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Chola-era plates, presently successful the possession of Leiden University successful the Netherlands, has been returned to India. The plates were presented connected Saturday (May 16, 2026) during a ceremonial ceremonial successful the beingness of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten successful The Hague. They volition beryllium officially transferred to India astatine a aboriginal date.
The plates, besides known arsenic the Anaimangalam Plates, were mislaid astir 300 years agone and person reportedly been successful the possession of the assemblage since 1862. They are considered important sources of royal charters successful southbound India and supply invaluable humanities accusation astir the narration betwixt the Chola and Srivijaya Empires. The plates unneurotic measurement astir 30 kg.
The charter contains 2 sections — 1 successful Sanskrit and different successful Tamil — and the 21 copper plates are held unneurotic by a monolithic bronze ringing bearing the royal seal of Rajendra Chola. The inscriptions woody with the genealogy of the Chola dynasty and the reign of King Rajaraja I (985–1014 CE), the begetter of Rajendra Chola I (1012–1044 CE). The charter records that 26 villages surrounding Anaimangalam were donated for a Buddhist shrine (vihara), known arsenic Chulamanivarmavihara, built by the Malay king of Srivijaya successful Nagapattinam, a larboard municipality connected the Coromandel Coast.
In the summertime of 2023, the Indian authorities submitted a petition to Leiden University seeking the instrumentality of the plates. An probe recovered that the plates were apt excavated by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) successful Nagapattinam betwixt 1687 and 1700 and removed from India without the consent of the rightful owners. The Colonial Collections Committee concluded that the removal amounted to involuntary nonaccomplishment of possession and recommended their unconditional instrumentality to India. Leiden University accepted the recommendation.
“For much than a decade, we person campaigned for the instrumentality of the 2 sets of Chola copper plates housed astatine Leiden University Library successful the Netherlands,” said S. Vijay Kumar, taste enthusiast and co-founder of India Pride. “In June 2018, I had the accidental to spot the plates successful person. It was a profoundly moving experience. For years, I person work astir them, written astir them and argued for their return. But lasting earlier the plates was thing else,” helium said.
He said the provenance records astatine Leiden permission respective questions unanswered. “The records authorities that the charters were brought from India to the Netherlands, but the circumstances surrounding their removal stay unclear. The provenance enactment says the 2 charters were brought to the Netherlands by Florentius Camper, a Minister of Faith successful Batavia successful the aboriginal 18th Century. However, it does not explicate however helium acquired them, from whom, nether what authority, oregon with whose consent,” helium said.
The plates volition beryllium handed implicit to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) successful New Delhi. The ASI, which functions nether the Union Ministry of Culture, volition determine whether and wherever the objects volition beryllium exhibited successful India.
“The grounds is important not lone for Chola past but besides for the past of Indian Ocean connections. It shows a Tamil Saivite imperial tribunal supporting a Buddhist instauration linked to Southeast Asian royalty. It is grounds of spiritual coexistence, maritime diplomacy, and taste speech successful the 11th Century. The plates truthful cannot beryllium understood simply arsenic antiquities. They are portion of the documentary archive of a maritime empire,” Mr. Vijay Kumar added.
‘A joyous moment’
Reacting to the instrumentality of the Anaimangalam Plates connected a societal media station aboriginal successful the day, Mr. Modi termed it a “joyous infinitesimal for each Indian” and thanked the Government of the Netherlands and Leiden University.
(With inputs from PTI)
