• Weight Loss
  • Mental Health
  • Relationships
  • Find a solution for...
  • Meditation – Overview
  • Happiness Program
  • Happiness Program for Youth
  • Sahaj Samadhi Dhyana Yoga
  • Online Meditation and Breath Workshop
  • Advanced Meditation Program
  • Dynamism for Self & Nation (DSN)
  • Blessings Program
  • Sudarshan Kriya Follow-Ups
  • Volunteer Training Program
  • Teacher Training Program
  • Children and Teens – Overview
  • Utkarsha Yoga
  • Medha Yoga Level 1
  • Medha Yoga Level 2
  • Intuition Process
  • Know Your Child Workshop
  • Know Your Teen Workshop
  • Corporate Programs
  • Workshop to Get Rid of Anxiety & Sleep Disorder
  • The Art Of Living Programs For Schools
  • Sri Sri Sanskar Kendra
  • Yoga – Overview
  • Sri Sri Yoga Classes (Level 1)
  • Sri Sri Yoga Deep Dive (Level 2)
  • Yoga Teacher Training
  • Sri Sri Yoga Retreats
  • SpineCare Yoga and Posture Program
  • The Art of Living Programs for Schools
  • Karma Yoga (YLTP)
  • Wisdom – Overview
  • Events – Overview
  • World Culture Festival
  • Maha Shivratri
  • International Women’s Conference
  • World Forum for Ethics in Business
  • Global Leadership Forum
  • Guinness World Records Events
  • Social Impact – Overview
  • Rural Development
  • Organic Farming
  • Environment care
  • Women Empowerment
  • Disaster Relief
  • Prison Program
  • Water Conservation
  • River Symposium
  • Social Impact
  • The Art of Living
  • About Gurudev
  • Sudarshan Kriya

Culture Story of the Kohinoor.jpg

The fascinating story of the Kohinoor (Koh-i-Noor) diamond

Amazing facts about India

Of all the diamonds in the world, the story of the Kohinoor diamond is by far the most famous. A Golconda classified diamond, whose origins are lost in the midst of time, Kohinoor today occupies the pride of place on the British crown, tucked away in the Tower of London. 

This prized diamond in her long history has travelled all over the world and been possessed by many rulers. She is known to have travelled back and forth within India and between India, Persia, Afghanistan – changing hands from one ruler to another. Some of the well-known kings to have held her include, 

  • the Kakatiyas 
  • Allaudin Khilji
  • Raja Vikramaditya of Gwalior
  • the early Mughals, Babur and Humayun
  • the Shah of Iran, Shah Tehmasp 
  • the Nizam Shah and Qutub Shah dynasties of Ahmednagar and Golconda
  • the later Mughals from Shah Jahan onwards upto Muhammad Shah Rangila, 
  • Nadir Shah of Persia, who gave her the Persian name Kohinoor meaning “Mountain of Light” 
  • the Afghan General Ahmad Shah Abdali (Durrani) and from thereon to his successors upto Shah Shuja 
  • the Sher-e-Punjab, Maharaja Ranjit Singh and from thereon  to his successors upto Maharaja Duleep Singh 

However in all this journey,  Kohinoor  was never bought or sold but changed hands only due to inheritance or as a token of gift or due to extortion, looting, trickery and treachery. 

Infact, it was only after reaching Persia, that she acquired the name  Kohinoor . 

travel of kohinoor

The legend of the Kohinoor diamond (and facts)

Stories abound on how Kohinoor changed the destinies of those who possessed her, for the worse, unfortunately, unless they were women. 

In this travel of Kohinoor and the travails of all those she lived with, Maharaja Duleep Singh was the last Indian king to have possessed this diamond. 

Maharaja Duleep Singh, one of the first freedom fighters of India against the British, was eventually tricked into parting with the Kohinoor under the Treaty of Lahore dated March 29, 1849. The Sikh Kingdom of Punjab, was annexed and merged with the British India dominions under this treaty. 

Duleep Singh was deposed, his treasury which comprised the Kohinoor, the Darya-i-Noor (Sea of Light) and Timur’s Ruby among other valuables, passed on to the hands of the British and finally reached Queen Victoria in England. They were showcased at the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. 

The diamond, which originally weighed 186 carats was cut down to 108 carats by the Queen and set in her crown. Since then, the Kohinoor continues to stay in the possession of the British Royalty locked away in the Tower of London. 

Even though Kohinoor has been with the British crown, she is still referred to as the ‘Star of India.’ Living up to her name, this ‘mountain of light’ illuminates a glorious history of diamond trade in India.  The trail might have ended, yet the story of the Kohinoor diamond remains intriguing.  

To the courts of Louis XIV

Today the largest diamond mines are found in South Africa, where they were discovered in 1700 CE. Before this discovery, India was the only supplier of diamonds in the world. Golconda mines in Andhra Pradesh was known for its brilliant diamonds that were coveted all over the world. Besides the famous Kohinoor diamond, the illustrious Golconda diamond history includes others like Hope and Regent.

The Regent Diamond is housed in the Louvre in Paris today. One of the most beautiful diamonds of the world, it weighs over 140 carats. But in the 1600s, when it was taken from India, it weighed 410 carats, about three times its present size. An English sea captain stole it and sold it to an Iranian trader. The Iranian trader sold it in 1702 to Sir Thomas Pitt. From him, the “Regent” diamond reached Paris and was sold to Queen Marie Antoinette of France. 

But how were diamonds introduced in Europe? In the year 1650 CE, the French traveller and jeweller Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who came to India about six times, visited the mines of Golconda to procure diamonds. These he sold them to the royals and aristocrats of Europe. He introduced them at the court of King Louis XIV of France in 1669. He made a diamond bracelet,  bazuband , worn in the upper part of the arm, for King Louis XIV, who spent an equivalent of $75 million in those days for the diamonds procured from India. 

The brightest & best: Golconda diamond history  

The Golconda diamonds stood apart for their size and crystal clarity. Most diamonds have traces of nitrogen in them which gives them a yellowish tinge and they are called Type I. The Golconda diamonds were called Type 2. Even in this category, they were classified as Type 2a, as they did not have any nitrogen, considered to be an impurity in diamond. Even those with some tinge of pink or blue or gray, were classified as Type 2b as they got their color from elements such as Boron. 

travel of kohinoor

This made the Golconda diamonds, the purest diamonds of the world. Due to this purity, unlike Type 1 diamonds, they allowed ultraviolet rays and visible light to pass through them and this gave them a clear, transparent nature. They were so clear and transparent that they looked like ice cubes. They gave an effect of water running through the gem. 

Found these facts fascinating? Equally fascinating is the mind and body. Discover yourself and the secrets of mind management at The Art of Living Meditation and Breath workshop.

They were large in size too. They were weighed in units of  rati  where one  rati  was 7/8th of a carat. One of the stones from this region, the Great Mogul, is recorded to have weighed equivalent of 787 carats. 

Carat, the unit to measure the weight of diamonds, comes from the Italian word  carato  or Greek word  Keration , traceable to the Arabic  qirat (horn)  for the carob seed. Carob seeds have a small horn-like protrusion. All carob seeds are more or less of the same weight and hence could be used as a light weight measure for measuring small and light items such as gemstones.

This concept of using carob seeds to measure gemstones is also traceable to India or the traditional Indian measure for diamonds was  ratti  where  ratti  is also a seed.

The  ratti  seed is generally red with a black dot. They are also called  gunja  in Sanskrit and  gurivinta  in some of the South Indian languages. They are closely associated with Krishna temples in the Kerala tradition.  

Using ratti seed or in some cases, the real diamond itself, as the eye of idols, has been a practice of the land.

Even today, only two percent of the world’s diamonds are considered to be of Type 2.

Another word for immense wealth

Golconda diamond history says that trade flourished during the time of the Kakatiya dynasty, who established the famous Golconda fort in 975 CE. 

Diamonds were mined from the region in and around Golconda, then cut and traded from there. The fortress city of Golconda was the market city for diamond trade and gems sold there came to be called Golcondas. Golconda became synonymous with diamonds for Europe. 

By the 1880s, the Golconda diamonds had gained so much popularity for their size, weight, and quality that they became a coveted brand of diamonds. The word ‘Golconda’ became synonymous for best quality diamonds. Soon, Golconda became a generic term to denote a rich mine or source of immense wealth too. The Golcondas also earned immense wealth for India.

The legacy begins before Europe knew about it 

All the ancient lores of India –  Veda, Purana , the epics, other legends and folklore – speak of diamonds, its characteristics, and stories around them. In contrast, Europe learnt of diamonds and its value  only in the late 1600s just over 300 years ago. 

One of the earliest evidence of the importance given to diamonds and their mining in India can be gathered from the  Arthashastra , a treatise on governance, administration, law, politics, strategy, and defence. The  Arthashastra  was authored by one of India’s renowned statesmen of the 4th century BCE, popularly known as Kautilya and Chanakya.

Diamonds find a specific mention among this list as a precious commodity for trade, treasury, savings, and adornment in the 4th century BCE itself. 

The  Arthashastra  was produced around 336 BCE, the same time when Alexander, the Macedonian had invaded and retreated from the North Western parts of India. This work is at the same time so detailed as within India as well as outside. 

So much for the writings of the colonial historians, that India became civilized due to the visit of the Greeks. For, such a profound framework for governance of a land, especially based on indigenous Indian ethos as well as knowledge of the geography of entire India and overseas, could not have come about, without it having been practiced by generations of governments before Kautilya. 

Pliny & Ptolemy knew it right 

Most of the legendary diamonds of today were mined in India and owned by different kings and temples of India till the 1700s. 

Marco Polo, the Italian adventurer who visited India in 1295 CE, documenting what he saw and learned during his visit to India. He writes, “The bigger diamond stones went to the various Indian kings and the great Khan. The smaller and refused stones were sent to Europe from the port of Guntur District.” 

Diamonds also made their way to other ancient civilizations, going by the records of the Greek. Incidentally, the word diamond has its roots in the Greek word,  adamas  ‘indestructible’. 

  • Pliny in his work  Naturalis Historiae , in 77 CE records, wrote, “Most large precious stones are of Indian origin.” Pliny calls them  Adamas  from India.
  • Ptolemy in 140 CE mentions about diamond mining in India by the Adamas River.

travel of kohinoor

(The Greeks referred to the Krishna river in South India as the Adamas river. A 300-km-stretch along this river has been the scene of intense diamond mining activity since millennia.)

It was only much later, during the colonization of India, that most of these big diamonds were prized away to Europe and America. 

Truly, the Golconda diamond history is a long and fascinating one.

You may like:

Culture India had 25_ of world trade.jpg

Once upon a time when India had 25% of world trade

temples of Hanuman ji

A peek into eight of the most famous Hanuman temples in India

Culture - History of Swastika - Indian symbol

Swastika: The 5,000-year-old History of Swastika an Indian symbol

The footprints of Rama across the world

The footprints of Rama across the world

Culture Story of Onam.jpg

The story of Onam

Culture Vedas song of the Big Bang theory.jpg

When the Vedas sang of the Big Bang theory - even before it was known

Happiness program

Beginner (in person)

meditating

Beginner (online)

happiness program for youth

Children and Teens

Woman meditating on a rock by the beach facing the water

A Fascinating Explanation Of Chakras & Our Unseen Bodies

How do I attract the right partner Shorts

How do I attract the right partner?

Kohinoor, the ‘Stolen’ Diamond’s Travel History

The ascent of Charles III to the British throne last week has, once again, rekindled demands for the return of the fabled ‘mountain of light’ diamond to India, over 175 years after it was obtained by the English.

Kohinoor, the ‘Stolen’ Diamond’s Travel History

Replica of the Imperial Crown with a replica of the Kohinoor Diamond. Photo: AlinavdMeulen/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Rahul Bedi

Listen to this article:

Chandigarh:  The ascent of Charles III to the British throne last week has, once again, rekindled demands on social media, domestically, for the return of the fabled Kohinoor, ‘mountain of light’ diamond to India, over 175 years after it was obtained by the English.

