24-542: The Great Mogul was a large diamond that is believed to have been discovered around 1650, most probably around the Kollur Mine in the Golconda region of southern India. Tavernier described the diamond thus: "The stone is of the same form as if one cut an egg through the middle". The 787-carat (157.4 g) rough diamond was gifted by Emir Jemla to Shah Jahan , the 5th Mughal emperor , as part of diplomacy between
48-708: Is fine, and weighs 319 + 1 ⁄ 2 ratis, which makes 280 of our carats, the rati being 7 ⁄ 8 of a carat." Most modern scholars are now convinced that the Great Mogul is actually the Orlov Diamond , today part of Catherine the Great's imperial Russian sceptre in the Kremlin . Kollur Mine Kollur Mine was a series of gravel - clay pits on the south bank of the Krishna River in
72-577: Is one of Asia's oldest man made lakes and dates back to the 15th century. It was built by the Gajapati kings of Orissa for irrigating about 420 km farmland by damming a narrow opening between two adjoining hills and later renovated by queen Vardarajamma of Vijayanagara kingdom in the 16th century. On 2 September 2009, a Bell-430 chopper carrying the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy , with two pilots,
96-518: The Chenchus , a forest dwelling tribe who have remained cut off from the modern world even today. Farming is the primary occupation of the people in the plateaus while the Chenchus are still hunter gatherers. The hills were a hotbed of Naxal activities until recently. They once kidnapped young children (evidence?). Police action since 2005 has all but cleared the forest of them. A state highway and
120-473: The Gundlakamma River , the largest river to arise in these hills. Winters are mostly cool and dry with the average temperature around 25 degrees Celsius. Summers are very hot, with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius. These hills are almost completely covered with open jungle. Lack of water prevents the growth of large trees and the prevalent vegetation consists of dry deciduous forest with
144-457: The Indian subcontinent . At the height of production, around 30,000 – 60,000 people worked there, including men, women, and children of all ages. Kollur itself had a population of around 100,000. Golconda mines were owned by the king, but operation was leased to diamond merchants, either foreigners or Indians of the goldsmith caste . As well as rent, the king also received 2% from sales and he
168-506: The Nagarjunsagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve that has a viable tiger population. Leopard sightings too are not uncommon. Many of the adventures of the popular wildlife writer, Kenneth Anderson are set in these forests. The uneven terrain and the scarcity of water has prevented the growth of any large cities in this region. Nandyal is the largest city in this region. The indigenous population consists of
192-650: The Nallamalla Range ) are a section of the Eastern Ghats which forms the eastern boundary of Rayalaseema region of the state of Andhra Pradesh and Nagarkurnool district of the state of Telangana , in India . They run in a nearly north–south alignment, parallel to the Coromandel Coast for close to 430 km between the rivers, Krishna and Pennar . Its northern boundaries are marked by
216-788: The Nallapadu-Nandyal line of the Guntur railway division pass through the hills. The railway was first built by the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway and is a feat of engineering, having 2 tunnels at Bogada and Chelama and a few viaducts, the most famous being the now abandoned Dorabavi Viaduct. The railway enters the hills at the Nandikama Pass near Cumbum Lake. The highway follows a zig zag alignment and thus avoids any tunnels. The primary exports of this region are forest produce like timber waste, honey and molasses. Srisailam on
240-545: The 1960s, Kollur Mine was pinpointed more accurately as being 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) due north-east of Kollur village on the south bank of River Krishna at latitude 16° 43' N and longitude 80° 02' E, and extending for 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) all the way up to Pulichinthala village. [REDACTED] Media related to Kollur Mine at Wikimedia Commons 16°43′N 80°02′E / 16.717°N 80.033°E / 16.717; 80.033 Nallamala Hills The Nallamalas (also called
264-527: The 2000s to make way for the Pulichinthala irrigation project and is submerged by 50 feet (15 m) of water for most of the year. The gravel - clay pits were a maximum depth of 4 metres (13 ft) due to the high water table . The diamond-bearing seam was approximately 1 foot (30 cm) thick. Alluvial workings covered an area 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long and between 500 metres (0.31 mi) and 800 metres (0.50 mi) wide. It
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#1732776816761288-634: The Krishna River is indicated at latitude 16° 42' 30" N and longitude 80° 5' E on several maps created in the 17th and 18th centuries. All memory of its position was lost, until it was rediscovered in the 1880s by Valentine Ball , a geologist who helped to create this map of Golconda mines. In his annotated English edition of gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier 's book Travels in India (1676), Ball notes that ruins of houses and mine workings could still be found at Kollur. In
