Netherlands hands back Chola-era copper plates to India

• The Netherlands handed back 11th century Chola dynasty copper plates to India on May 16.

• Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten restituted the copper plates to the government of India at an event in the Leiden University Library in the presence of PM Narendra Modi.

• ​Chola copper plates, a set of 21 large plates and three small plates, are royal charters issued by Chola Kings during the 11th century CE. 

• India has been pursuing the return of the copper plates, known in the Netherlands as the Leiden Plates, since 2012.

• These charters formalise gifting of Anaimangalam village to a Buddha vihara called Chulamanivarma-vihara in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. 

• ​The copper plates are considered the most significant surviving records of the Chola dynasty and are among the important artefacts of Tamil heritage held anywhere outside India.

• They weigh approximately 30 kg and are bound together by a bronze ring bearing the royal seal of the Chola dynasty.

• The plates are divided into two sections: one has texts in Sanskrit, the other in Tamil. 

•Rajaraja Chola I was a Hindu emperor who provided revenue endowments for a Buddhist monastery.

• While Rajaraja Chola I gave the original verbal order, which was recorded on palm leaves, it was his son, Rajendra Chola I, who had the grant amount etched on durable copper plates to preserve it. 

• The bronze ring that binds the plates bears Rajendra Chola’s seal.

• The plates were brought to the Netherlands in the 1700s by Florentius Camper, who was in India as part of a Christian missionary in the period when Nagapattinam, the city mentioned in the plates, was under Dutch control.

• The 24th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Return and Restitution found that India’s claim as the nation of origin for the plates was valid.

• The committee encouraged the Netherlands to engage in constructive bilateral dialogue with India regarding the return of the plates.

• The restitution of these Chola copper plates assumes significance since they are not merely artefacts of the past, but an invaluable story of India’s heritage and civilisation.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)