Perhaps, the host of netizens wanting the Kohinoor back, out of both a sense of ownership and as reparation for centuries of rapine, oppression, racism, famine and slavery inflicted by the colonial administration on generations of Indians, mistakenly believe that the supposedly liberal King Charles would be more sympathetic to their wishes.

travel of kohinoor

The Imperial State Crown lays atop the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it Lies in State inside Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster in London, Britain September 15, 2022. Photo: Odd Andersen/Pool via Reuters

And, while some of the more militant tweets called upon hordes of Indians to ‘storm’ Charles’s residence at Buckingham Palace to retrieve the 105.6-carat oval shaped diamond, another expatriate venture capitalist from Silicon Valley in the US has urged the ‘honourable’ UK to do the decent thing, and return the looted diamond forthwith to its rightful owners.

“Every time the (British) crown appears with the Kohinoor as the jewel of the crown, it reminds the world of Britain’s colonial past and the shameful (and deceitful) way they acquired it,” Venktesh Shukla of Monta Vista Capital  said in a petition .

But most cyber citizens are unaware that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led Hindu nationalist government had renounced its claims to the Kohinoor six years ago.

In April 2016, former solicitor general Ranjit Kumar categorically told the Supreme Court that the Kohinoor was presented to Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century, and was neither purloined nor looted. “It (the Kohinoor) was not stolen or forcibly taken away,” Kumar declared in response to a public interest litigation case by one Nafis Ahmad Siddiqui, seeking the return of the fabled diamond to India.

On display at the Tower of London, the Kohinoor has, over decades, intermittently been at the centre of ongoing diplomatic rows between New Delhi and London, with India continually demanding that England return the ‘stolen’ diamond on grounds of ownership and sotto voce , also as partial atonement for its colonial excesses. In return, successive British prime ministers and other British leaders steadfastly refused , with David Cameron on a visit to India in 2010 categorically declaring that the Kohinoor would remain in England.

“What tends to happen with these questions is that if you say yes to one, then you would suddenly find the British Museum empty,” he said, referring to the tens of thousands of looted artefacts on display there from around the world.

Ironically, Cameron’s statement endorses a cartoon doing the social media rounds currently, in which a British mother is admonishing her infant daughter for being ‘political’ in her school class again.

With wisdom beyond her years, the little girl responds by firmly informing her mother that her teacher had asked why the pyramids were in Egypt. “I told the truth,” she matter-of-factly said, “because they are too heavy for the English to steal.”

Podcast: Is the Kohinoor Diamond Really Cursed?

The Kohinoor’s travel history

The Kohinoor was reportedly mined in Kollur, on the southern bank of the Krishna River in the former Golconda sultanate by the Kakatiya dynasty that ruled over modern-day Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Karnataka and southern Odisha from the 12th to 14th centuries, with their capital at Orugallu, later Warangal.

Consequently, the diamond, then believed to have been 186 carats, was placed locally in the Bhadrakali temple, from where it was seized in 1290 by Alauddin Khalji, one of the early founders of the Delhi Sultanate, during his numerous marauding campaigns in the luxuriant and prosperous Deccan.

Thereafter, the diamond’s travel history is unclear, but British historian Bamber Gascoigne in   The Great Mughals claims the diamond re-surfaced when the second Mughal king Humayun presented it to his father Babar around 1526. Gascoigne reveals that an unimpressed Babar casually calculated the value of the diamond, declaring that it could provide food for two-days-and-a-half to the entire world, and promptly handed the stone back to his son.

Some years later, Humayun presented the stone to Shah Tahmasp of Persia for sheltering him, after he was militarily defeated and driven out of India by his fierce Afgan rival, Sher Shah Suri. After a series of subsequent owners and an opaque riveting and bloodstained journey, the diamond found its way back into the treasury of Shah Jahan, the fourth Great Mughal in the early 17th century, who embedded it into his fabled Peacock Throne that was inaugurated in 1635.

Some decades later this remarkable gold throne, studded with all manner of rubies, emeralds, and of course, diamonds, was carried away by the rapacious Persian king Nadir Shah, who defeated the lesser Mughal ruler Muhammad Shah at the Battle of Karnal, near Delhi in 1738-39.

travel of kohinoor

Nadir Shah seated on the Peacock Throne after the defeat of the 13th Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. Photo: Anonymous/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

Nadir Shah’s grandson Shahrokh Shah thereafter presented the Kohinoor to the Afghan Empire’s founder Ahmad Shah Durrani in the early 18th century and it remained in his family in Kabul for several years.

However, by now there were new entrants to this fiercely turbulent region, wracked by fratricidal wars and looting freebooters – the hegemonic British, and further west the equally expansionist Russian Czar, both of who had launched their intrigue-ridden ‘Great Game’ to seize Afghanistan. The resultant fascinating minuet resulted in Durrani’s grandson and Afghan King Shah Shuja aligning himself with the English, and there are sketchy accounts of the potentate flaunting the Kohinoor set in a broach when he met Mountstuart Elphinstone, a colonial officer in Kabul, who was part of the Great Game manoeuvring, and who later became the Bombay governor.

In June 1809, Shuja was overthrown by his predecessor Mahmud Shah and went into exile in Lahore under the protection of Ranjit Singh, India’s first and only Sikh ruler to whom he presented the Kohinoor as payment for providing him shelter. And when the Sikh province of Punjab was annexed by the British, after Ranjit Singh’s death in 1849, the Kohinoor was presented to Commissioner Sir John Lawrence, who left it lying in his waistcoat pocket for almost six weeks.

According to some accounts, his valet chanced upon the huge shimmering diamond and restored it to Lawrence – who later became India’s Viceroy – and, in turn, he forwarded it to Ranjit Singh’s minor heir Dalip Singh, ‘asking’ him to ‘present’ it to Queen Victoria. The diamond arrived in time to become the prime exhibit at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851, after which it ended up in the Tower of London as part of the Royal jewels.

travel of kohinoor

Queen Victoria wearing the Kohinoor brooch. Photo: Franz Xaver Winterhalter/Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain

It was first set in the crown of Elizabeth, mother of the recently deceased monarch, at the coronation of her husband George VI in 1937 and featured on her coffin at her funeral in 2002, before it was locked away in the Tower of London protected by resplendently uniformed Yeoman Warders.

Legend, meanwhile, has it that the Kohinoor has brought bad luck to whoever has possessed it throughout history. Consequently, some in India were of the view that given the diamond’s fabled powers, perhaps the British would like to consider returning it and ending their enduring ill fortunes.

Other less generous, want the Brits to keep the ill-starred Kohinoor, believing it would be a force multiplier, albeit a glamourous one, in avenging the past.

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won’t Give It Back

A star of London’s Crown Jewels, the Indian gem has a bloody history of colonial conquest

Lorraine Boissoneault

Lorraine Boissoneault

AP_521114044.jpg

The diamond came from India’s alluvial mines thousands of years ago, sifted from the sand. According to Hindu belief, it was revered by gods like Krishna—even though it seemed to carry a curse, if the luck of its owners was anything to go by. The gem, which would come to be known as the Koh-i-Noor Diamond, wove its way through Indian court intrigues before eventually ending up in the British Crown Jewels by the mid-1800s. That was when a British amateur geologist interviewed gemologists and historians on the diamond’s origins and wrote the history of the Koh-i-Noor that served as the basis for most future stories of the diamond. But according to historians Anita Anand and William Dalrymple, that geologist got it all wrong.

“We found what every historian longs for,” Dalrymple says. “A story which is incredibly important to people, an object known around the world, but which is all built on a structure of myth.”

In their new book Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond , Anand and Dalrymple work their way through more than four centuries of Indian history to learn the truth about the diamond, “panning the old research” like the Indians who sieved river sand for diamonds, Anand says. And the true history has its share of drama. For Dalrymple, “It’s a perfectly scripted Game of Thrones -style epic. All the romance, all the blood, all the gore, all the bling.”

But beneath the drama of the diamond is a more serious question that still has no clear answer: How should modern nations deal with a colonial legacy of looting? With numerous countries (including India , Pakistan and the Taliban in Afghanistan ) having claimed ownership of the Koh-i-Noor, it’s a topic under vigorous debate.

To understand where the diamond came from—and whether it could ever go back—requires diving into the murky past, when India was ruled by outsiders: the Mughals.

On the Gemstone Throne

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back

For centuries, India was the world’s only source of diamonds—all the way until 1725, with the discovery of diamond mines in Brazil. Most of the gemstones were alluvial, meaning they could be sifted out of river sands, and rulers of the subcontinent embraced their role as the first diamond connoisseurs.

“In many ancient Indian courts, jewelry rather than clothing was the principle form of adornment and a visible sign of court hierarchy, with strict rules being laid down to establish which rank of courtier could wear which gem in which setting,” Dalrymple and Anand write in their book. The world’s oldest texts on gemology also come from India, and they include sophisticated classification systems for different kinds of stones.

Turco-Mongol leader Zahir-ud-din Babur came from Central Asia through the Kyber Pass (located between modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan) to invade India in 1526, establishing the Islamic Mughal dynasty and a new era of infatuation with gemstones. The Mughals would rule northern India for 330 years, expanding their territory across nearly all of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and eastern Afghanistan, all the while reveling in the mountains of gemstones they inherited and pillaged.

Although it’s impossible to know exactly where the Koh-i-Noor came from and when it first came into the Mughals’ possession, there is a definite point at which it appears in the written record. In 1628, Mughal ruler Shah Jahan commissioned a magnificent, gemstone-encrusted throne. The bejeweled structure was inspired by the fabled throne of Solomon, the Hebrew king who figures into the histories of Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Shah Jahan’s throne took seven years to make, costing four times as much as the Taj Mahal, which was also under construction. As court chronicler Ahmad Shah Lahore writes in his account of the throne:

“The outside of the canopy was to be of enamel work studded with gems, the inside was to be thickly set with rubies, garnets, and other jewels, and it was to be supported by emerald columns. On top of each pillar there were to be two peacocks thick set with gems, and between each of the two peacocks a tree set with rubies and diamonds, emeralds and pearls.”

Among the many precious stones that adorned the throne were two particularly enormous gems that would, in time, become the most valued of all: the Timur Ruby—more highly valued by the Mughals because they preferred colored stones—and the Koh-i-Noor diamond. The diamond was lodged at the very top of the throne, in the head of a glistening gemstone peacock.

For a century after the creation of the Peacock Throne, the Mughal Empire retained its supremacy in India and beyond. It was the wealthiest state in Asia; Delhi, the capital city, was home to 2 million people, more than London and Paris combined. But that prosperity attracted the attention of other rulers in Central Asia, including Persian ruler Nader Shah.

When Nader invaded Delhi in 1739, the ensuing carnage cost tens of thousands of lives and the depletion of the treasury. Nader left the city accompanied by so much gold and so many gems that the looted treasure required 700 elephants, 4,000 camels and 12,000 horses to pull it (and you thought all that fanfare in Aladdin was Disney-ized embellishment). Nader took the Peacock Throne as part of his treasure, but removed the Timur Ruby and the Koh-i-Noor diamond to wear on an armband.

The Koh-i-Noor would remain away from India—in a country that would become Afghanistan—for 70 years. It passed between the hands of various rulers in one blood-soaked episode after another, including a king who blinded his own son and a deposed ruler whose shaved head was coronated with molten gold. With all the fighting between Central Asian factions, a power vacuum grew in India—and the British soon came to take advantage of it.

The Boy King and the British Crown 

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back

At the turn of the 19th century, the British East India Company expanded its territorial control from coastal cities to the interior of the India subcontinent. As Dalrymple and Anand write of the British campaigns, “[they] would ultimately annex more territory than all of Napoleon’s conquests in Europe.” In addition to claiming more natural resources and trading posts, the British also had their eye on a piece of priceless treasure: the Koh-i-Noor.

After decades of fighting, the diamond returned to India and came into the hands of Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in 1813, whose particular affection for the gem ultimately sealed its aura of prestige and power. “It was not just that Ranjit Singh liked diamonds and respected the stone’s vast monetary value; the gem seems to have held a far greater symbolism for him,” write Anand and Dalrymple. “He had won back from the Afghan Durrani dynasty almost all the Indian lands they had seized since the time of Ahmad Shah [who plundered Delhi in 1761].”

For Anand, Singh’s elevation of the diamond was a major turning point in its history. “The transition is startling when the diamond becomes a symbol of potency rather than beauty,” Anand says. “It becomes this gemstone like the ring in Lord of the Rings , one ring to rule them all.”

