How Golconda’s Koh-i-Noor became the most fought-over diamond in human history

The regions of Kolar, Hutti, Ramagiri, Penugonda, Golconda, and Sattenapalli were famous for their diamond mines. As these were under Golconda’s control, the kingdom enjoyed immense wealth. The area also produced luxurious carpets and velvet fabrics. Textile industries thrived in Warangal’s Kothawada, Siricilla (now Pochampally), Gadwal, Narayanpet, and Siddipet. Golconda’s exports reached global markets — and that is why Aurangzeb coveted the kingdom, says S.V. Satyanarayana, retired Director, Geological Survey of India.

The Qutb Shahi rulers of Golconda had established trade agreements with the Dutch, English, and French East India Companies, turning Hyderabad into a cosmopolitan trade hub. Golconda built South India’s first national highways, connecting Hyderabad to Surat via Daulatabad and Aurangabad, to Machilipatnam via Nalgonda, to Madras via Vijayawada, and to Goa via Bijapur. The French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) wrote that “the people here loved a life of luxury.”

When Andhra was world’s diamond hub

Tavernier, a French explorer and diamond trader, first visited India in 1638. Amazed by the natural diamonds he found, he described India’s gems in glowing terms: “The purest diamonds in the world are found here,” he wrote. Tavernier visited India six times and carried several diamonds back to Europe, where they captivated the royal families of Europe and Russia: symbols of power, prestige, and luck.

After capturing Golconda, Aurangzeb spent Rs 80,000 to repair and fortify the fort, wrote historian John F. Richards (1938-2007), author of Mughal Administration in Golconda (1975), noting that the Mughals appeared to show “a certain affection” toward the fortress.

But that conquest came only after an eight-month siege. Aurangzeb bribed Sarandaz Khan, a Qutb Shahi officer, to open a rear gate, allowing the Mughal army to storm the fort. They looted the royal treasury. Key diamonds such as the Noor-ul-Ain, Kara, Hope, Darya-i-Noor, and Regent were surrendered to Aurangzeb.

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According to retired history professor Adapa Satyanarayana, when the Golconda ruler Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, also known as Tana Shah, who reigning over the kingdom from 1672 to 1687, buried enormous wealth beneath the Jama Masjid to avoid paying tribute, Aurangzeb destroyed the mosque, unearthed the treasure, and transported riches worth over Rs 60 million on camel caravans to northern Mughal capitals.

Before 1728, India was the world’s only source of diamonds. Andhra Pradesh’s soil, say geologists, was the world’s diamond heartland. During the Vijayanagara Empire (1450-1530), Portuguese travellers like Domingo Paes described gemstones sold in heaps on the streets. Later, the Qutb Shahis of Golconda developed diamond mining across Guntur, Krishna, Anantapur, Kadapa, and Kurnool.

Koh-i-Noor, the mountain of light

Golconda’s diamonds were unmatched: spotless, colourless, teardrop-clear, radiating natural light and purity. Arabs and Persians prized them highly, says Imran Sharif, Chairman of the Golconda Institute of Diamonds. Some were pale brown, yellow, or black; a few rare ones were pink, green, red, or blue.

Golconda’s territory lay between two great ports — Surat and Machilipatnam — making it a global trading hub. At the peak of the diamond trade, over 110,000 workers were employed in mining, polishing, and guarding diamonds. Records note that 60,000 people worked daily at Kollur mines (Guntur district) and 30,000 at Ramallakota (Kurnool district). Even Mir Jumla, a Mughal noble, supervised 12,000 workers near Gandikota in Kadapa.

Kollur, at the edge of the Nallamala hills, was India’s largest diamond mine: remnants of Qutb Shahi-era watchtowers still stand there. The world first heard of Indian diamonds when Alexander the Great took some back to Greece in 327 BCE, and later through Marco Polo (1292), who marvelled at their brilliance.

But the most famous diamond of all was the Koh-i-Noor, found in Kollur village near the Krishna River in Guntur district. Originally weighing 793 carats, it was later cut down to 105.6 carats. Its story is soaked in blood and conquest; it’s a symbol of Andhra’s immense natural wealth.

According to Stephen Howarth’s 1980 book The Kohinoor Diamond: The History and the Legend, the stone was discovered in Kollur. The Earl Marshal of England, Henry Howard, once called the Kollur mines “the soul of all diamond mines in the world.” The Persian ruler who first saw the gem exclaimed “Koh-i-Noor,” meaning “Mountain of Light.”

The Koh-i-Noor’s journey

In 1657, a widow found the diamond in Kollur and gave it to the village head, who passed it to Mir Jumla, minister to the Qutb Shahis. To please Emperor Shah Jahan, Jumla gifted it to him — it became the centerpiece of the Peacock Throne, wrote Tavernier. Aurangzeb later kept it in his treasury. The Venetian jeweller Hortensio Borgio, tasked with cutting it, reduced it disastrously from 793 to 186 carats.

It passed to Aurangzeb’s grandson Muhammad Shah Rangila, who wore it in his turban. When Nadir Shah of Persia invaded Delhi in 1739, he tricked Rangila into exchanging turbans, thus seizing the diamond. Nadir Shah named it Koh-i-Noor and said: “Even if a man filled the space between the four horizons with gold, it would not equal this gem.” After Nadir Shah’s assassination, the diamond passed through Afghan, Persian, and Sikh rulers, eventually landing with Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab. After the British annexed Punjab, they seized the Koh-i-Noor, sent it to England, and presented it to Queen Victoria in 1850.

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On its sea voyage, cholera broke out on the ship, and several officials died. Soon after its arrival in London, Queen Victoria narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, and Prime Minister Robert Peel died in a fall; superstitions grew around the diamond’s “curse.”

Dutch diamond company Mozes Coster recut the stone again in 1852 to 108.93 carats. It has since been worn by Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth, and remains a hereditary jewel of the British royal family, traditionally passed to the eldest queen consort.

Since 1947, India has repeatedly demanded its return; joined at various times by Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, all claiming ownership. In 2009, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Tushar Gandhi renewed the demand; in 2013, British PM David Cameron rejected it outright.

Before diamonds were found in Brazil, India was the world’s sole diamond source, producing the largest and finest stones known to man. Classical writers like Pliny and Ptolemy, who were known for their encyclopedic and geographical works, respectively, identified India as the land of diamonds, and travellers like Marco Polo praised their radiance. Today, production has declined, overtaken by mines in Australia, Russia, and Africa, yet no diamond anywhere has ever matched the clarity and perfection of Golconda’s stones.

(This story was first published in The Federal Andhra Pradesh)