For centuries, the Deccan was the diamond capital of the world. Most of the world’s diamonds were mined in Golconda, located in the heart of the Deccan (present day Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). Some of the world’s most prolific diamond mines were along the Pennar, Krishna and Godavari rivers, primarily along Cuddapah, Anantapur, Bellary, Kurnool, Guntur, Mahbubnagar, Kollur, Golapilly, Eluru and Nandyala.
From the Greeks to the French, many a traveller and warrior alike, marvelled at these stones and ascribed mythical characteristics to them. In the mid-seventeenth century, Jean Baptiste Tavernier, a French jeweller and journalist who travelled to India six times between 1631 and 1668, provided a detailed and well-chronicled account of Indian diamond fields.
In the Gani Coulour (Kollur Mine), writes Tavernier, was found a 25-Carat stone, which was painstakingly polished by as many as 60,000 people. Indeed, some of the world’s most precious diamonds–the Koh-i-noor, Great Mogul and Hope Diamond–have been found in the Kollur mine along the Krishna river.
Diamonds, the crystal-white stones, have, for centuries, played a notable role in signifying a ruler’s power, prestige and wealth. And, unsurprisingly, for over 4000 years, the world’s royalty have owned and adorned these precious stones. For instance, one of the world’s most famous diamonds, the Koh-i-noor, now owned by the British Royal family, was once owned by the Kakatiyas who ruled Telangana almost a thousand years ago. Under royal patronage of the Kakatiyas, the Koh-i-noor, which was dedicated to the Hindu Goddess Bhadrakali, was placed in the Bhadrakali temple. But as the ebb and flow of political conquests and power-play made its imprints on the sands of time, the Koh-i-noor, found a way out of India.
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