For the British, that symbol of prestige and power was irresistible. If they could own the jewel of India as well as the country itself, it would symbolize their power and colonial superiority. It was a diamond worth fighting and killing for, now more than ever. When the British learned of Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839, and his plan to give the diamond and other jewels to a sect of Hindu priests, the British press exploded in outrage. “The richest, the most costly gem in the known world, has been committed to the trust of a profane, idolatrous and mercenary priesthood,” wrote one anonymous editorial. Its author urged the British East India Company to do whatever they could to keep track of the Koh-i-Noor, so that it might ultimately be theirs.

But the colonists were first forced to wait out a chaotic period of changing rulers. After Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839, the Punjabi throne passed between four different rulers over four years. At the end of the violent period, the only people left in line for the throne were a young boy, Duleep Singh, and his mother, Rani Jindan. And in 1849, after imprisoning Jindan, the British forced Duleep to sign a legal document amending the Treaty of Lahore, that required Duleep to give away the Koh-i-Noor and all claim to sovereignty. The boy was only 10 years old.

From there, the diamond became a special possession of Queen Victoria. It was displayed at the 1851 Great Exposition in London, only for the British public to be dismayed at how simple it was. “Many people find a difficulty in bringing themselves to believe, from its external appearance, that it is anything but a piece of common glass,” wrote The Times in June 1851 .

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back

Given its disappointing reception, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, had the stone recut and polished—a process that reduced its size by half but made the light refract more brilliantly from its surface.

While Victoria wore the diamond as a brooch, it eventually became part of the Crown Jewels, first in the crown of Queen Alexandra (the wife of Edward VII, Victoria’s oldest son) and then in the crown of Queen Mary (the wife of George V, grandson of Victoria). The diamond came to its current place of honor in 1937, at the front of the crown worn by the Queen Mother, wife of George VI and mother of Elizabeth II. The crown made its last public appearance in 2002, resting atop of the coffin of the Queen Mother for her funeral.

What Makes a Diamond “Loot”?

Still shrouded in myth and mystery (including a rumor that the diamond is cursed) one thing is clear when it comes to the Koh-i-Noor: it sparks plenty of controversy.

“If you ask anybody what should happen to Jewish art stolen by the Nazis, everyone would say of course they’ve got to be given back to their owners,” Dalrymple says. “And yet we’ve come to not say the same thing about Indian loot taken hundreds of years earlier, also at the point of a gun. What is the moral distinction between stuff taken by force in colonial times?”

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back

For Anand, the issue is even more personal. Born and raised in the UK, her family is Indian and her relatives regularly visited. When they would tour the Tower of London and see the Koh-i-Noor in the Crown Jewels, Anand remembers them “spending copious amounts of time swearing themselves blue at the glass case with the diamond.”

According to Richard Kurin, Smithsonian’s first Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large as well as the author of Hope Diamond: The Legendary History of a Cursed Gem , part of the reason these gemstones came to be perceived as “cursed” is because of how they were gained.

“When the powerful take things from the less powerful, the powerless don’t have much to do except curse the powerful,” Kurin says. Like the Koh-i-Noor, the Hope diamond came from India and was displayed at the London Exposition in 1851. It is now displayed at the National Museum of Natural History, having been donated by Harry Winston, who legally purchased it.

And while Kurin says uncovering the line of ownership of a gemstone like the Koh-i-Noor is best practice when it comes to history, it doesn’t necessarily lead to a legal obligation (though other scholars and lawyers disagree ). He and Dalrymple both point out that the rulers who once owned these gemstones headed nations that no longer exist.

That’s one of the biggest differences between objects taken during colonial conquest and art and treasure looted by Nazis—the difficulty in ascertaining who has the first and most legitimate claim to anything.

“Post-colonial collections is a big topic everywhere,” says Jane Milosch, the director of Smithsonian’s Provenance Research Initiative. “There can be a reassessment for certain objects of, ‘we may have legal ownership, but does it make sense to keep this material?’” She cites a 2014 case in which the British Museum returned two bronze statues from Benin to Nigeria (they were taken during an attack in 1897 after British officers were killed during a trade mission).

But returning pillaged art and treasure from World War II, as complicated as that can be, is still far less complex than unraveling colonial history. “You’re dealing with countries that existed when the object was acquired, but they may not exist now—and countries who we had trade agreements with that may have different export laws now,” Milosch says. “Provenance is very complex and people aren’t used to processing a chain of ownership. By the time you hit the second or third owner over time, the information can get more difficult to research. This is why I say it’s important that these things not be yanked out of museums, because at least people have access and can study them until we know for sure if they were looted.”

The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back

The Koh-i-Noor isn’t the only contested treasure currently residing in the UK. Perhaps equally controversial are the  Elgin Marbles , statues carved 2,500 years ago and taken from the Parthenon in Athens by British Lord Elgin in the early 1800s. So far, the UK has retained ownership of the statues and the diamond, regardless of calls for their return.

Anand thinks one solution that doesn’t require removing the Koh-i-Noor from the UK is to make the history of the diamond clearer. “What I would dearly love is for there to be a really clear sign by the exhibit. People are taught this was a gift from India to Britain. I would like the correct history to be put by the diamond.”

Dalrymple agrees that disseminating the true history is half the battle. “Whenever we lecture, we find people who are horrified by the history. But they’re not resistant—they just weren’t aware of it.”

The diamond isn’t likely to leave the Crown Jewels anytime soon. Anand and Dalrymple only hope that their work will do some good by clarifying the true path the infamous gemstone followed—and helping leaders come to their own conclusions about what to do with it next.

Get the latest History stories in your inbox?

Click to visit our Privacy Statement .

Lorraine Boissoneault

Lorraine Boissoneault | | READ MORE

Lorraine Boissoneault is a contributing writer to SmithsonianMag.com covering history and archaeology. She has previously written for The Atlantic, Salon, Nautilus and others. She is also the author of The Last Voyageurs: Retracing La Salle's Journey Across America. Website: http://www.lboissoneault.com/

  • Business Today
  • India Today
  • India Today Gaming
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Harper's Bazaar
  • Brides Today
  • Aajtak Campus

Business Today

  • Magazine Cover Story Editor's Note Deep Dive Interview The Buzz
  • BT TV Market Today Easynomics Drive Today BT Explainer
  • Market Today Trending Stocks Indices Stocks List Stocks News Share Market News IPO Corner
  • Tech Today Unbox Today Authen Tech Tech Deck Tech Shorts
  • Money Today Tax Investment Insurance Tools & Calculator
  • Mutual Funds
  • Industry Banking IT Auto Energy Commodities Pharma Real Estate Telecom
  • Visual Stories

travel of kohinoor

INDICES ANALYSIS

Mutual funds.

  • Cover Story
  • Editor's Note
  • Market Today
  • Drive Today
  • BT Explainer
  • Trending Stocks
  • Stocks List
  • Stocks News
  • Share Market News
  • Unbox Today
  • Authen Tech
  • Tech Shorts
  • Tools & Calculator
  • Commodities
  • Real Estate
  • BT-TR GCC Listing

The centuries-long journey of Kohinoor to the crown of Queen Elizabeth II, and now Camilla

Queen elizabeth ii death: the kohinoor that is set in the crown will go to camilla, the duchess of cornwall, as prince charles is crowned king, and she becomes the queen consort. .

Anwesha Madhukalya

  • Updated Sep 09, 2022, 9:47 AM IST

Queen Elizabeth II: The Kohinoor made it to the top trends on social media after the death of the monarch

The Kohinoor that has its origins in India but is in the possession of the UK royal family, was one of the top – but ill-timed – trends following the demise of Queen Elizabeth II. The call for the royals to return the Kohinoor to India has only grown louder after the passing away of the longest-reigning monarch.

The Kohinoor that is set in the crown will go to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, as Prince Charles is crowned King, and she becomes the Queen consort. 

There has been much debate and discussions on the return of the Kohinoor. While the British government does not think there is any legal ground for the restitution of the diamond, the Indian government had made attempts to negotiate for the return of the diamond. It initially said that the Kohinoor was taken away from Maharaja Duleep Singh but later reviewed its claim to say that it cannot be categorised as an object stolen but gifted as compensation.

Also read: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II passes away at the age of 96; Charles becomes the new King

Shashi Tharoor, for one, has said in his book, An Era of Darkness, as part of reparations for colonialism, the British must take certain measures, including the returning to the “loot”. He also said, “The diamond was formally handed over to Queen Victoria by the child Sikh heir Maharaja Duleep Singh, who simply had no choice in the matter. As I have pointed out in the Indian political debate on the issue, if you hold a gun to my head, I might ‘gift’ you my wallet — but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it back when your gun has been put away.”

Journey of Kohinoor

The diamond is believed to have been mined near Guntur, which is currently in the state of Andhra Pradesh, by the Kakatiya dynasty in the 1100-1300. In 1310, Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji is believed to have acquired the diamond from the Kakatiya dynasty after the siege of Warangal. 

Cut to 1526, when Mughal Emperor Babur had the Kohinoor in his possession following the conquest of Delhi and Battle of Panipat. The Kohinoor finds mention in Baburnama. Then sometime in the 17th century, Shah Jahan, placed the Kohinoor into his ornate Peacock Throne at the Diwan-i-Khas in Red Fort. 

Nadir Shah who invaded the Mughal Empire in 1732 looted the Kohinoor and the Peacock Throne too and moved them to Iran. Nadir Shah was assassinated by his own guards, and the diamond was taken by Ahmad Shah Durrani, who had served Nadir Shah. Under the Durrani Empire in Afghanistan, the Kohinoor was moved to Kandahar. But another version claims that Nadir Shah’s grandson gave the Kohinoor to Durrani in 1751 in return for his support. 

Also read: Prince Charles is now King Charles III: All you need to know

Durrani lost his throne and was exiled in Punjab eventually. In 1813, the Kohinoor was then taken by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, also known as Sher-e-Punjab, who was said to have set the diamond on his turban. 

Maharaja Duleep Singh inherited the diamond when he was just 5 years old in 1843. After the East India Company annexed the Kingdom of Punjab, it was agreed in the Last Treaty of Lahore that the Kohinoor would be handed over to Queen Victoria in 1849. The diamond was then shipped from Bombay and eventually to the Queen on July 3, 1850 at Buckingham Palace by the East India Company. 

In 1851, the royals held an exhibition at Hyde Park to showcase the Kohinoor, which drew a large crowd.

In 1852, the diamond was cut and polished to suit the fashion of the times. It reduced the weight of the Kohinoor from 186 to 106.5 carats. The Queen could wear it as a brooch. 

The Kohinoor was set in the crown of Queen Alexandra for her coronation in 1902. But in 1911 the diamond was transferred from Queen Alexandra’s crown to Queen Mary’s crown. In 1937 it was set on the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the late mother of Elizabeth II.

Also read: When Queen Elizabeth II rode on an elephant with an Indian prince

  • #Kohinoor Queen Elizabeth II
  • #Kohinoor to India
  • #queen elizabeth ii
  • #Queen Elizabeth II death
  • #Queen Elizabeth II crown
  • #Queen Elizabeth II Kohinoor crown
  • #what will happen to the Kohinoor
  • #who will get the Kohinoor

TOP STORIES

bt logo

  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Press Releases

Copyright©2024 Living Media India Limited. For reprint rights: Syndications Today

businesstoday

Add Business Today to Home Screen

Government of India

Skip to main content

  • Select your language English हिंदी

QR Code for http://indianculture.gov.in/stories/koh-i-noor

Social Share

The Koh-i-Noor diamond was mined at a location near Masulipatnam according to an account by Theophilus Metcalfe made at the request of Lord Dalhousie. It was owned by many illustrious Kings including the Iranian Nadir Shah and those of the Ghori Dynasty, Timurid Dynasty and the Afghan Durranis before it was acquired by Ranjit Singh from Shuja-ul-Mulk.

The Maharaja was curious about the value of the gem. When Wafa Begum, the beloved wife of the Koh-i-Noor’s last owner was asked, she replied, ”If a strong man were to throw 5 stones, 4 in cardinal directions and 1 vertically upwards and the space in between, was filled with gold and precious stones, it still wouldn’t equal the value of the stone.”

