Netherlands returned the 11th-century Anaimangalam copper plates to India

Netherlands returned the 11th-century Anaimangalam copper plates to India

¨     Netherlands returned the 11th-century Anaimangalam copper plates to India on 15 May 2026.

¨     The artefacts are also known as the Leiden Plates.

¨     The copper plates belong to the Chola dynasty period in South India.

¨     The Anaimangalam copper plates date to the reign of Rajaraja Chola I, who ruled from 985 CE to 1014 CE.

¨     The plates record land grants and tax arrangements for Chudamani Vihara, a Buddhist monastery at Nagapattinam in present-day Tamil Nadu.

¨     The Leiden Plates were preserved at Leiden University for more than a century.

¨     Dutch official Florentius Camper acquired the plates during the 18th century from the Coromandel Coast.

¨     At that time, the Coromandel Coast was part of the Dutch colonial sphere in India.

¨     The collection consists of 21 large and three small copper plates.

¨     The copper plates weigh nearly 30 kilograms.

¨     The plates are bound together by a copper ring carrying the royal Chola seal.

¨     The artefacts are considered important historical records of Chola administration, land grants, and Buddhist institutions in South India.