This particular Kohinoor diamond was found in the Kollur diamond mine in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. At 793 carats, it was declared the world’s largest diamond. It has changed hands between many Muslim, Sikh and British monarchs over the past 700 years. The diamond is now kept in the Tower of London.
Historians say that it was first owned by the Kakatiya dynasty in the 13th century. The Kohinoor diamond was named ‘Syamantaka Gem’ in a Sanskrit text five thousand years ago.
Over the centuries, the diamond passed through the hands of Islamic kings Alauddin Khilji, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, Ibrahim Lodi, Mohammad Shah and Nadir Shah, and the Persian king Nadir Shah named the diamond Kohinoor, which means ‘light of the mountain’ in Persian. It is noteworthy that the final shape of this mirror-like diamond, which is now cut and designed, weighs 37 grams out of 103 carats.
On March 29, 1849, the British East India Company sent an army to capture the kingdom of Punjab and engaged in war. The British soldiers who defeated the Sikh king who ruled Punjab until then, captured the Kohinoor diamond from the Punjab government and handed it over to Queen Victoria as per the Treaty of Lahore.
Since then it has been used in the crown jewels of the British royal family. Many Muslim kings who wore the Kohinoor diamond as crowns in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries died of various causes. Some were killed in battle. Therefore, the British royal family believed that if men wear it, they will be unlucky.
That’s why the Kohinoor stone encrusted crown is worn only by queens till date. The British East India Company, which came to buy and sell our traditional spicy spices found in abundance in India, finally looted our traditional symbols such as Mayilasanam, Kohinoor Diamond, etc. and today they are flaunting their royal pride. This is why India is demanding the return of the Kohinoor diamond.