Ranjit Singh died in 1839. The empire had just begun recovering from the great loss when circumstances forced it into two prolonged wars. Upon the defeat of Punjab in the Second Anglo Sikh War, the Last Treaty of Lahore was signed. In Article 3 of the treaty, the British demanded the Koh-i-Noor be surrendered to the Queen of England. The conditions under which this treaty was signed were, however, those of deep duress. Not only was an additional regiment stationed outside Lahore, but the Resident of Lahore was also given instructions to impose British rule regardless of the outcome of the deliberations of the Council of Regency.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Painting by Manu Saluja

A young Maharaja Duleep Singh

A young Maharaja Duleep Singh

The young new King of Punjab, Maharaja Duleep Singh led his people through these negotiations with honour and composure.

The Diamond, wrested from the Sikhs in terms of the treaty, was entrusted to Dr Login, the British guardian of the Maharaja. Governor-General Dalhousie himself travelled to Lahore to receive the Diamond from him and brought it to Bombay. The much-coveted Diamond was deposited in the Bombay Treasury in the presence of 4 other officers besides Dalhousie himself.

These 4 officials included Frederick Mackeson of the 14 th Native Infantry and James Ramsay of the 22 nd Native Infantry, Military Secretary to the Governor General. The task of transporting the Koh-i-Noor to London was entrusted to them by the Governor-General himself. The Diamond was placed inside a small iron box which was sealed with the Governor General’s seal. This box was placed inside a red despatch box, which was sealed with red tape and his Lordship’s seal again. The outer seal, however, was an imperfect impression. The red despatch box was in turn placed inside a chest and thus secured.

Governor-General Dalhousie

Governor-General Dalhousie

Governor-General Dalhousie

Ranjit Singh’s bazuband featuring the Koh-i-Noor

It’s retrieval, however, underwent some unforeseen accidents. While removing the box from the chest, Mr Muspratt, the Treasurer, pulling on the handle on the lid, caused the red tape to split, seal to break and the box to open. The only men to know of the inner contents of the despatch box were Dalhousie, Mackeson and Ramsay. Given the absence of the Governor-general, the two military men asked the Treasurer to vacate the room, so as to be able to examine the Koh-i-Noor at close proximity. Once satisfied, they collected their package and made their way to the ship.

The HMS Medea, under Captain Lockyer was chosen as the vessel to carry the Diamond across the seas. It carried the invaluable gem to Plymouth where Mackeson and Ramsay were greeted by Mr Onslow, the Secretary to the Chairman, East India Company. Mr Onslow was to accompany the two men to London at the earliest. It is at this stage, that some discrepancies begin to emerge. There are two letters from Mackeson and Ramsay to Melville and Dalhousie respectively, recounting two differing narratives of their trip to London. The lack of clarity surrounding the multiple custodians of the Diamond before its arrival in England sparked suspicions amidst the Court of Directors regarding the authenticity of the Royal gift. These were however overcome when both the Governor General of India and Secretary to the Governor General supported the testimonies given by the two officers.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

H.M.S Medea

Maharaja Ranjit Singh

The crown of Queen Victoria featuring the Koh-i-Noor

Having arrived in England on the 29th of June 1850, the 3 men reached the India office in London on the 2 nd of July 1850. The Diamond was gifted to the Queen on 3 rd July 1850, the 250 th anniversary of the EIC.

In 2016, the Government of India took a stand that the Diamond was not a gift and was forcibly taken from Maharaja Duleep Singh. They stated that Indian credentials of ownership of the Koh-i-Noor, given historical evidence, could not be doubted. Of late, we find examples of some European countries agreeing to repatriate artefacts as requested by their former Colonies. An example from December 2018 is the French President’s promise to return 26 artworks taken from Benin and a British museum’s recent decision (February 2019) to return the hair, cut from the head of Emperor Tewodros II to Ethiopia.

Lord Dalhousie

Defeat of punjab, second anglo sikh war, last treaty of lahore, deep duress, instructions, council of regency, bombay treasury, frederick mackeson, james ramsay, red despatch box, governor general of india, secretary to the governor, testimonies, 2nd of july 1850., french president, emperor tewodros ii to ethiopia, government of india.

ms-logo

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

Indian Culture Logo

Indian Culture App

app

The Indian Culture Portal is a part of the National Virtual Library of India project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The portal has been created and developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Data has been provided by organisations of the Ministry of Culture.

  • The A.V. Club
  • The Takeout
  • The Inventory

Support Quartz

Fund next-gen business journalism with $10 a month

Free Newsletters

The globetrotting adventures of the Kohinoor, India’s most famous diamond

Iconic jewellery.

1739: The Kohinoor, set in the head of one of the peacocks on Shah Jahan’s Peacock Throne, leaves India and the Mughal treasury when Nader Shah carted away the Peacock Throne after the sack of Delhi. He takes the Kohinoor to his native Iran, along with a treasury that eight generations of Mughals had put together. The Peacock Throne, along with other Mughal jewels, is then put on display at Herat.

India-history-Mughals-Kohinoor-diamond

1747: Nader Shah is murdered by the overseer of his household and head guard. A frenzy of loot and murder follows. What happens to the Kohinoor at this point has long been a mystery. But a previously untranslated Afghan source gives the answer. Ahmad Khan Abdali, Nader Shah’s trusted and most senior Afghan general, is gifted the Kohinoor diamond and the Timur ruby, both of which Nader Shah had removed from the Peacock Throne, by the first lady of Nader Shah’s harem as a reward for guarding the harem and overpowering the renegade looters in the aftermath of the assassination. Ahmad Khan Abdali, who then starts wearing the Kohinoor in an armband, leaves for Kandahar, taking the Kohinoor with him. There he takes the throne to create what in time becomes a new country, Afghanistan, where the Kohinoor remains for the next 70 years.

India-kohinoor-diamond-history

1772 (approx): Ahmad Shah Abdali dies. His son, Timur Shah, succeeds him and gets the Kohinoor diamond.

1793: Timur Shah dies, probably of poisoning. His 24 sons get into a bitter war of succession. Under Timur Shah’s successor, Shah Zaman, the empire starts to disintegrate. He places Lahore under the governorship of Ranjit Singh.

1800: Shah Zaman is captured, thrown into a dungeon, and blinded by an Afghan chieftain. He slips the Kohinoor into the crack in a wall of his cell.

1803: Shah Zaman’s brother Shah Shuja seizes power. One of his first acts is to search for the Kohinoor, which is found on the desk of a mullah who has been using it as a paperweight. It is taken to Kabul, where Shah Shuja wears it on his arm.

1809: Shah Shuja is deposed, and he and his blind brother Shah Zaman live in peripatetic exile. Shuja carries the Kohinoor with him wherever he goes.

India-Maharaja-history

1810 (approx): Shah Shuja is imprisoned by the governor of Kashmir and held there. Shah Shuja’s wife, in Lahore, cuts a deal with Ranjit Singh: the Kohinoor will be his if he can rescue Shuja.

1813: Ranjit Singh rescues Shah Shuja, but Shuja wants to hang on to the Kohinoor. All sorts of pressure tactics are deployed, including putting Shuja in a cage and torturing his son in front of him. Shuja finally hands over the Kohinoor to Ranjit Singh in return for a treaty of friendship, money, and an estate. The diamond remains with the Sikhs for the next 36 years, and becomes a symbol of their sovereignty.

1849: A ten-year-old Duleep Singh, Ranjit Singh’s son, who succeeds his father to the throne after three of his half-brothers have perished, is forced to hand over the Kohinoor to the British as part of the Treaty of Lahore.

India-history-Queen-Victoria

February 1850: The Kohinoor reaches Bombay where it is stored at the Bombay treasury on its way to London.

April 1850: The Kohinoor is loaded on The Medea. The ship stops at Mauritius en route to Plymouth.

June 1850: The Medea limps into Plymouth. The Kohinoor is spirited away on a special train to London, where it is kept in the East India Company’s headquarters on Leadenhall Street before being presented to Queen Victoria two days later.

Excerpted with permission from Kohinoor: The Story of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond , William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, Juggernaut. This post first appeared on Scroll.in . We welcome your comments at [email protected]

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.

Igniting Ideas For impact

Embarking on a transformative journey through six chapters, we traverse India's landscape, exploring pioneering startups and their revolutionary...

comscore

  • Sustainability
  • Agriculture
  • Brand Campaigns
  • Watch inspiring videos
  • Advertise With Us
  • Press Coverage

Follow Us On

Download App

From Golconda to Kandahar to London: The Journey of the Fabled Kohinoor Diamond

Never bought or sold, the fabled diamond changed many hands as it traveled through several dynasties before ending up at the Tower of London. This is the story of Kohinoor's intriguing journey.

From Golconda to Kandahar to London: The Journey of the Fabled Kohinoor Diamond

This is the intriguing story of its eventful journey.

kohinoor_diamond1

Similar Story

Ikkat, Patola, Jamdani & More: This Republic Day Will Feature 1900 Saris From Across India

Ikkat, Patola, Jamdani & More: This Republic Day Will Feature 1900 Saris From Across India

Ananta Sutra, an initiative by the Ministry of Culture on the occasion of India’s 75th Republic Day, is setting up a textile installation featuring 1,900 saris at Kartavya Path. Here's more about this ode to the legacy of the country’s rich weaving heritage.

Photo Source

Legend has it that it was used as an eye of the deity in a kakatiya temple in warangal in 1310..

warangal11

After Babur’s death, the precious stone was inherited by his son Humayun from whom it passed on to successive generations of Mughal rulers, including Shah Jahan, who set the priceless gem in his legendary Peacock throne.

peack

Photo Source Left / Right

A Freedom Fighter's Idea Revolutionised India's Rail Travel Making it Comfortable for Millions

A Freedom Fighter's Idea Revolutionised India's Rail Travel Making it Comfortable for Millions

On his 100th birth anniversary, we remember Madhu Dandavate, a freedom fighter inspired by Mahatma Gandhi who fought for the liberation of Goa, took on the Emergency and improved rail travel for millions with his idea.

“If a strong man were to throw four stones, one north, one south, one east, one west, and a fifth stone up into the air, and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, all would not equal the value of the Kohinoor.” window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []}; googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.defineSlot('/22670944367/TBI_Desk_Story_AllUnits/TBI_Desk_Story_D_300x250', [300, 250], 'div-gpt-ad-1654568894693-3').addService(googletag.pubads()); googletag.pubads().enableSingleRequest(); googletag.pubads().collapseEmptyDivs(); googletag.enableServices(); }); googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1654568894693-3'); });

A descendant of Abdali, Shah Shuja Durrani brought the Kohinoor back to India in 1813 and gave it to Ranjit Singh,the ruler of Lahore, in exchange for his help in winning back the throne of Afghanistan.

Untitled design

Photo Source Left / Middle / Right

“The gem called Kohinoor which was taken from Shah Shuja-ul-Malik by Maharaja Ranjit Singh shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England.”

On 6 April 1850, the Kohinoor left the shores of India on board of the HMS Medea . So shrouded in mystery was its departure that even the Captain of the ship did not know the priceless cargo his ship carried.

kohinoor

“He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity.”

As a result, the diamond is worn only by the female members of the British Royal Family. Since getting into British hands, the Kohinoor has been worn by Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

Kohinoor-Diamond-history-India

Like this story? Have something to share? Email: [email protected], or join us on Facebook and Twitter (@thebetterindia) . To get positive news on WhatsApp, just send ‘Start’ to 090 2900 3600 via WhatsApp.

This story made me.

feel inspired icon

Tell Us More

How Laundry Marks Helped Mumbai's ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Solve City’s 1st Quadruple Murder Case

How Laundry Marks Helped Mumbai's ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Solve City’s 1st Quadruple Murder Case

When a quadruple murder shocked the then Bombay, it led to a landmark investigation by DCP Vaidyanath Someshwar Sami, known as the ‘Sherlock Holmes’ of Bombay Police. Victims included businessman Muhamed Siddique Choonawala, his family and househelp. Here’s how the DCP went about solving the heinous crime.

We bring stories straight from the heart of India, to inspire millions and create a wave of impact. Our positive movement is growing bigger everyday, and we would love for you to join it.

