India was the only source of diamonds the world knew until the 1700s, and Panna in Madhya Pradesh is the last place in the country still producing them. Here, uniquely, ordinary people can mine: the government leases tiny shallow plots to villagers, who dig the gravel by hand and wash it, and every so often someone turns up a stone worth a fortune, all diamonds must be turned in to the state office and auctioned, with the finder paid. A living echo of the Golconda legend. Panna, Madhya Pradesh.
Diamond
India
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This is remote ground. The closest other places on the map are a long way off.
