And when the Kakatiya dynasty was vanquished, around the 14th century, invaders from the north pillaged all the temples in the region and captured the gemstone. Rumors spread about this giant diamond guarded by a goddess. The diamond becomes an object of violent conquest It worked - for a couple of centuries, at least. "It was a top-secret place to hide the diamond." Even the priests, they would not have known it," Devarapalli says. "One of the eyes was the diamond, which no one knew - except the kings - because it looked like glass. One eye was glass, the other was diamond. So they hid it in plain sight - inside the eye socket of a large golden statue of the Hindu goddess Durga, in a temple that's still in use today, on the edge of a lake in the modern-day city of Warangal.
THE DARKNESS II PRIVATE FULL
At the time, India was full of warring states, and the kings needed to keep their diamond safe. They considered it a gift from the holy river and took it to their rulers, the 12th century Hindu kings of the Kakatiya dynasty.
"So while the clay, they found the diamond." "People used to go to the rivers and take baths, and there were no soaps or cosmetics at the time, so they used the wet clay next to the riverbanks and applied it to their bodies," explains Mohan Devarapalli, 32, who gives Kohinoor-themed tours in southern India. Legend has it that it was the size of a coconut. That's where, 800 or so years ago, someone went to take a bath in the Krishna River and apparently stumbled upon the biggest diamond then known in the world. And one of the places they seemed to do that most was the area of the Golconda alluvial mines, in southern India. "Every time you bring someone over from India or Pakistan, they just swear at it! Swear at the fact that it's here."Īfter Queen Elizabeth died last year, the Indian government said it has repeatedly raised the issue of repatriating the Kohinoor with the British government.Īnd this winter, Buckingham Palace made an announcement: The royal family had decided to leave the controversial gem out of the coronation ceremony for Charles and Camilla.įor now, it remains locked in the Tower of London, advertised as a "symbol of conquest" - firmly on British soil.Ĭenturies before humans began mining diamonds deep underground, gems were only discovered after working their way up to the Earth's surface. "I've learned my best swears in front of the Kohinoor, in three different languages," says historian Anita Anand, the coauthor of Kohinoor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond. The museum where it's kept on display, in the Tower of London, is a popular destination for South Asian tourists. For now, though, the British royal family has no intention of parting with the giant gemstone. So do several other nearby countries - including Iran and Afghanistan - whose own royals and rulers, over the centuries, possessed the diamond. India wants the diamond back.Īnd it's not alone. That's because the Kohinoor has become a focus of anti-colonial anger. Getty Images Camilla and Charles attend Royal Ascot 2017 at Ascot Racecourse.
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