Gifted Area on Earth: Home of Priceless Diamonds

Once upon a billion and a hundred million years ago...

more than hundred kilometers deep below I was born in a layer of dark matter in the darkest place under the earth. I was stark black. I was under immense pressure but still resting at temperature that would make iron melt! There was no way for any one to see me. But, my desire was to be seen! Because I knew I had a value. So, I started moving up after resting restlessly for at that pressure and that temperature for million year. Still, I was not in hurry. I wanted to move up at just speed of one centimeter per thousand years. Because, had I moved at a faster speed I would have become granitic stone not worth more than a brick, and had I moved at a slower pace I would have become a soft graphite, good for your pencil lead! During this period the Atlantic ocean opened up then closed, and then opened up again! The dinosaurs had come and gone. Humans evolved and spread across the face of earth. But, my determination was to remain as hard as possible, may be the hardest substance on the earth, even though I was just a trifle black carbon. My purest crystalline form was of no use. So, in order to be seen I gradually changed my color to a blue tint.

One day I came to the earth surface as I desperately wanted someone to see me. Guess where I was born? I was born below on a specific land mass on the earth in a specific region and in a specific terrain-in the valley of diamonds! You guessed right, I was born in Golconda region of current Andhra Pradesh in India, Kollur mines at the south banks of of Krishna river, to be specific.

My home land very much matches with the description of Valley of Diamonds in Sindbad tales of Arabian Nights.

Even after coming to the surface...

it took two thousand years for sapiens to see me, until a French gem merchant Mr Jean-Baptiste Tavernier obtained me from a local jeweler, possibly through theft. My wish of being seen was coming to fruition. He cut me into a lesser size but also polished into a brilliant diamond with a deep blue tinge. King Louis XIV of France was very happy to buy me from Tavernier in 1668. But, there was something else waiting in my fate. I was stolen! That, after being in 125 years of possession with the French Royalty. I do not know where I was during the next 150 years. But my desire to be seen brought me up in 1839 in a London auction by Mr Thomas Hope. My hope was finally fulfilled and I was glad to get my name as Hope diamond. During my hibernation period of 150 years I am witness to famous events in France including guillotining of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and in Britain the affair of King George IV with his last mistress. I finally landed in United States with Washington DC socialite Mrs Evalyn Walsh McLean passing thru hands of several gem merchants in France, UK and USA, including Pierre Cartier. I am grateful to my final owner Mr Henry Winston who donated me to Smithsonian Institute of Washington DC for public ownership and display. You can see me in the National gallery of Natural History, Washington DC any day.

My story shall remain incomplete unless I tell about my siblings. My siblings were born in the same plains of Golconda regions, in the Krishna and Godavari plains, the only source of diamond in the world in those times. They included famed diamonds like Koh-i-Noor, the Nassak Diamond, the Idol's Eye, the pink Daria-i-Noor, the white Regent, the Dresden Green, and the colourless Orlov.

My eldest brother is the world famous Kohinoor diamond. He first adorned the family god, Kakati(Ma Durga) of Kakatiya dynasty of Andhra region, the original owners of Golconda fort. After fall of Kakatiya dynasty with persistent invasion of Muslim invaders he moved to Delhi, and then to Mughal rulers. He became part of the peacock throne which Nader Shah looted from Mughals. After some bloody exchanges in the current day Iran and Afghanistan it came back to India in Maharja Ranjit Singh collection. Later on his grandson Duleep Singh had to give to Britishers under a forced war treaty when he was only eleven. Now if you want to see him you need visit Tower of London where its studded in the crown of British monarch.

Darya-i-Noor, weighing a whooping 186 carat, is my other sibling. Found in Golconda mines was also initially in possession of Kakatiya dynasty. Its colour, pale pink, is one of the rarest to be found in diamonds. He followed the same route as my bro,Kohinoor, first to Islamic rulers of Hyderabad then to Mughals, then to Iran through the loot of Nadar Shah. He is currently in the Iranian National Jewels collection of the Central Bank of Iran in Tehran

Next in line is my nearest blue colour sibling, Nassak diamond. Born in Golconda as usual he adored for three hundred years, in the Trimbakeshwar Shiva Temple, near Nashik, from 1500CE. The city gave his name to Nassak. The British East India Company captured the diamond through the Third Anglo-Maratha War and sold it to British jewelers. Famous American jeweller Harry Winston, who had also acquired me, obtained the Nassak Diamond in 1940 in Paris. Currently the diamond is held at a private museum somewhere in USA though there are calls for its return and restoration to the Indian temple.

The Regent Diamond is a 140.64-carat (28.128 g) diamond owned by the French state and on display in the Louvre. According to legend, the diamond was discovered by an enslaved man in the Kollur Mine near the Krishna River, who sold to an English merchant. After changing several hands he became part of French royalty, and ultimately to Napolean who used him for the guard of his sword.

The above are some of most my famous siblings. But, I lost some of my other siblings on the way such as the Florentine Yellow, the Akbar Shah, the Nizam, and the Great Mogul. I have no idea where they are now and when shall we meet. Apart from these I do have tens of thousands of unnamed siblings who are in possession with several elite people of the world.

Oft on my couch at Smithsonian I think why something specific happens at a specific place at a specific time in a specific way? Is it by design? Then, who is the designer? Or, is it by coincidence, in that case what is coincidence? But then, everything is valueless until valued!