Koh-i-Noor, undoubtedly this is the most famous diamond among the Indians and in the Indian history. Though India had produced many diamonds, it has the special space in the pages of history. Well, the word Koh-i-Noor means “mountain of light” and it has a twin diamond, Darya-ye Noor, which means “ocean of light”. Though the Darya-ye Noor is the rarest kind of diamond, Koh-I-Noor has the great history over that. Coming to the technical details of Koh-i-noor, it has very rarest characteristics like clarity, transparency and purest white in colour. It is about 110 carats in weight.

 

I think we had enough introduction part, let us get into the main story.  According to history, it was mined in Kollur mines in Guntur district. It was first owned by Kakatiya dynasty. I think many of you heard that the diamond was mined in Golconda, yes! You are right. Golkonda or Golla Konda (shepherd’s hill) was first built by Kakatiyans but not the Nizams, Qutb Shahis and Nizams later developed Golkonda as their capital. Well, coming back to the history of Koh-i-noor, it travelled from Kakatiyans to Delhi sultans with the defeat of Pratapa Rudra by the Tughlaq’s army. They looted the capital city of Kakatiyan empire, Orugallu, for months. It had continued to descend to the Delhi rulers, even to the Mughals. The founder of Mughal Empire, Babur, described it’s value as “it can feed entire world for two and half days”.

As anyone knows, history is all about conspiracies and controversies; Koh-i-noor is no exception for that. Actually there is no such thing called Koh-i-noor before 1739, until Nader Shah who invaded Mughal Empire and looted the riches of the empire along with the diamond. So the question is what it was called before that, I mean 1739. Kakatiyans considered the diamond as the Sayamantaka mani, description about which was there in the Hindu mythology. It was the eye of an idol in a temple of Kakatiyan Dynasty. In 1830, the ruler of Afghanistan, Shah Shuja gave it to Ranjith singh, who was the ruler of Punjab, seeking help to get his throne back.


 
Till now the story has revolved around the Indian kings, now the evil spirits came into the picture, yes, The Britishers. Ranjith Singh has willed Koh-i-noor to the Jagannath temple in Puri. But those evil spirits didn’t execute his will. Dalhousie, who specially recruited for looting Indian assets, looted Koh-i-Noor as well. Instead of giving it to the Jagannath temple, he gave it to the Queen of England. Even now you can see the Koh-i-Noor in the crown of Queen Elizabeth.

That is the Journey of Koh-i-Noor or Syamantaka mani from Kollur to the Crown.