Chola Copper Plates Return: PM Modi Hails Tamil Heritage Triumph

"Joyous moment for every Indian": 11th-Century Chola copper plates return home as PM Modi hails Tamil heritage and maritime prowess

The Hague, May 17

The invaluable artefacts were officially handed back at a high-profile ceremony on Saturday in the presence of Narendra Modi and Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten, underscoring New Delhi's growing global success in reclaiming stolen heritage from foreign lands.

PM Modi arrived in the Netherlands on Friday following a brief stopover in the UAE, marking the second leg of an expansive five-nation tour that also includes Sweden, Norway, and Italy.

On Saturday, the formal handover ceremony served as a powerful symbol of the deepening strategic and cultural relationship between India and the Netherlands.

Expressing his immense pride on social media platform X, PM Modi shared his enthusiasm for the landmark breakthrough.

"A joyous moment for every Indian! Chola Copper Plates dating back to the 11th century will be repatriated to India from the Netherlands. Took part in the ceremony for the same in the presence of Prime Minister Rob Jetten," PM Modi wrote.

Elaborating further on the historical weight and artistic brilliance of the returned treasure, PM Modi highlighted the cultural essence of the artefacts in a subsequent post.

"The Chola Copper Plates are a set of 21 large plates and 3 small plates and largely contain texts in Tamil, one of the most beautiful languages in the world. They relate to the great Rajendra Chola I formalising an oral commitment made by his father, King Rajaraja I. They also showcase the greatness of the Cholas. We in India are immensely proud of the Cholas, their culture, and their maritime prowess," PM Modi added.

During the event, PM Modi also conveyed his sincere gratitude to the Government of the Netherlands, offering special appreciation to Leiden University, where the exceptional copper plates had been carefully preserved since the middle of the 19th century.

New Delhi had been relentlessly pursuing the return of these ancient inscriptions, widely known in the Netherlands as the Leiden Plates and in India as the Anaimangalam Copper Plates, since 2012.

Weighing roughly 30 kilograms, the 21 copper plates are bound together by a massive bronze ring that carries the official royal seal of the Chola empire, representing one of the most vital surviving records of the dynasty outside Indian shores.

The inscriptions provide a fascinating glimpse into the secular ideals of ancient Indian statecraft, with the texts meticulously divided into two separate sections, featuring accounts in both Sanskrit and Tamil.

They chronicle the governance of Rajaraja Chola I, a devout Hindu emperor who sanctioned revenue endowments to sustain a Buddhist monastery.

The genesis of the permanent record reflects a generational transition.

While King Rajaraja Chola I originally issued the verbal decree, which was first captured on fragile palm leaves, it was his son, Rajendra Chola I, who orchestrated the engraving of the grant details onto durable copper plates to ensure they would withstand the test of time, securing them with a bronze ring bearing his own royal seal.

The journey of these plates to Europe began back in the 1700s when they were taken to the Netherlands by Florentius Camper, a Christian missionary who was stationed in India during a historical window when Nagapattinam, the coastal town explicitly referenced in the inscriptions, was under Dutch colonial control.

The definitive breakthrough for their return materialised during the 24th session of the Intergovernmental Committee on Return and Restitution, which formally verified that India's claim as the authentic nation of origin was legally and historically valid.

The committee subsequently urged the Dutch administration to enter into constructive bilateral negotiations with New Delhi, culminating in the historic decision by the Netherlands to return the priceless heritage during PM Modi's official state visit.

— ANI