By ABC South Asia correspondent Avani Dias and Som Patidar in New Delhi
A replica of the Koh-i-Noor diamond on display at a museum in Mumbai. Said to be worth $591 million, the rock owned by the British Royal Family is a touchpoint for calls for colonial wrongs to be addressed. Photo: Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 2.0/ Aiva
The world's most expensive diamond, the Kohinoor has been fought over for centuries and is said to be cursed. It is one of 2800 jewels set in the crown made for the Queen Mother. With the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Consort Camilla plans to wear it, and Indians are again asking for its return.
As news broke of Queen Elizabeth II's passing, one word started trending on Twitter in India: "Kohinoor".
It is the name of the most expensive diamond in the world and has a long history with the royal family, having been worn on crowns by generations of queens.
Most recently it was just one of 2800 stones set in the crown made for King Charles III's grandmother, the Queen Mother.
But there is some debate over whether the 105-carat oval-shaped diamond belongs to the House of Windsor.
The precious diamond has been fought over for centuries, so much so that British royal legend says the diamond will bring bad luck to any man who wears it.
Indians believe it came from the south of their country, in what is now modern-day Andhra Pradesh.
Now, with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, many in the country are ramping up the campaign for the $591 million jewel to be sent back to them.
Once adorning Queen Mary's crown, the large round Kohinoor diamond is shown here set in the front middle cross pattée. Photo: Wikimedia Commons -Cyril Davenport
"On behalf of Indians, we want our Kohinoor back," one Indian Twitter user posted just eight minutes after the official announcement the Queen had died.
As Indian YouTubers, Bollywood stars, the business community, filmmakers, and academics join the online push, it has brought back memories of how the diamond was acquired.
The complicated history of the jewel in the crown
The earliest record of the diamond is believed to date somewhere between the 12th and 14th centuries.
"Probably originating from the Golconda mines in central southern India, the diamond has had a turbulent history," the Historic Royal Palaces, which manages the Tower of London where the Kohinoor lives, says.
The Kohinoor was then claimed by Mughal Islamic emperors, Sikh maharajahs, and emirs of Afghanistan.
By the 1800s, it was in the hands of Sikh maharajah Duleep Singh.
At 11 years old, he was leading modern-day Punjab - one of the last parts of the subcontinent, which had not yet been colonised by the British.
Under Queen Victoria's reign, the British eventually colonised the region in 1849 after two bloody wars, leading to thousands of deaths in the subcontinent.
The Kohinoor is seen here as a brooch worn by Queen Victoria in this portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Rumoured to be cursed for men, Queen Victoria ordered that only her female descendants wear the diamond. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ Public Domain
The Kohinoor was part of the peace deal signed between the infant emperor Singh and the British.
"The gem called the Kohinoor … shall be surrendered by the Maharajah of Lahore to the Queen of England," the third clause of the peace treaty said.
The diamond was presented to Queen Victoria in 1850 and today sits on display as part of the crown jewels in the Tower of London.
The British say the diamond was surrendered, but Indians say it was stolen.
This is not the first time India has asked for the diamond back
In 2000, Indian parliamentarians signed a letter to Britain calling for the Kohinoor to be given back.
"Britain owes us," prominent Indian MP Shashi Tharoor has said.
"But, instead of returning the evidence of their rapacity to their rightful owners, the British are flaunting the Kohinoor on the Queen Mother's crown in the Tower of London.
"It is a stark reminder of what colonialism truly was: shameless subjugation, coercion, and misappropriation."
The campaign for the diamond's return increased again in 2013 when then UK prime minister David Cameron visited India.
"If you say yes to one [request], you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I am afraid to say, it is going to have to stay put," he said.
India is not the only country that lays claim to the diamond. Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran all say the Kohinoor should be returned to them.
But the royal family claims it is its property, though it acknowledges the diamond "probably" originated in India.
Britain's colonial past has left 'wounds still in our hearts'
The British ruled India for 200 years, until 1947.
Last month, India celebrated 75 years of independence from British rule.
Jyoti Atwal, a historian at New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, says campaigns like this are about reclaiming the country's identity.
Then-British prime minister David Cameron laying a wreath at Jallianwala Bagh massacre memorial in Amritsar in 2013. Cameron became the first serving UK prime minister to voice regret about one of the British Empire's bloodiest episodes in India. Photo: AFP/Toi
"These become symbolic movements to assert that we have been a nation which has owned something," she says.
"And the other nation owes something to us."
Alongside the Kohinoor campaign, calls have also re-emerged for the royal family to apologise for a massacre of pro-independence protesters in Amritsar, on India's north in 1919.
British troops fired on the unarmed and peaceful protesters, in what became a major turning point in India's independence movement, solidifying major public sentiment against the royal family.
Queen Elizabeth II visited India three times during her life, including most recently in 1997 when she went to the massacre memorial.
Mahesh Behal, whose grandfather Lala Hari Ram Behal was killed at Jallianwala Bagh, held a protest during the Queen's visit along with the families of other victims who were calling for an apology.
"We protested when the Queen visited the Jallianwala Bagh memorial, we were holding black flags when she was about to enter the memorial, but police arrested us and then the Queen entered the memorial," he says.
"She did not say a single word to us, nothing at all. Our family members were martyred.
"The wounds are still in our hearts, the wounds remain. We wanted the Queen to apologise on the behalf of England."
The Queen's visit was just after Princess Diana's death in October 1997.
She was hoping to improve Britain's reputation in India, while marking the 50th anniversary of the country's independence.
During the visit, she made an unusual acknowledgement of Britain's dark and colonial history.
"It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past," she said in a banquet address.
"Jallianwala Bagh is a distressing example."
The Queen and Prince Philip also visited the massacre site and laid a wreath at the memorial, but that was not enough for the victim's families.
"It's sad that she died," Behal says.
"Now we demand the new King complete the Queen's unfinished work and apologise to the entire country and the martyrs.
"They must apply ointment on our wounds … Now we hope her successor will understand our pain and apologise."
Will King Charles III address the wrongs of the past?
Queen Consort Camilla will be the next to wear the crown which was worn by Queen Elizabeth and features the Kohinoor diamond.
She will reportedly wear it at her husband's eventual coronation.
King Charles III promised to follow the Queen's "selfless duty" during his first address to both houses of parliament in his new position. Photo: AFP / Pool / Dan Kitwood
"That will again rake up a demand for bringing it back," Professor Atwal says.
"When we visit [the] Tower of London where it is kept, all South Asians who are visitors who come to England have to pay to see the Queen's jewellery, diamond possessions, especially the crown of Queen Elizabeth.
"It's an issue which will keep coming up again, and again."
Academics like Professor Atwal believe King Charles will have no choice but to adapt to the times, confront the past and apologise for Britain's role in historical events.
"I think [the 1997 visit] basically paved the way for another visit later on," she says.
"It has paved the way for something more.
"When King Charles returns to the place he will again have to address that moment which was incomplete at that point.
"King Charles will have to look at this new phase of anti-colonialism because anti-colonialism has changed its face now.
"It brings back new memories, there is a new knowledge that is being imparted to the people so this anti-colonialism will be very different for the British monarchy to face."
-ABC
