The Koh-i-noor diamond’s origins are debated, but it may have come from the Kollur mine of the Krishna River. Some historians report that the jewel was taken in 1304 by Sultan ʿAlāʾ-ud-Dīn Khaljī from the raja of Malwa, India. Other accounts identify it as the diamond given to the son of Bābur, founder of the Mughal dynasty, by the raja of Gwalior after the battle of Panipat in 1526 or presented to Mughal emperor Shah Jahān in 1656.
The Koh-i-noor likely became part of the loot of Nāder Shah of Iran after he sacked Delhi in 1739. It later fell into the hands of Aḥmad Shah, founder of the Durrānī dynasty of Afghans. His descendant Shah Shojāʿ, when a fugitive in India, was compelled to surrender the stone to Ranjit Singh, the Sikh ruler. In 1849 the British acquired the Koh-i-noor and added it to Queen Victoria’s crown jewels.