Overview

The rulers of the [Mughal dynasty]] had a passion for chronicling their reign and almost every emperor in that lineage commissioned lavishly illustrated biographies. These documents have proved to be invaluable resources for later historians who have been able to use them to reconstruct the social and political events during the lives and times of the Mughal emperors.
These meticulously recorded volumes have been especially valuable in reconstructing the story of the historic Akbar Shah diamond. This fabulous gem, which once weighed 116 carats, is said to have borne two inscriptions in Persian. One referred to its first owner, Emperor Jahangir. According to the etching, the stone found its way into the Imperial Treasury of the emperor in 1619. A possible allusion to this can be found in the Tuzuk-i-Jahangiri(Memoirs of Jahangir). These records, either written in Jahangir's own hand or dictated to a scribe, cover the period of his reign(1605-27) and illustrate his glamorous lifestyle. Of his sojourn in Gujarat, it is recorded: On Friday the 5th, Bahram, son of Jahangir Quli Khan, came from the province of Bihar, and had the good fortunes to pay his respects. He laid before me some diamonds he had obtained from the mines at Kokhra.
It is likely that the Akbar Shah was among the array of diamonds that were presented to Jahangir. It is interesting to note that the memoirs make a mention of diamond deposits from the mine at Kokhra (present day Khukra, 64 km west of Ranchi)in the eastern state of Bihar

Bihar

Bihar is a state in eastern India. It is the 12th largest state in terms of geographical size at and 3rd largest by population. Almost 58% of Biharis are below the age of 25, which is the highest proportion in India....

. Apparently, these were not from a mine at all, but from a river bed that was fertile with diamonds. Though Jahangir's memoirs give a description of how large diamonds were also mined from this source, this area has rarely been given due credit by the diamond mining industry. In fact, it is hardly ever mentioned as a diamond rich region in India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.
The second inscription on the Akbar Shah confirms that it officially became a part of Shah Jahan's treasury in 1629. It is widely believed by historians that this celebrated gem was set as one of the eyes of the peacock in the fabulous Peacock Throne. However, other scholars suggest the possibility of it being the dazzling diamond

Diamond

In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...

s encircled by emeralds and rubies, suspended opposite the throne. But there are yet other authorities who feel that the suspended gem was the Shah diamond.