312-589: The Nallamala ranges belong to the Kadapa system which is a series some 20,000 ft. thick. The primary rocks are quartzite overlaid with an irregular slaty formation. Some sandstone is also to be found. The rocks here are very irregular and soft in texture thus rendering commercial exploitation impossible. These rocks are among the oldest in the world and have been formed as a result of large scale volcanic activity hundreds of millions of years ago. The evidence of
336-562: The River Krishna is the site of a large hydroelectric power project as also an ancient temple dedicated to Lord Shiva . Mahanandi temple and Ahobilam Nava Narsimha Temples are situated here. A stream descends down the Gundla Brahmeswara peak and ends in a waterfall and sacred pool called Nemaligundam (Peacock Pool). The Mallela Theertham waterfall on the river Krishna is also located in this forest. The Cumbum Lake
360-506: The Shah's son, Aurangzeb , showed the stone to the famous jeweler and world traveler Jean Baptiste Tavernier . At that time Tavernier wrote in his Six Voyages: "The first piece that Akel Khan (Chief Keeper of the King's jewels) placed in my hands was the great diamond, which is rose cut , round and very high on one side. On the lower edge there is a slight crack, and a little flaw in it. Its water
384-984: The diamond from Tavernier, but it was stolen during the French Revolution ; it reappeared and has been re-cut as the Hope Diamond . Other diamonds thought to have originated at Kollur include the Koh-i-Noor , the Great Mogul, the Wittelsbach-Graff , the Regent , the Daria-i-Noor , the Orlov , the Nizam , the Dresden Green , and the Nassak . Kollur Mine's location on the south bank of
408-479: The flat Palnadu basin while in the south it merges with the Tirupati hills. An extremely old system, the hills have extensively weathered and eroded over the years. The average elevation today is about 520 m which reaches 1100 m at Bhairani Konda and 1048 m at Gundla Brahmeswara. Both of these peaks are in a north westerly direction from the town of Cumbum . There are also many other peaks above 800m. The rocks of
432-402: The state of Andhra Pradesh , India. It is thought to have produced many large diamonds , known as Golconda diamonds , several of which are or have been a part of crown jewels . The mine was established in the 16th century and operated until the 19th century. Kollur Mine operated between the 16th and mid-19th centuries, and was one of the largest and most productive diamond mines on
456-528: The trees Terminalia , Hardwickia and Pterocarpus predominant. Agriculture is almost non existent apart from isolated patches near villages where subsistence farming is practiced. The Nallamala Forests are probably the largest stretch of undisturbed forest in South India apart from the Western Ghats and were particularly rich in game till the 1970s. A large part of the forest is a part of
480-501: The two families. Jemla described it as "that celebrated diamond which has been generally deemed unparalleled in size and beauty." A Venetian lapidary named Ortensio Borgio was assigned to cut the stone. It is believed that the Great Mogul Diamond exhibited several inclusions . Rejecting the idea of cutting the diamond into several fine stones, Borgio decided to address the inclusion problem by grinding away at it until
504-532: The unwanted flaws were gone. Much to the horror of the Emperor, Borgio's work yielded very poor results, including a great loss of weight. Shah Jehan spared Borgio's head, instead fining him 10,000 rupees (all the money he had) for his ineptitude. Originally this story was believed to refer to the Koh-i-Noor Diamond ; recent research appears to indicate that it instead refers to this stone. Around 1665
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#1732776816761528-464: The volcanic forces are evident in the foldings into which the rocks have been forced. The Nallamalas have a rather warm to hot climate throughout the year. Rainfall averages about 90 cm and is concentrated in the months of the Southwest monsoon (June–September). The fissured rocks prevent any water from percolating underground and hence most of the discharge runs off as mountain streams to join
552-525: Was bounded to the east by an outcrop of the Nallamala Hills and to the north and west by a meander of the Krishna River . Most of the pits have since been filled up with scree , boulders , and eluvium from neighbouring hillsides. The Tavernier Blue diamond was purchased by Jean-Baptiste Tavernier from the Kollur Mine in the mid-17th century. King Louis XIV of France bought
576-408: Was entitled to keep all diamonds weighing over 10 carats. Mining at Kollur was crude, labour-intensive, and dangerous. Miners wore loincloths , slept in huts covered with straw, and were often given food instead of money for wages. The pit walls had no timber supports and caved in after heavy rains, killing dozens of men at a time (women and children worked above ground). The area was evacuated in
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