Dutch government restitutes thousand-year-old sovereign Tamil records to India
Leiden University authorities formally returned the ancient eleventh-century Chola dynasty copper plates to India during an official state event in The Hague on Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Dutch counterpart Rob Jetten witnessed the significant restitution ceremony, ending a complex fourteen-year diplomatic push by New Delhi. The sovereign collection, globally recognized as the Leiden Plates or Anaimangalam Copper Plates, weighs thirty kilograms and comprises twenty-one large sheets alongside three smaller units bound securely by a royal bronze ring.
Ancient Inscriptions Restored
Historical evaluations demonstrate that these records represent crucial administrative charters from the peak of South Indian rule. Emperor Rajaraja Chola I initially granted the revenue generated from Anaimangalam village to maintain a Buddhist monastery in Nagapattinam, showing remarkable religious tolerance. His successor, King Rajendra Chola I, eventually formalized this verbal pledge by engraving the decree onto durable metal sheets. Five sheets preserve text written in Sanskrit, while sixteen record the administration in classical Tamil.
Colonial Plunder Reversed
Colonial actors extracted these items from Tamil Nadu around 1700 when the Dutch East India Company occupied the southern coast. European pastors relocated the items to the Netherlands, where descendants eventually donated them to academic institutions in 1862. The return follows exhaustive provenance investigations by the Colonial Collections Committee of the Netherlands, which verified that the original loss of possession was entirely involuntary. External Affairs Ministry officials confirmed that the Archaeological Survey of India will house the items in New Delhi before arranging public exhibitions.
With Inputs from Agency Threads and Image Courtesy: @Narendramodi 'x' account
