Queen Elizabeth's crown is adorned with 2,465 diamonds, but the most notable of these is the 105-carat Koh-i-noor, a famous diamond with a long history.
Koh-i-noor is translated from Hindi as "Mountain of Light". The history of the diamond has been known for certain since 1300. Legends tell about much earlier events associated with this stone.
The Kohinur diamond is overgrown with numerous legends. One of them says that it was found about 5,000 years ago in South India.
Another legend of the acquisition of Kohinur tells that on the banks of the Yamuna River they found a baby with a diamond burning in his forehead. This baby was the first legendary hero of India named Karna, mentioned in the ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata".
The divine origin of the stone is described by the following legend: after the death of King Ala-ad-din, his sons, named Khizr-khan, Shihab-ud-din-Umar and Qutub-ud-din-Mubarak, decided to divide the entire territory of the kingdom into three parts. To this end, they set off on a journey through their father's domain. In the mountains they were caught by a downpour, and they took refuge from the weather in one of the caves. Going inside, the princes saw that the cave was illuminated by an unusual light that came from a diamond lying on a granite stone. The brothers began to argue who should own the treasure and began to pray to the gods: Khizr Khan - Vishnu, Umar - to the soul of the world Brahma, and Mubarak - to the destroyer god Shiva. Shiva heard Mubarak's prayer and threw lightning into the diamond; it split into three parts. Each of the fragments exceeded seven hundred carats. Khizr Khan took the largest part for himself, which he called Derianur - "Sea of Light". Umar named his stone "Kohinur" - "Mountain of Light", and Mubarak named his stone "Hindinur" - "Light of India".