Kiska Kohinoor? Check out This Easy Explainer

Should India get back the Kohinoor diamond? Here’s how it reached the Queen of United Kingdom.

The Kohinoor diamond has exchanged multiple hands, and has been a part of several dynasties and countries. (Photo: Aaqib Raza Khan/ The Quint)

Koh-i-Noor is Persian for ‘Mountain of Light’, and its namesake diamond has brightened up many an eye throughout history. The diamond, originally from India, now rests in the Tower of London, United Kingdom. How and why? Let us tell you.

The diamond, said to have been mined from the Kollur mines in Andhra Pradesh in early 1300s, is also believed to be cursed – the gem can only be possessed by a God, or a woman. All the men who have had it, have met gruesome deaths.

But there’s no stopping the craze for the 106-carat diamond, the value of which Babur deemed to be enough to ‘feed everyone in the world for a day’.

Now, India wants it back. Pakistan stakes its claim too. And Iran is also in the line. So many soliciting the solitaire… who will get it?

Now, that’s a gem of a question!