Please contribute whatever you can, every little penny helps our team in bringing you more stories that support dreams and spread hope.

Support the biggest positivity movement section image

Sounds Interesting? Share it now!

twitter link icon

1 How to Start a Homestay in India: 5 Successful Owners Share Their Lessons & Tips

2 Natural Holi Colours: How to Make Organic Gulal From Beetroot, Spinach & Turmeric

3 140 Home Chefs Unite to Showcase Unique Delicacies From 35 Tribal Cuisines

4 Lullabies to Languages: Fellowship Offers Funds to Help Tribal Youth Preserve Generational Wisdom

5 4000+ People Are Getting Life-Saving Dialysis Through This Amazing Initiative

  • Get positive stories daily on email
  • Join our community of positive ambassadors
  • Become a part of the positive movement

travel of kohinoor

  • Work & Careers
  • Life & Arts

The Koh-i-Noor: the world’s most infamous diamond

travel of kohinoor

  • The Koh-i-Noor: the world’s most infamous diamond on x (opens in a new window)
  • The Koh-i-Noor: the world’s most infamous diamond on facebook (opens in a new window)
  • The Koh-i-Noor: the world’s most infamous diamond on linkedin (opens in a new window)
  • The Koh-i-Noor: the world’s most infamous diamond on whatsapp (opens in a new window)

William Dalrymple

Simply sign up to the Life & Arts myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.

The Koh-i-Noor is the world’s most infamous diamond. Today it sits peacefully spotlit against the purple velvet of the Queen Mother’s crown in a display case in the Tower of London . In the fairly recent past, though, it has been the cause of quite remarkable violence, and its recorded history is littered with owners who have been blinded, poisoned, tortured to death, burned in oil, threatened with drowning, crowned in molten lead, relieved of their genitals, bludgeoned to death with bricks and stabbed to death by members of their own family. Koh-i-Noor means “Mountain of Light” in Persian but its passage through the world was marked with a succession of acts of remarkable darkness. Wherever it has gone, it has provoked greed and envy, created dissension and division, and brought out the worst in almost all its owners.

Until the discovery of diamond mines in Brazil in 1725, all the world’s diamonds came from India (with the sole exception of a few black diamond crystals found in Borneo). Ancient Indian diamonds were alluvial: they were not mined so much as sieved and extracted as natural crystals from the soft sands and gravels of ancient riverbeds. Originally ejected from host rocks by primeval volcanoes, they were swept up by water and transported along rivers, until at last they came to rest when the river died, many millions of years ago. Most such alluvial diamonds are tiny, natural octahedral crystals. Rarely, however, a diamond as large as a hen’s egg would be found. One such was the Koh-i-Noor. As to when it was mined, or exactly where, it is impossible to tell, though the most likely source is the  Golconda diamond fields between Hyderabad and the Carnatic coast.

Although it is made of the earth’s hardest substance, the Koh-i-Noor has always attracted an airily insubstantial fog of mythology around it. When Lord Dalhousie, the British governor-general, first seized the gem from the 10-year-old Sikh Maharaja Duleep Singh following the East India Company ’s conquest of the Punjab in 1849, he commissioned a report on the stone’s history. Its author was instructed “to collect and to record as much accurate and interesting information regarding the Koh-i-Noor” from the jewellers and courtiers in Delhi as possible. But as the gem had been stolen from its Mughal owners in Delhi during a Persian invasion a full 110 years earlier, the job was not easy. Even the report’s author admitted he could gather little more than tittle-tattle.

William Dalrymple

The report, which still exists in the vaults of the National Archives of India , sketched out for the first time what would become the accepted history of the Koh-i-Noor: a centuries-long chain of bloody conquests and acts of pillage, looting and seizure. This version of events has since been repeated in article after article, book after book, and sits unchallenged on Wikipedia today.

Shortly after the report was delivered, the Koh-i-Noor was despatched to England where Queen Victoria lent it to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Long queues – in all some three million people, 10 per cent of the British population – snaked through the Crystal Palace to see this celebrated trophy locked away in its glass safe, itself contained within a metal cage. Trumpeted by the British press and besieged by the public, the Koh-i-Noor quickly became not only the most famous diamond in the world but also the single most famous object of loot from India, a symbol of Victorian Britain’s imperial domination of the world.

As the fame of the diamond grew, and as Dalhousie’s lively but entirely unsubstantiated version of the stone’s history circulated with it, the many other large Mughal diamonds that once rivalled the Koh-i-Noor came to be almost forgotten, and the Mountain of Light achieved a singular status as the greatest gem in the world. 

Only a few historians remembered that the diamond, which weighed 190.3 metric carats when it arrived in Britain, had had at least two comparable sisters in the Mughal treasury – the Darya-i-Noor, or Sea of Light, now in Tehran (today estimated at 175-195 metric carats), and the Great Mughal Diamond, believed by most modern gemologists to be the Orlov diamond (189.9 metric carats), today part of Catherine the Great’s imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin.

Koh-i-Noor means ‘Mountain of Light’ but its passage through the world was marked with acts of remarkable darkness

It was in the early 19th century, when the Koh-i-Noor reached the Punjab and the hands of the Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh, that the diamond began to achieve its pre-eminent fame and celebrity. This was partly the result of Singh’s preference for diamonds over rubies – a taste Sikhs tended to share with most Hindus, but not with the Mughals or Persians, who preferred large, uncut, brightly coloured stones.

The growing status of the gem was also partly a consequence of the rapidly growing price of diamonds worldwide in the early 19th century. This followed the invention of the “brilliant cut”, which fully released the “fire” inherent within every diamond, and led in turn to the emerging middle-class fashion for diamond engagement rings – a taste that was eventually refracted back to India.

The final act in the Koh-i-Noor’s rise to global stardom took place in the aftermath of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the massive press coverage it engendered. Before long, huge, often cursed Indian diamonds began to make regular appearances in Victorian novels such as Wilkie Collins’  The Moonstone and Benjamin Disraeli’s  Lothair .

A portrait of Lord Dalhousie, the British governor-general who commissioned a report to find out more about the diamond’s history

As the many other great Mughal diamonds have come to be forgotten by all except specialists, the Koh-i-Noor’s mythology has grown ever more remarkable, ever more mythic – and ever more shakily fictitious. 

When my co-author Anita Anand and I tried to establish the hard facts of the Koh-i-Noor’s history, we found that unambiguous early references to this most celebrated of gems are almost suspiciously thin on the ground. Indeed, contrary to what is written in almost every existing history of the gem, there is actually no 100 per cent certain reference to the Koh-i-Noor in any medieval Delhi Sultanate or Mughal source, despite a huge number of textual references to outsized diamonds appearing throughout Indian history, particularly towards the climax of Mughal rule.

Some of these may well refer to the Koh-i-Noor but, lacking sufficiently detailed descriptions, it is impossible to be certain. Frustrating as it is, we simply do not know the origin of the Koh-i-Noor and have no hard information as to when, how or where it entered Mughal hands. We only know for sure how it left them.

The Persian historian Muhammad Kazim Marvi makes what seems to be the first extant, solid, named reference to the stone in his history of the Persian warlord Nadir Shah’s invasion of India in 1739. This was written as late as the mid-1740s, a decade or so after the gem had been taken away from India.

Significantly, Marvi’s is the only contemporary chronicle, among a dozen or so detailed accounts left by Persian, Indian, French and Dutch witnesses, specifically to mention the great diamond by name, although most give detailed lists of Shah’s bejewelled loot. According to Marvi, the Koh-i-Noor was then attached to the head of one of the peacocks on Shah Jahan’s Peacock Throne.

So it was that the Koh-i-Noor achieved in exile a singular global status it had never achieved before leaving its Indian homeland. Today, tourists who see it in the Tower of London are often surprised by how small it is, especially when compared with the two much larger Cullinan diamonds kept in the same showcase: at present it is only the 90th biggest diamond in the world.

As well as the British crown, four other governments claim the Koh-i-Noor: India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan. These different contemporary claims mirror the historical passage of the gem from the Golconda riverbed to the 17th-century Mughal throne in Delhi, and hence to 18th-century Persia, then late 18th-century Afghanistan and, finally, via Ranjit Singh’s early 19th-century Sikh Kingdom of Lahore, to the Tower of London.

The first post-colonial claim on the diamond was made by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the ninth prime minister of Pakistan, in August 1976. On the eve of Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations, Bhutto wrote to James Callaghan, the British prime minister, and demanded the return of the gem. In his letter, the Pakistani premier decried the disappearance of “the unique treasures which are the flesh and blood of Pakistan’s heritage”. The Koh-i-Noor’s return to Pakistan “would be a convincing demonstration of the spirit that moved Britain voluntarily to shed its imperial encumbrances and lead the process of decolonisation”. Bhutto added that the diamond’s repatriation “would be symbolic of a new international equity strikingly different from the grasping, usurping temper of a former age”. The claim had come completely out of the blue.

Although it was not the largest diamond in Mughal hands, it retains a fame and celebrity unmatched by any of its more perfect rivals

It took Callaghan about a month to reply, but when he did the answer was a firm no. He said that “explicit provision” had been made for the Koh-i-Noor’s “transfer to the British Crown…in the peace treaty with the Maharajah of Lahore, which concluded the war of 1849. In the light of the confused past history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the clear British title to it and the multiplicity of claims which would undoubtedly be made to it if its future were ever thought to be in doubt, I could not advise Her Majesty the Queen that it should be surrendered to any other country.” 

Civil servants opened a file on the matter, and Bhutto’s letter and Callaghan’s uncompromising reply were placed inside. A potted history of the Koh-i-Noor was also added, in which a Whitehall scribe noted that the Queen Mother had worn the diamond fairly recently at the coronation of her daughter. “I thought it was very awkward!” scribbled Callaghan. Bhutto might have pursued the matter further had he not been deposed in a military coup a year later and hanged two years after that.

In 1990, Kuldip Nayar, the then high commissioner for India in London, again raised the question of the Koh-i-Noor’s return. Like Bhutto, he condemned the way in which the diamond had been appropriated, describing it in terms of state-sponsored theft. Nayar insisted the rightful claim was India’s and India’s alone. The Indian government still maintains that it will try and get the diamond back one way or another. The British government remains equally adamant that the stone is staying in London.

What should happen to this supposedly cursed diamond? Some have suggested creating a museum for the stone at the Wagah border, between India and Pakistan, a unique institution, accessible from both sides. Another alternative would be to cut up the stone: after all, when it first arrived in London it was given a European brilliant cut, which halved its size from 190.3 metric carats to 93 metric carats.

Now, it has been suggested, it could be cut up again, and a piece given to all those countries who make a credible argument for its return. But it is most unlikely that such Solomonic wisdom would ever be entertained by the British, nor would it satisfy any of the various parties involved. 

travel of kohinoor

The question of whether the Koh-i-Noor was cursed, or not, was something that greatly exercised the proudly rational Victorians. Lord Dalhousie firmly believed that it was not, and used to quote its last Afghan owner, Shah Shuja, who told Ranjit Singh that it brought only good fortune, “as those who possess it have it in their power to subdue their enemies”. He pointed out that the diamond had belonged to some of the luckiest, richest and most powerful monarchs of history.

Yet many of the diamond’s owners – Shah Shuja among them – have suffered in appalling ways. Even inanimate objects associated with the gem seem to be struck down – witness the cholera epidemic and storms that scythed through the passengers and crew of the Medea, a steam sloop that brought the Koh-i-Noor to England.

Although it was not the largest diamond in Mughal hands – the Darya-i-Noor and Great Mughal diamonds were probably both originally around the same weight – it retains a fame and celebrity unmatched by any of its larger or more perfect rivals. This more than anything else has made it the focus of post-colonial demands for compensation, and set in motion the repeated attempts that have been made to have it returned to its various former homes.

The story of the Koh-i-Noor raises not only important historical issues but contemporary ones too, being in many ways a touchstone for attitudes towards colonialism, posing the question: what is the proper response to imperial looting? Do we simply shrug it off as part of the rough-and-tumble of history or should we attempt to right the wrongs of the past?

