A sparkling discovery

Koh-i-Noor is one of the oldest and most famous diamonds in the world. It was possibly discovered in the 17th century in Kolluru near Pulichintala, Guntur district. There are many anecdotes about the search of diamonds in this area.

According to a travelogue book titled ‘Sindbad’, the diamonds were available in the mountains, where dangerous snakes used to live.

We studied about the method of getting the diamonds from the river Krishna by reading stories of foreign travellers like Marco Polo and Niccolò de' Conti, which state “Wherefore, the men who go in search of the diamonds take with them pieces of flesh, as lean as they can get, and these they cast into the bottom of a valley.”

Now there are numbers of white eagles that haunt those mountains and feed upon the serpents. When the eagles see the meat thrown into the bottom of the mountain they pounce upon it and carry it up to some rocky hilltop, where they begin to rend it.

But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see that the eagles have settled they shout loudly and scare them away. And when the eagles go away the men recover the pieces of meat and find diamonds in it, which get stuck to the meat in the bottom. Marco Polo from Venice travelled to India in the 13th century and Niccolò de' Conti in the 15th century.

Conti’s journey was published in Hakluyt Society Publication and it was first published in India in the 15th century. In that book, the method for searching diamonds from the shores of Krishna River is explained - In Bellamkonda Gani, Kollur Mountain, diamonds are aplenty; however, humans cannot reach there because of the dangerous snakes.

There is one adjacent mountain from where people get to the top of the mountain with cattle and they kill them and throw the pieces of flesh into the mountain by using machines. Then they follow eagles to collect the diamonds, which stick to the flesh.

Marco Polo also said that diamonds are available at Bellamkonda area. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605 – 1689) was a 17th-century French gem merchant and traveller. He also informed the same about diamonds. He visited India six times to buy diamonds and other valuable stones.

He reached the Kollur diamond mines by travelling seven days to the east from Golconda. This place is located on the South side from Pulichintala and West side from Bellamkonda.

Kollur mines were found 100 years before Tavernier came to India. The story behind the mine was that once upon a time a farmer found a stone in his land while ploughing. He thought that the stone is valuable and sold it to a diamond merchant in Golconda. Later, other diamond merchants came to know about it and they searched for diamonds in that area.

The diamond found by the farmer weighed 25 carats. Later many diamonds were found, which weighed between 10 to 40 carats. In those days Aurangzeb assigned Mir Jumla and his army of 10,000 men to lead assault on Golconda Fort. Mir Jumla found diamond which weighed 900 carats (Kolluru Diamond) and he presented it to Aurangzeb.

Later, it was called - Koh-i-Noor. Tavernier said that 60,000 people were searching for diamonds when he was travelling to Kollur. Tavernier met Aurangzeb on November 2, 1665, and saw the Koh-i-Noor.

Later its weight was reduced to 218 carats due to the inefficiency of a goldsmith. At present Koh-i-Noor weighs 186 ½ carats; though, it is believed that the measure of carats, which was used during Tavernier’s time were less compared to the present time. Later, Nadir Shah received the Koh-i-Noor and after that, it was taken by the British.

Pitt or Regent Diamond was also found at the shores of Krishna River. All diamond mines in the area were under Nizam’s control and later the Kondapalli area was given to the British rulers.

There is also a story about the Regent diamond – according to which, the diamond was found by a worker in the mine and he thought that it’s valuable. He deliberately hurt himself and concealed the diamond in the wound to take it from the mine. Later, Regent Diamond travelled to many places but finally it reached to the then Madras Governor, Pitt.

We don’t have the details of how it travelled. According to one of the stories, it also went to Borneo, Malaysia. Pitts took it to Europe, and later it was purchased by Regent and that’s why it is called as Regent Diamond. Presently it is in the French Kings’ jewellery palace.

Source: Prajasakthi Pushkara Special, 2004