Golkunda Diamonds: India's gift to world.

Contribution of India to the world of Diamond's:

Many of you would be surprised to learn that India was one of the first countries to mine diamonds and that the diamond mining in India is dated back to almost 4th century BC. Diamonds in India were mined in various locations such as Borneo (Landak), Golkunda, Hindustan, and Raolconda.

Off these locations, Golkunda is of special significance since some of the world's most famous diamonds such as Hope Diamond, Kohinoor, Darya-i-Nur Diamonds and Orlov Diamonds were mined here.For many hundred years the word "Golkunda" became synonymous with big and beautiful diamonds constituting the kind of transperancy, whitness and clarity that can only be associated with the rare Type IIa natural diamonds.Even today the term "Golkunda" is used generically to describe very high quality diamonds possessing antique cuts.

The journey of diamonds to Golkunda Region

The Golkunda region is located between the lower reaches of the Godavari and Krishna rivers, in the state of Andhra Pradesh. The diamonds found in the Golkunda region are believed to be created from the enormous forces generated by the "Tethys Oceanic Crust" colliding. The collision of the massive continental plates for over hundreds of millions of years created the Himalyan Mountain range, and also caused volcanic activity to create diamondiferous igneous rocks called Kimberlite. Rainfall and snow-melt for over millions of years caused erosion and unearthed the diamonds from their Kimberlite source. These diamonds were then washed downstream to the alluvial river gravels of the Golkunda region where they finally rested.

Today, the exact source of the 'lost mines of GolKunda' are unknown, and the India's only remaining diamond source is the Majhgawan pipe near Panna .