The diamond is oddly absent from Mughal records and only really achieved worldwide fame when it was shown in the Great Exhibition. It was the Victorians themselves who turned it into a symbol of Britain’s imperial domination of the world – something that has now come to haunt their post-colonial successors. Few today would disagree that Jewish art looted from its owners during the Nazi Holocaust of the 1940s should be returned, but Indian gems and art treasures taken in the 1840s tend to be treated as a very different case, especially by the more rightwing British historians. 

When news broke last year that a group of Bollywood celebrities were suing the crown for the stone’s return, the historian Andrew Roberts told readers of the Mail on Sunday how lucky Indians were to have been colonised. “Those involved in this ludicrous case,” he wrote, “should recognise that the British Crown Jewels is precisely the right place for the Koh-i-Noor diamond to reside, in grateful recognition for over three centuries of British involvement in India, which led to the modernisation, development, protection, agrarian advance, linguistic unification and ultimately the democratisation of the subcontinent.”

What is certain is that nothing in the immediate future is likely to prise this diamond from its display case in the Tower of London. Last seen in public on the coffin of the Queen Mother, it awaits a new Queen Consort, and one day may well sit on the head of Queen Camilla, wife of a future King Charles III. Given the diamond’s violent and often tragic history, someone of superstitious temperament might wonder whether this is good news for the future of the monarchy. Nearly 300 years after Nadir Shah carried the great diamond away from Delhi, fracturing the Mughal Empire as he did so, and 170 years after it first came into British hands, the Koh-i-Noor has apparently lost none of its power to provoke discord, and at very best seems to bring mixed fortunes to whoever wears it, wherever it goes. 

“Koh-i-Noor, The History of the World’s Most Infamous Diamond”, by William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, is published this week by Bloomsbury

Photographs: Getty

Promoted Content

Follow the topics in this article.

  • Life & Arts Add to myFT
  • India Add to myFT
  • FT Magazine Add to myFT
  • William Dalrymple Add to myFT

International Edition

Eurasia Review

Eurasia Review

A Journal of Analysis and News

Replica of the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, with a replica of the Kohinoor Diamond. Photo Credit: AlinavdMeulen, Wikipedia Commons

Replica of the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, with a replica of the Kohinoor Diamond. Photo Credit: AlinavdMeulen, Wikipedia Commons

Travails Of Kohinoor: A Journey Through Time And Empires – Analysis

By Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth

The Kohinoor Diamond is a journey through time and empires. From its humble origins in ancient India to its current home in the British crown, the diamond has been shaped by the events of history and has played a role in the rise and fall of various empires. Despite the legends and myths that surround it, the Kohinoor remains a symbol of wealth, power, and prestige, and its journey through time is a testament to its enduring legacy.

The largest diamond mines are found in South Africa, where they were discovered in 1700 CE. Before this discovery, India was the only supplier of diamonds in the world. All the ancient lores of India –  Veda, Purana , the epics, other legends and folklore – speak of diamonds, its characteristics, and stories around them. In contrast, Europe learnt of diamonds and its value only in the late 1600s. One of the earliest evidence of the importance given to diamonds and their mining in India can be gathered from the  Arthashastra , a treatise on governance, administration, law, politics, strategy, and defence. The  Arthashastra  was authored by one of India’s renowned statesmen of the 4th century BCE, popularly known as Kautilya and Chanakya. Diamonds find a specific mention among this list as a precious commodity for trade, treasury, savings, and adornment in the 4th century BCE itself. The  Arthashastra  was produced around 336 BCE, the same time when Alexander, the Macedonian had invaded and retreated from the North Western parts of India. 

Most of the legendary diamonds of today were mined in India and owned by different kings and temples of India till the 1700s. Marco Polo, the Italian adventurer who visited India in 1295 CE, documenting what he saw and learned during his visit to India. He writes, “ The bigger diamond stones went to the various Indian kings and the great Khan. The smaller and refused stones were sent to Europe from the port of Guntur District .” 

Diamonds also made their way to other ancient civilizations, going by the records of the Greek. Incidentally, the word diamond has its roots in the Greek word,  adamas  ‘indestructible’. Pliny in his work  Naturalis Historiae , in 77 CE records, wrote, “ Most large precious stones are of Indian origin .” Pliny calls them  Adamas  from India.

Diamond mining in India along the Adamas River was mentioned by Ptolemy in 140 CE. The Greeks referred to the Krishna river in South India as the Adamas river. A 300-km-stretch along this river has been the scene of intense diamond mining activity since millennia . It was only much later, during the colonization of India, that most of these big diamonds were prized away to Europe and America. Truly, the Golconda diamond history is a long and fascinating one. 

Golconda mines in Andhra Pradesh were known for its brilliant diamonds that were coveted all over the world. Besides the famous Kohinoor diamond, the illustrious Golconda diamond history includes others like Hope and Regent. The Golconda diamonds stood apart for their size and crystal clarity. Most diamonds have traces of nitrogen in them which gives them a yellowish tinge and they are called Type I. The Golconda diamonds were called Type 2. Even in this category, they were classified as Type 2a, as they did not have any nitrogen, considered to be an impurity in diamond. Even those with some tinge of pink or blue or gray, were classified as Type 2b as they got their color from elements such as Boron. 

But how were diamonds introduced in Europe? In the year 1650 CE, the French traveller and jeweller Jean Baptiste Tavernier, who came to India about six times, visited the mines of Golconda to procure diamonds. These he sold them to the royals and aristocrats of Europe. He introduced them at the court of King Louis XIV of France in 1669. He made a diamond bracelet,  bazuband , worn in the upper part of the arm, for King Louis XIV, who spent an equivalent of $75 million in those days for the diamonds procured from India. 

Named for its colossal size, the stone was originally 186 carats, and the size and heft of a hen’s egg. With a worth of at least €140 million, the Kohinoor diamond is of inestimable value; this gorgeous diamond is housed in the Tower of London, but is a point of contention, with the Governments of India, Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan claiming ownership of it since India’s independence from the UK in 1947. The Kohinoor diamond is one of the most important diamonds in the world and forms part of the United Kingdom’s Crown Jewels. The 186 carat super Kohinoor diamond was found in India, but fell into Queen Victoria’s hands. She in turn had it cut into a stunning 109 carat brilliant. The Kohinoor diamond has only been worn by queens and is currently set in Queen Elizabeth’s crown. It can be admired at the Tower of London.

Of all the diamonds in the world, the story of the Kohinoor diamond is by far the most famous. A Golconda classified diamond, whose origins are lost in the midst of time, Kohinoor today occupies the pride of place on the British crown, tucked away in the Tower of London. This prized diamond in her long history has travelled all over the world and been possessed by many rulers. She is known to have travelled back and forth within India and between India, Persia, and Afghanistan – changing hands from one ruler to another. However in all this journey,  Kohinoor  was never bought or sold but changed hands only due to inheritance or as a token of gift or due to extortion, looting, trickery and treachery. In fact, it was only after reaching Nadir Shah of Persia, who gave her the Persian name Kohinoor meaning “ Mountain of Light”  

The Origin of Diamond 

Golconda diamond history says that trade flourished during the time of the Kakatiya dynasty, who established the famous Golconda fort in 975 CE. Diamonds were mined from the region in and around Golconda, then cut and traded from there. The fortress city of Golconda was the market city for diamond trade and gems sold there came to be called Golcondas . Golconda became synonymous with diamonds for Europe. 

By the 1880s, the Golconda diamonds had gained so much popularity for their size, weight, and quality that they became a coveted brand of diamonds. The word ‘Golconda’ became synonymous for best quality diamonds. Soon, Golconda became a generic term to denote a rich mine or source of immense wealth too. The Golcondas also earned immense wealth for India.

The origins of the diamond, as well as its many connotations, lies in India where it was first mined. The word most generally used for diamond in Sanskrit is transliterated as vajra , “thunderbolt” and indrayudha or “ Indra’s weapon.” As Indra is the warrior god of Vedic scriptures (the foundation of Hinduism, the symbol of the thunderbolt tells a lot about the Indian conception of diamonds. The flash of lightning reminds of the light that is reflected by a fine diamond octahedron and a diamond’s indomitable hardness.

This made the Golconda diamonds, the purest diamonds of the world. Due to this purity, unlike Type 1 diamonds, they allowed ultraviolet rays and visible light to pass through them and this gave them a clear, transparent nature. They were so clear and transparent that they looked like ice cubes. They gave an effect of water running through the gem. They were large in size too. They were weighed in units of  rati  where one  rati  was 7/8th of a carat. One of the stones from this region, the Great Mogul, is recorded to have weighed equivalent of 787 carats. 

Carat, the unit to measure the weight of diamonds, comes from the Italian word  carato  or Greek word  Keration , traceable to the Arabic  qirat (horn)  for the carob seed. Carob seeds have a small horn-like protrusion. All carob seeds are more or less of the same weight and hence could be used as a light weight measure for measuring small and light items such as gemstones. This concept of using carob seeds to measure gemstones is also traceable to India or the traditional Indian measure for diamonds was  ratti  where  ratti  is also a seed- where one  rati  was 7/8th of a carat.

The  ratti  seed is generally red with a black dot. They are also called  gunja  in Sanskrit and  gurivinta  in some of the South Indian languages. They are closely associated with Krishna temples in the Kerala tradition.  Using ratti seed or in some cases, the real diamond itself, as the eye of idols, has been a practice of the land. Even today, only two percent of the world’s diamonds are considered to be of Type 2.

The legend of the Kohinoor diamond

The Kohinoor was once the world’s largest diamond, weighing 793 carats or 158.6 grams, when it was first mined near Guntur in India’s present-day southern state of Andhra Pradesh by the Kakatiya dynasty in the thirteenth century. It has been whittled down to a little over 100 carats over the centuries. The Kakatiya kings installed it in a temple, which was raided by Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khilji, who took it back to his capital along with other plundered treasures. It passed into the possession of the Mughal Empire that established itself in Delhi in the sixteenth century. 

The Battle of Karnal (24 February 1739), was a decisive victory for Nader Shah, the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran, during his invasion of India. Nader’s forces defeated the army of Mogul tsar Muhammad Shah and appropriated his turban within three hours, paving the way for the Iranian sack of Delhi. In 1739, the Kohinoor fell into the hands of the Persian invader Nadir Shah, whose loot from his conquest of Delhi (and decimation of its inhabitants) also included the priceless Peacock Throne. 

It was Nadir Shah himself, or so legend has it, who baptized the diamond the Kohinoor, or ‘ Mountain of Light’ . An eighteenth century Afghan queen memorably and colourfully stated, ‘ if a strong man were to throw four stones, one north, one south, one east, one west and a fifth stone up into the air, and if the space between them were to be filled with gold, it would not equal the value of the Kohinoor’. Upon Nadir Shah’s death in 1747, the diamond fell into the hands of one of his generals, Ahmed Shah Abdali (Durrani), who became the Emir of Afghanistan. One of Durrani’s descendants was then obliged to cede the Kohinoor in tribute to the powerful Sikh Maharaja of Punjab, Ranjit Singh, in 1809. But Ranjit Singh’s successors could not hold on to his kingdom and the Sikhs were defeated by the British in two wars, culminating in the annexation of the Sikh domains to the British Empire in 1849. That was when the Kohinoor fell into British hands.

That was when the Kohinoor was supposedly “gifted” to the British. Stories abound on how Kohinoor changed the destinies of those who possessed her, for the worse, unfortunately, unless they were women. In this travel of Kohinoor and the travails of all those she lived with, Maharaja Duleep Singh was the last Indian king to have possessed this diamond. This prized diamond in her long history has travelled all over the world and been possessed by many rulers. She is known to have travelled back and forth within India and between India, Persia, and Afghanistan – changing hands from one ruler to another.  

Maharaja Duleep Singh, one of the first freedom fighters of India against the British, was eventually tricked into parting with the Kohinoor under the Treaty of Lahore dated March 29, 1849. (The Treaty of Lahore was signed on 9 March 1846 after the First Sikh War. As part of the treaty, the Sikhs agreed to hand over Kashmir and Hazara and Jalandhar Doab to the British. It was due to this treaty that Kohinoor diamond was handed to the British.) The Sikh Kingdom of Punjab was annexed and merged with the British India dominions under this treaty. Duleep Singh was deposed, his treasury which comprised the Kohinoor, the Darya-i-Noor (Sea of Light) and Timur’s Ruby among other valuables, passed on to the hands of the British and finally reached Queen Victoria in England. They were showcased at the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851. 

