God Vishnu, the family deity of the Raya dynasty.

When Vidyaraj's father died, he bequeathed the family heirlooms to him.

Vidyaraja simply brought them to his first floor apartment in Basavanagudi, and locked them carefully in cupboards.

Vidyaraj's wife Indumathi felt, that one should not keep such sacred treasures without proper pujas and Vidyaraj was not willing to spent his time and money on such rituals.

Instead, he told her that he would hand over the shaligrams to a temple.

But surprisingly the legal hurdles in gifting them away proved onerous and Vidyaraj found no takers for the valuables.

Thus frustrated Vidyaraj decided to clean up the valuables with soap and brush and as he went on with the scrubbing, he realized that they appeared to be rubies of immense size.

Ever the cautious lawyer, he locked the stones away again and began reading books on gemmology in his spare time.

As his knowledge of precious stones improved, he took the smallest of the stones out, and began taking it around to various gem cutters in the city.

He would ask one to clean it, another to cut it, a third to start making facets and so on.

Soon Vidyaraj found himself in possession of five priceless rubies, inherited unknowingly by his ancestors after the break up of the Vijayanagar empire, including three world-record rubies weighing in at 3,600, 2,475 and 1,370 carats.

It is surmised that they were adorned in the crown of Emperor.The gems achieved overnight craze when they were first exhibited in Europe.

Ever since then Vidyaraja has been is trying to sell them, but he could not find a person who can buy them.

The most famous authorities in gemology agreed to the genuineness of these rubies, later confirmed by the Guinness Book of Records and Vidyaraj should have become a billionaire and that too in dollars.But that was not to be.

For, once it was established that the rubies were the treasures of the the 16th century Vijayanagar empire, the Indian antiquities law, which forbids the sale of any national heirloom more than one hundred years old, made any possible sales of the rubies outside India illegal.

And if sold in India, the Indian price would have been a fraction of what could have been obtained in international auctions.

It is pertinent to note that many treasures, much lower in value than these rubies, have been smuggled out/sold in the western world, without the Indian Government being aware of the deals.

But Vidyaraj wants to abide by the law.

Quite understandably, although he is trying to sell his gems on the Internet web, Vidyaraja is not willing to do business with all and sundry, but expects good references from potential buyers.

"I want to sell these pieces of rubies either through auction or by private sale," he says.

Over the years, security both for himself and his stones has become a major concern, as Vidyaraj has been hounded by crank calls, kidnap threats and even extortionists.

He has had police protection on and off.

Now the 75 plus Vidyaraj has decided that the money from the sale of these rubies ( if sold) would be devoted to humanitarian causes, like the work of helping patients suffering from terminal diseases like cancer and AIDS.

It remains to be seen whether he is able to sell these heirlooms in his life time, without breaking the law.