It sits behind thick glass in the Tower of London, a 105.6-carat chunk of carbon that has seen more blood than most battlefields. People call it the Mountain of Light. But if you look at the ledger of its owners, it looks a lot more like a mountain of corpses. The big question—why is the kohinoor diamond cursed—isn't just a ghost story for tourists. It’s a historical pattern that has repeated for nearly eight hundred years.
If you’re a man, you probably shouldn't touch it.
That’s the gist of the legend, anyway. There is a Hindu text dating back to 1306 that supposedly warns: "He who owns this diamond will own the world, but will also know all its misfortunes. Only God, or a woman, can wear it with impunity." Honestly, it sounds like a movie script. But when you track the actual movement of the stone from the Kakatiya dynasty to the British Crown, the "misfortunes" part starts looking less like a myth and more like a terrifyingly accurate data set.
Blood, Betrayal, and the "Mountain of Light"
The diamond didn't start its life as a British crown jewel. It was likely born in the Kollur Mine in India. For centuries, it was the ultimate prize of the East. But the prize came with a price.
Take the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. He’s the guy who built the Taj Mahal. He had the Kohinoor set into his legendary Peacock Throne, a chair that cost twice as much as the Taj itself. What happened next? His own son, Aurangzeb, overthrew him and locked him in a cell where he could only see the Taj Mahal through a reflection in a window.
It gets worse.
Nadir Shah, the Persian invader, eventually sacked Delhi in 1739. He’s actually the one who gave the stone its name. Legend says he saw the diamond and shouted, "Koh-i-Noor!" which means Mountain of Light. He took it back to Persia. Within years, he was assassinated by his own guards. The diamond then passed to Ahmad Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. His empire eventually crumbled. His descendants ended up blinded, tortured, or in exile.
👉 See also: Black Red Wing Shoes: Why the Heritage Flex Still Wins in 2026
Basically, if you were a king and you held the Kohinoor, your days were numbered. It didn't matter how big your army was. The stone seemed to invite betrayal from within your own family. It’s a weirdly specific type of bad luck.
Why is the Kohinoor Diamond Cursed for Men?
The British East India Company got their hands on it in 1849. They forced the 10-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh to sign it away in the Treaty of Lahore. Duleep Singh was the last ruler of the Sikh Empire. He ended his life in a lonely hotel room in Paris, far from his home and his kingdom.
But the curse didn't stay in India. It traveled to London on the HMS Medea.
During the voyage, cholera broke out on the ship. Then, a massive gale hit them for twelve hours. When the diamond finally reached Queen Victoria, people were already whispering. Victoria, being savvy (or perhaps a bit superstitious), decided to take the ancient Hindu warning seriously.
She never wore it in a crown. Instead, she wore it as a brooch.
Since then, the British have followed a very specific rule: the Kohinoor is only worn by women. It has graced the crowns of Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Interestingly, none of these women suffered the violent, messy ends that the male owners did.
✨ Don't miss: Finding the Right Word That Starts With AJ for Games and Everyday Writing
Think about that for a second.
Prince Philip never wore it. King Charles won't wear it. When Queen Camilla was crowned, she notably chose not to use the crown containing the Kohinoor, opting for Queen Mary’s crown instead—but with the Kohinoor removed and replaced with other diamonds. Some say it was to avoid political tension with India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, who all claim ownership. Others? Well, they think the royal family isn't taking any chances with that 1306 prophecy.
The Science of a "Curse" vs. Historical Reality
Is it actually magic? Or is it just human nature?
Historians like William Dalrymple and Anita Anand, who wrote the definitive book Koh-i-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond, argue that the "curse" might be a bit of a retrospective narrative. When a stone is that valuable, everyone wants it. If everyone wants it, people are going to kill for it.
If you own the most famous diamond in the world, you basically have a giant target on your back. It’s not necessarily that the carbon is hexed. It’s that the diamond represents ultimate power, and ultimate power is inherently unstable.
However, the "men only" aspect of the curse is harder to explain away with simple politics. Why did the Mughals, Persians, Afghans, and Sikhs all see their male lineages destroyed while the British female royals seem fine? It’s one of those things that keeps the legend alive. It makes the stone more than just a mineral. It makes it a character in history.
🔗 Read more: Is there actually a legal age to stay home alone? What parents need to know
What Most People Get Wrong About the Stone
Most people think the Kohinoor is the biggest diamond in the world. It’s actually not even in the top ten anymore.
When it arrived in England, it was much larger but lacked the "sparkle" the Victorians loved. Prince Albert had it recut. It went from 186 carats down to 105. He basically shaved off 40% of the diamond to make it shine brighter. Many people in India saw this as a final insult—a colonial "fix" for a stone that was already perfect in its original form.
There’s also the misconception that it's just a British-India dispute. In reality, the ownership history is a mess.
- India wants it back because it was taken from a child-king.
- Pakistan claims it because Lahore (where it was surrendered) is in Pakistan.
- Afghanistan claims it because the Durrani Empire held it for a long time.
- Iran could even make a case because Nadir Shah took it from Delhi.
The Actionable Truth: How to View the Kohinoor Today
If you find yourself at the Tower of London, you’ll see the diamond in the Crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. It’s spectacular, sure. But the real value isn't in the carats. It's in the story.
Whether you believe in curses or not, the Kohinoor serves as a powerful reminder of how objects carry the weight of history. It is a "blood diamond" in the most literal, historical sense.
If you want to understand the modern controversy, stop looking at it as a piece of jewelry. Start looking at it as a geopolitical lightning rod. The "curse" is effectively the psychological baggage of colonialism and conquest.
What you can do next:
- Read the primary sources: Look up the Treaty of Lahore (1849) to see the exact language used to "gift" the diamond. It's eye-opening.
- Follow the repatriation debate: Keep an eye on the UK’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Their stance on "contested heritage" changes with every administration.
- Explore the Kollur Mine history: Research the Golconda diamonds. The Kohinoor isn't the only famous stone from this region; the Hope Diamond (also famously cursed) likely came from the same area.
The Kohinoor isn't just sitting there. It's waiting. History shows that no one keeps it forever. The "curse" might just be a fancy name for the inevitable end of every empire that tries to claim it.