The diamond, which originally weighed 186 carats was cut down to 108 carats by the Queen and set in her crown. Since then, the Kohinoor continues to stay in the possession of the British Royalty locked away in the Tower of London. However in all this journey,  Kohinoor  was never bought or sold but changed hands only due to inheritance or as a token of gift or due to extortion, looting, trickery and treachery. In fact, it was only after reaching Persia, that she acquired the name  Kohinoor . 

Worth of Kohinoor Diamond

The Kohinoor’s value isn’t exactly known, but it is estimated to be worth €140 to €400 million. It is one of the most important diamonds in the world and is a part of the United Kingdom’s Crown Jewels. The Kohinoor’s diamond has a total weight of 109 carats.

Originally, the Kohinoor’s weighed 186 carats. The queen was dissatisfied with the stone’s luster and had it recut to in 1852 by renowned Coster Diamonds in Amsterdam. It is on display, along with the other British Crown Jewels, at the Tower of London, where the renowned Cullinan diamonds are also exhibited. The Kohinoor certainly isn’t the only one of its kind. Besides this particular super diamond there are other stunning stones, such as the Sancy Diamond, Hope Diamond and The Heart of the Ocean.

The Curse/Mythical Powers of the Kohinoor Diamond

Myths and stories are attributed to many legendary diamonds, such as the Sancy diamond and the Hope diamond. And so is to the Kohinoor too. Tradition has it that its owner will rule the world, but also that the stone would bring misfortune to any man wearing it.

Kohinoor was first mentioned in Indian literatures in the 17th century. Emperor Shah Jahan, the one who commissioned the building of Taj Mahal, also ordered the manufacture of the finest throne the world had ever seen. This was the famous Peacock Throne. The throne comprised a seat, canopy and pillars, and in pride of place sat two jeweled peacocks, one of which had the Kohinoor for a head, according to an article in UK based daily  Telegraph . Following a failed assassination attempt, Shah Jahan grew increasingly violent and ordered the blinding of his son and heir. From that point he descended quickly into madness, and was himself beheaded by an assassin, feeding the idea of a cursed diamond.

The Kohinoor then passed into Afghan hands as plunder. Later the diamond returned to India, via the Maharaja of the Sikhs, Ranjit Singh in 1813. Singh, who ruled from Lahore, made the Kohinoor the symbol of his reign, proudly strapping it to his bicep. Singh ruled for another 26 years, following which he died peacefully in his sleep in 1839. 

However, his successors- sons and grandsons- were all killed in a span of four years after his death.  Five-year-old Duleep Singh, the youngest son of Ranjit Singh’s youngest queen, was the last Indian monarch to wear the Kohinoor on his plump little arm. 

On 31 December 1600 Queen Elizabeth I founded the British East India Company, which over 150 years grew into one of the most powerful commercial enterprises in the world. The last Sikh Maharaja, Dalip Singh, found this out first-hand when he was forced to abdicate in 1849. The British took countless Royal Persian possessions back with them to England as spoils of war. The Kohinoor came into the possession of Queen Victoria from the treasury of Maharaja Ranjit Singh a few years before she was to be crowned Empress of India and played an important role in British coronations of the past. It will now take centre-stage in the new post-coronation exhibition at the Tower of London.

According to Danielle Kinsey, an assistant professor of history at Carleton University in Ottawa, that the rumours of the diamond being cursed were spread during its unveiling in the UK, positing that any man who wore the diamond would experience great misfortune and that, therefore, it could be worn only by a woman. And apparently, the Royal Family has heeded this legend. The diamond has since only been worn by women, including Queen Alexandra of Denmark, Queen Mary of Teck and the late Queen Elizabeth (wife of King George VI).

Ownership Controversy

Another, of course, is the return of some of the treasures looted from India in the course of colonialism. The money exacted in taxes and exploitation has already been spent, and cannot realistically be reclaimed. But individual pieces of statuary sitting in British museums could be if for nothing else than their symbolic value. After all, if looted Nazi-era art can be (and now is being) returned to their rightful owners in various Western countries, Why is the principle any different for looted colonial treasures?

The startling statement in early 2016 by Ranjit Kumar, the then Solicitor General of India — an advocate for the government — that the Kohinoor diamond had been gifted to the British and that India would not therefore seek its return, helped unleash a passionate debate in the country. Responding to a suit filed by a non-governmental organization, the All-India Human Rights and Social Justice Front, demanding that the government seek the return of the famed diamond, that the erstwhile Sikh kingdom in Punjab had given the Kohinoor to the British as ‘compensation’ for the expenses of the Anglo-Sikh wars of the 1840s. ‘It was neither forcibly stolen nor taken away’ by the British, declared the Solicitor General; as such there was no basis for the Government of India to seek its return.

The resultant uproar has had government spokesmen backpedalling furiously, asserting that the Solicitor General’s was not the final official view and a claim might still be filed. Indians will not relinquish their moral claim to the world’s most fabled diamond. For the Government of India to suggest that the diamond was paid as ‘compensation’ for British expenses in defeating the Sikhs is ridiculous, since any compensation by the losing side in a war to the winners is usually known as reparations. The diamond was formally handed over to Queen Victoria by the child Sikh heir Maharaja Duleep Singh, who simply had no choice in the matter. As pointed out in the Indian political debate on the issue, if one hold a gun to my head, I might ‘gift’ him my wallet — but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it back when your gun has been put away.

Reparations are in fact what many former colonies feel Britain owes them for centuries of rapacity in their lands. Returning priceless artefacts purloined at the height of imperial rule might be a good place to start. But the Kohinoor, which is part of the Crown Jewels displayed in the Tower of London, does pose special problems. While Indians consider their claim self-evident — the diamond, after all, has spent most of its existence on or under Indian soil — others have also asserted their claims. The Iranians say Nadir Shah stole it fair and square; the Afghans that they held it until being forced to surrender it to the Sikhs. The latest entrant into the Kohinoor sweepstakes is Pakistan, on the somewhat flimsy grounds that the capital of the Sikh empire, the undisputed last pre-British owners, was in Lahore, now in Pakistan. The fact that hardly any Sikhs are left in Pakistan after decades of ethnic cleansing of minorities there tends to be glossed over in asserting this claim.

The existence of contending claims comes as a major relief to Britain as it seeks to fend off a blizzard of demands to undo the manifold injustices of two centuries or more of colonial exploitation of far-flung lands. From the Parthenon Marbles to the Kohinoor, the British expropriation of the jewels of other countries’ heritage is a particular point of contention. Giving in on any one item could, the British fear, open Pandora’s Box. As former Prime Minister David Cameron conceded on a visit to India in July 2010, ‘If you say yes to one, you would suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I’m afraid to say it [the Kohinoor] is going to have to stay put.’

And then there is a technical objection. In any case, the Solicitor General averred, the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972 does not permit the government to seek the return of antiquities exported from the country before India’s independence in 1947. Since the Kohinoor was lost to India a century before that date, there was nothing the government of independent India could do to reclaim it.  Of course, the law could also be amended, especially by a Parliament that is likely to vote unanimously in favour of such a change, but that does not seem to have occurred to the government, which perhaps understandably fears rocking the bilateral boat. For the same reason, it has not sought to move the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation, a UN body that could help its case. The Indian Solicitor General’s stand seems to have taken the sail out of the winds of nationalists like myself who would like to have seen items of cultural significance in India returned as a way of expressing regret for centuries of British oppression and loot of India.

Still, flaunting the Kohinoor on the Queen Mother’s crown in the Tower of London is a powerful reminder of the injustices perpetrated by the former imperial power. Until it is returned — at least as a symbolic gesture of expiation — it will remain evidence of the loot, plunder and misappropriation that colonialism was really all about. Perhaps that is the best argument for leaving the Kohinoor where it emphatically does not belong — in British hands.

Public Display Controversy

In September 2022, it was speculated that Queen Camilla could be crowned with this crown, although there was speculation that a different crown might be used due to controversy around the Kohinoor after the Indian government said that Camilla wearing the diamond would evoke “painful memories of the colonial past”. It was, however, announced on 14 February 2023, that Queen Camilla would be crowned using the Crown of Queen Mary, without the Kohinoor diamond. 

The controversial colonial-era Kohinoor claimed by India as a “ Symbol of Victory ” is set to open to the public in May as part of a new display of Britain’s Crown Jewels at the Tower of London. According to Historic Royal Palaces (HRP), the charity that manages Britain’s palaces, the new Jewel House exhibition will explore the history of the Kohinoor – through a combination of objects and visual projections.

The infamous diamond, set within the crown of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s mother, remains within the Tower after Camilla – in a diplomatic move – decided not to use this traditional crown for her coronation alongside King Charles II on May 6.

“The history of the Kohinoor, which is set within the crown of Queen Elizabeth,  The Queen Mother, will be explored,” according to HRP in reference to the new planned display. “A combination of objects and visual inferences would explain the story of the stone as a symbol of conquest, with many previous owners including the Mughal emperors, the Shahs of Iran, the Emirs of Afghanistan and the Sikh Maharajas”.

 “We look forward to expanding the story the Crown Jewels are telling and showcasing this remarkable collection to millions of visitors around the world,” according to Andrew Jackson, Resident Governor of the Tower of London and Keeper of the Jewel Home. “We are delighted to unveil our brand-new Jewel House display from 26 May, which provides visitors with a richer understanding of this magnificent collection. As the home of the Crown Jewels, we are delighted that the Tower of London The historic coronation will continue to play its part during the year,” he said.

The new exhibition will open a few weeks after the coronation of King Charles and Queen Camilla, who will be crowned with the Queen Mary Crown. It is the first major change in more than a decade to the Jewel House in the Tower of London, which has been home to Britain’s Crown Jewels for nearly 400 years.

“The Crown Jewels are the most powerful symbol of the British monarchy and hold profound religious, historical and cultural significance. From their fascinating origins to their use during coronation ceremonies, the new Jewel House transformation will present the rich history of this magnificent collection with more depth and detail than ever before, according to Charles Farris, public historian of the history of the monarchy at HRP. 

Some of the other changes will include the story of the famous Cullinan diamond, in which for the first time hammer and knife were used to cut the enormous diamond that would go on display in the Jewel House.

Discovered in South Africa in 1905, the diamond is the largest gem-quality uncut diamond ever found at 3,106 carats. It was divided into nine major stones and 96 smaller brilliants, with the largest two stones showing the British Sovereign’s scepter with the Cross and the Imperial State Crown.

At the heart of the new display will be a room dedicated to the community of the pageant, pageant and coronation procession. The display will present coronation processions throughout history, celebrating the contributions of the many people who participated in these unique events.

On display will be a range of items from the Royal Ceremonial Dress collection, including an exquisite court suit worn at the coronation of George IV and a heraldic tabard worn during royal processions.

The exhibit will conclude in the Treasury, the vault that protects most of the Crown Jewels collection, which includes more than 100 items in total. Among the magnificent items displayed in the Treasury is the St Edward’s Crown of 1661, used at the time of the coronation and the most important and sacred crown within the collection. The sovereign’s scepter with cross and the sovereign’s orb, presented to the monarch at the time of installation, are also displayed in the treasury. The new lighting will allow visitors to experience the world-renowned collection like never before, claims HRP in the re-presentation which is the culmination of a major four-year project.

Even though Kohinoor has been with the British crown, she is still referred to as the ‘ Star of India .’ Living up to her name, this ‘mountain of light’ illuminates a glorious history of diamond trade in India.  The trail might have ended, yet the story of the Kohinoor diamond remains intriguing. The Koh-i-Noor is not the preeminent diamondand had at least two comparable sisters – the Darya-i-Noor (Sea of Light), now in Tehran and estimated at 175-195 metric carats, and the Great Mughal Diamond, believed by most modern gemologists to be the 189.6-carat Orlov diamond, now set in Catherine the Great’s imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin. At present, the Koh-i-Noor is the 90th-largest diamond.

