The Leiden copper plates, recently returned to India, are a vital record of Chola history
The Leiden copper plates, significant records of Chola history, were returned to India on May 16, 2026. These artefacts, held by Leiden University since 1862, are crucial for understanding 11th-century South Indian history. Their repatriation involved extensive collaboration between Indian scholars and Dutch authorities over several years.
- ▪The Leiden copper plates were returned to India after being held in the Netherlands since 1862.
- ▪The plates are considered invaluable records of Chola history and document international ties between South India and Southeast Asia.
- ▪The repatriation process involved a dossier prepared by Indian scholars and support from UNESCO.
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When the priceless Chola bronzes from Sivapuram and Pathur villages in Tamil Nadu were returned to India in 1986 and 1991 after protracted legal battles in the U.S. and U.K., it created a sensation. A formidable team of experts from diverse fields helped repatriate the bronzes after they were smuggled abroad. On February 17, 1988, Justice Ian Kennedy of a London court, awarding the idol to Tamil Nadu, praised R. Nagaswamy, who testified in the case, as “an acknowledged expert in the field of Chola bronzes.” Then Director of the Tamil Nadu State Department of Archaeology, Nagaswamy was an epigraphist, iconographer, archaeologist, and scholar of Tamil and Sanskrit.It was celebration time again for epigraphists and scholars of Chola history when Leiden University in the Netherlands handed…
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