A collection of copper plates dating from the 11th century, inscribed during the height of the Chola dynasty, has been returned to India after spending more than two hundred years in the Netherlands.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended a ceremony in the Netherlands marking the handover, describing the return as “a joyous moment for every Indian.” The Dutch prime minister, Rob Jetten, also took part.
The artefacts are known in India as the Anaimangalam Copper Plates and in the Netherlands as the Leiden Plates. They comprise 21 large plates and three smaller ones, carrying inscriptions written largely in Tamil with sections in Sanskrit.
The inscriptions record a grant of land by the Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola I to a Buddhist monastery, the Chulamanivarma Vihara, at Nagapattinam on the south-eastern coast. They are regarded by historians as an important source on the administration and religious patronage of one of medieval south India’s most powerful states.
The plates were taken to the Netherlands in the 1700s, during a period when Nagapattinam was under Dutch control, and had remained in Dutch institutional custody since the 19th century. India had formally pursued their return since 2012.
The handover formed part of Mr Modi’s visit to the Netherlands, during which the two countries agreed to elevate their relationship to a strategic partnership, with a roadmap covering cooperation in areas including semiconductors and shipping.
The repatriation adds to a growing list of antiquities recovered by India over the past decade, as governments and museums in Europe and North America face mounting pressure to return objects removed during the colonial era.