Indeed, on a 2010 visit to India, Prime Minister David Cameron declared outright that the Kohinoor would have to “stay put,” because “if you say yes to one, you would suddenly find the British Museum would be empty.” With Kumar having essentially taken Britain’s side on the Kohinoor issue, albeit for different reasons, nationalists are losing hope to get that priceless element of our heritage back. Britain owes us. But, instead of returning the evidence of their rapacity to their rightful owners, the British are flaunting the Kohinoor on the Queen Mother’s crown in the Tower of London. It is a stark reminder of what colonialism truly was: shameless subjugation, coercion, and misappropriation. Perhaps that is the best argument for leaving the Kohinoor in Britain, where it emphatically does not belong.  

  • ← Iran At The Doorstep Of The Nuclear Club? – Analysis
  • Philippines-China Bilateral Consultative Mechanism (BCM) – Analysis →

travel of kohinoor

Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth

Dr. Gursharan Singh Kainth is Founder–Director of Guru Arjan Dev Institute of Development Studies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Skip to main content
  • Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

1A

  • LISTEN & FOLLOW
  • Apple Podcasts
  • Google Podcasts
  • Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

The Coronation, The Kohinoor Diamond, And Its Colonial Past

travel of kohinoor

The Queen Mother's crown, bearing the Koh"i"noor diamond, lies on the coffin of the Queen Mother as it lies in state in Westminster Hall, London. Getty Images/Getty Images hide caption

The Queen Mother's crown, bearing the Koh"i"noor diamond, lies on the coffin of the Queen Mother as it lies in state in Westminster Hall, London.

Diamonds are more than just pretty objects. Passed down over centuries, they can tell the story of their pasts. But that story isn't always a happy one.

For many South Asians, the diamond that invokes this painful colonial history is the Kohinoor diamond.

It's one of the largest diamonds in the world. And it was taken during British colonial rule the 19th century from what is now modern-day India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

Today, the diamond belongs to the British royal family. But the death of Queen Elizabeth last September revived calls for its return.

In February, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Consort Camilla would not wear the Kohinoor diamond in her crown for the coronation this Saturday.

How should we handle artifacts taken during colonial periods in modern times? And what do empires owe the people they've colonized?

Associate Professor of History at Yale University Rohit De , Professor of Post-Colonial Studies at the University of Cambridge Priyamvada Gopal , and co- author of "Kohinoor: The Story of the World's Most Infamous Diamond", William Dalrymple , join us for the discussion.

Infographic: The Journey of Kohinoor from India to England

The wealth of India was the envy of many in the bygone eras. That is why the Arabs, the Turks, and the Afghans invaded and looted the treasures of kingdoms in different provinces of India. The most of Indian history comprises the stories of invasions and wars, which changed the fate of many, even that of Koh-i-Noor. The most coveted diamond of all times, Koh-i-Noor traveled from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh to London through several dynasties including the Kakatiya, the Khilji, the Mughal, the Afghans and the British over a long span of time. The dazzling beauty of this rare diamond was so irresistible that it enslaved the senses of mighty emperors and kings. This infographic by Indian Eagle depicts the eventful journey of Koh-i-Noor from a mine in India to the Tower of London, on Travel Beats .

kohinoor diamond history, IndianEagle travel, travel infographics, Indian history

About Indian Eagle

Indian Eagle is a USA based leading international travel organization inspiring tourists to travel and explore India at the lowest airfare from major USA cities throughout the year. 

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

special-air-india-flights.jpg

Special Air India Flights to and from India Cost Nearly Rs 2 Lakh per Traveler for One-way Journey

hand-baggage-only-fares-Indian-Eagle-travel.jpg

What are Hand-baggage Only Fares for British Airways and Delta Airlines Flights?

aviointeriors-economy-cabin-designs-post-COVID19-travel.jpg

Future of Air Travel post COVID19: Empty Middle Seats or All Seats with Cover on Economy Flights

Trump’s temporary ban on immigration amid covid19 targets green cards, not h1b and other visas.

Dholera-International-Airport.jpg

Gujarat’s Dholera International Airport, an Upcoming Air Travel Hub with Global Connectivity for 3-5m Flyers

travel of kohinoor

When a 'Mountain' went to London: The story of Kohinoor Diamond

When a 'Mountain' went to London: The story of Kohinoor  Diamond When a 'Mountain' went to London: The story of Kohinoor  Diamond

Top Headline

Haryana: Over 40 Workers Injured After Boiler Explodes In Rewari Factory

Trending News

ABP Live

Photogallery

Rahul Gandhi Concludes Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra In Mumbai, Massive Crowd Joins March — IN PICS

Trending Opinion

Sagarneel Sinha

Personal Corner

Haryana: Over 40 Workers Injured After Boiler Explodes In Rewari Factory

IMAGES

  1. Amazing And Shocking Historical Facts Behind Kohinoor Diamond

    travel of kohinoor

  2. Kohinoor Samudra Beach Resort

    travel of kohinoor

  3. The story of Kohinoor

    travel of kohinoor

  4. Kohinoor: History, journey and price of India's famous diamond!

    travel of kohinoor

  5. The Kohinoor Diamond: A Journey Through Time and Empires

    travel of kohinoor

  6. Kohinoor: History, journey and price of India’s famous diamond!

    travel of kohinoor

COMMENTS

  1. The fascinating story of the Kohinoor (Koh-i-Noor) diamond

    In this travel of Kohinoor and the travails of all those she lived with, Maharaja Duleep Singh was the last Indian king to have possessed this diamond. Maharaja Duleep Singh, one of the first freedom fighters of India against the British, was eventually tricked into parting with the Kohinoor under the Treaty of Lahore dated March 29, 1849.

  2. Kohinoor, the 'Stolen' Diamond's Travel History

    The Kohinoor's travel history. The Kohinoor was reportedly mined in Kollur, on the southern bank of the Krishna River in the former Golconda sultanate by the Kakatiya dynasty that ruled over ...

  3. Koh-i-Noor

    Definition. The Koh-i-Noor diamond (also Koh-i-Nur or Kūh-e Nūr) is one of the largest and most famous cut diamonds in the world. It was most likely found in southern India between 1100 and 1300. The name of the stone is Persian meaning 'Mountain of Light' and refers to its astounding size - originally 186 carats (today 105.6).

  4. The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give

    The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamond—and Why the British Won't Give It Back. A star of London's Crown Jewels, the Indian gem has a bloody history of colonial conquest

  5. Koh-i-noor

    Koh-i-noor, (Persian: "mountain of light") one of the world's most famous diamonds, known for its size (105.6 carats) and the controversy concerning its ownership. Part of the British crown jewels since 1849, the Koh-i-noor is claimed by several countries, including India, which has demanded its return. The diamond originally weighed 191 ...

  6. The centuries-long journey of Kohinoor to the crown of Queen Elizabeth

    Journey of Kohinoor. The diamond is believed to have been mined near Guntur, which is currently in the state of Andhra Pradesh, by the Kakatiya dynasty in the 1100-1300. In 1310, Delhi Sultan ...

  7. Koh-i-Noor

    The Koh-i-Noor (Persian for 'Mountain of Light'; / ˌ k oʊ ɪ ˈ n ʊər / KOH-in-OOR), also spelled Koh-e-Noor, Kohinoor and Koh-i-Nur, is one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, weighing 105.6 carats (21.12 g). It is part of the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom.The diamond is currently set in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.. There are multiple conflicting legends on ...

  8. Koh-i-Noor

    H.M.S Medea. The crown of Queen Victoria featuring the Koh-i-Noor. Having arrived in England on the 29th of June 1850, the 3 men reached the India office in London on the 2nd of July 1850. The Diamond was gifted to the Queen on 3 rd July 1850, the 250 th anniversary of the EIC. In 2016, the Government of India took a stand that the Diamond was ...

  9. The globetrotting adventures of the Kohinoor, India's most ...

    Published December 22, 2016. 1739: The Kohinoor, set in the head of one of the peacocks on Shah Jahan's Peacock Throne, leaves India and the Mughal treasury when Nader Shah carted away the ...

  10. The Interesting Journey of the Fabled Kohinoor Diamond

    The Kohinoor has a complex history that goes back to the 13th century. A large colourless diamond that weighed around 793 carats, Kohinoor originated in India's Golconda mines when they were under the rule of the Kakatiya dynasty. Legend has it that it was used as an eye of the deity in a Kakatiya temple in Warangal in 1310. Photo Source

  11. Kohinoor: 800 years of roller coaster history and how India ...

    Since the coronation of a new king in UK, Indians are again demanding the return of Koh-i-noor. Here we decode its 800 year mysterious journey from one king ...

  12. The Koh-i-Noor: the world's most infamous diamond

    The Koh-i-Noor is the world's most infamous diamond. Today it sits peacefully spotlit against the purple velvet of the Queen Mother's crown in a display case in the Tower of London. In the ...

  13. Travails Of Kohinoor: A Journey Through Time And Empires

    The Kohinoor's value isn't exactly known, but it is estimated to be worth €140 to €400 million. It is one of the most important diamonds in the world and is a part of the United Kingdom ...

  14. The Coronation, The Kohinoor Diamond, And Its Colonial Past

    For many South Asians, the diamond that invokes this painful colonial history is the Kohinoor diamond. It's one of the largest diamonds in the world. And it was taken during British colonial rule ...

  15. Desired, stolen, cursed: the history of the Koh-i-Noor diamond

    At the same time, Dulip (sometimes spelled Duleep) was induced to hand over to Queen Victoria arguably the single most valuable object in not just the Punjab but the entire subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i-Noor diamond, the 'Mountain of Light'. Article III of the treaty read simply: "The gem called the Koh-i-Noor, which was taken from Shah Sooja ool-Moolk [Shah Shuja Durrani] by ...

  16. Kohinoor Diamond Story from India to England

    Infographic: The Journey of Kohinoor from India to England. The wealth of India was the envy of many in the bygone eras. That is why the Arabs, the Turks, and the Afghans invaded and looted the treasures of kingdoms in different provinces of India. The most of Indian history comprises the stories of invasions and wars, which changed the fate of ...

  17. Koh-i-Noor diamond to be recognized as 'a symbol of conquest ...

    London CNN —. The Koh-i-Noor - one of the world's most famous and controversial diamonds - will be part of a new exhibition at the Tower of London that recognizes it as "a symbol of ...

  18. When a 'Mountain' went to London: The story of Kohinoor Diamond

    The Kohinoor's origins are cloaked in mystery. Its documented history begins 277 years ago, when Persian invader Nadir Shah snatched it away from Mughal rulers and called it "Koh-i-Noor" (Mountain of Light). 1813: Ranjit Singh's troops defeat Ata Muhammad Khan, king of Kashmir and ally of Shuja's brother. Shuja is released and brought to Lahore.

  19. Explained: The History Of The Kohinoor Diamond And The Timeline Of Its

    The Kohinoor diamond is now part of the crown jewels of the British monarchy. It came into British possession after changing hands several times over the centuries, being possessed by the Mughals ...

  20. The Kohinoor Diamond: Price, Images & History

    The Kohinoor Diamond is one of the most famous and precious diamonds the world over. Originating from India, it has now been among Queen of England's crown jewels for many years. The Kohinoor diamond, weighing in at an astonishing 105.6 carats, is variously described as colorless or finest white. The origins of the diamond are controversial.

  21. As India awaits Kohinoor return, here's the diamond's journey through

    Sitting against the purple velvet resting on the circlet of Queen Mother's crown, this colourless diamond weighs 105.6 carats and measures 1 ½ inch in length and 1 inch in width; the size of a ...

  22. Journey Of The Kohinoor Diamond

    Check out the long and enchanted journey of the Kohinoor diamond and find out how far and wide this beautiful jewel has travelled before reaching where it is today!. Early Years. It is believed by historians that some 5000 years ago the Kohinoor diamond was mined in Kollur Mine in the Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh.Early Sanskrit scriptures have a mention of such a gem called the ...

  23. This man was first owner of super expensive Kohinoor diamond

    The Kohinoor: Legendary gem, passed through empires, now part of British Crown Jewels, symbolizing history. Mar 9, 2024, 03:27 PM IST. This man was first owner of super expensive Kohinoor diamond Mahipal Chouhan. Legendary History: The Kohinoor diamond is one of the most famous and historically significant gems in the world. ...