Echoes of Maritime Greatness: The Dutch return the invaluable ‘Leiden’ plates marking Chola King’s religious harmony

Another long legal battle paid off. The Netherlands has handed back the 11th-century famously known as ‘Anaimangalam’ copper plates to India.  It marked a major milestone in ties between the two countries. The copper plates, according to petitioner B Jaggannath, is considered among the most significant surviving records of the Chola dynasty, the return coincides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Netherlands as part of his five-nation tour.

🚨Netherlands has returned 11th-century Chola copper plates to India during PM Modi’s visit. pic.twitter.com/u5kcHi8tYW

— Indian Infra Report (@Indianinfoguide) May 16, 2026

Addressing the Indian diaspora in the Netherlands, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed gratitude for the overwhelming response by the crowd in the Hague. He said, “It’s always a delight to interact with the Indian diaspora. So much love and enthusiasm… to tell you the truth, for a while I even forgot that I’m in the Netherlands. It feels just like some festival is going on somewhere in India.”

https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1DxLdvnOARbxm?s=20

One of netizons Sidhant Sibal in a post in X says “ Netherlands will hand over the 11th-century Anaimangalam Chola Copper Plates to India during PM Modi’s visit. The 21-plate set records Rajaraja I’s grant to a Buddhist vihara at Nagapattinam & has been at Leiden University for over 300 years.

Flash: Netherlands will hand over the 11th-century Anaimangalam Chola Copper Plates to India during PM Modi’s visit. The 21-plate set records Rajaraja I’s grant to a Buddhist vihara at Nagapattinam & has been at Leiden University for over 300 years.

— Sidhant Sibal (@sidhant) May 16, 2026

A royal charter or a sasana of the Chola kings, lost 300 years ago from Tamil Nadu, is now being preserved in the Leiden University in the Netherlands. Commonly referred to as the “Leiden plates”, it was issued by the kings to a Buddhist Vihara.

Temple activist TR Ramesh in a tweet in x platform hailed the efforts of the petitioner. He said “ a historic moment when Raja Raja Chola era copper plates correctly known as “Anaimangalam Plates” (popularly known world over as Leiden Copper Plates held in Leiden University) are returned to Bharat by Netherlands Thanks mainly to our True Temple Activist – Advocate Shri Jagannath – who filed a Writ Petition in 2019 before the Hon’ble Madras High Court. Jagannath persistently followed up his Writ Petition. Subsequent to that @mygovindia took efforts through diplomatic channels to retrieve the extraordinarily important historical plates and finally they are being returned by Government of Netherlands.

https://twitter.com/trramesh/status/2055594721150652655?s=20  ( you can take image as screen shots)

Chennai customs department statement says “the Anaimangalam copper plates comprise a set of 21 large plates and three smaller ones. These were issued to commemorate grants made by the renowned Chola ruler Rajaraja I to a Buddhist vihara (monastery) at the Chola port town of Nagappattinam in Tamil Nadu. The vihara had been constructed by Chulamanivarman, the Sailendra ruler of Southeast Asia”.

It is learnt that  Kulothunga Chola, believed to have descended from the Eastern Chalukya dynasty, favoured the use of the term “sunkam”, a word commonly used across the Deccan region during that period.

On May 5 this year, Ambassador Kumar Tuhin met Kurt de Belder in the Netherlands to discuss the expansion of cooperation between the two nations, including ties between Leiden University and the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). During the meeting, he was also shown the Chola copper plates, which had been preserved there since 1862. The artefacts are believed to have been taken to Netherlands by colonial officials.

Reports say “ The inscriptions on the plates are written in both Sanskrit and Tamil. As per Leiden University, the Sanskrit section traces the genealogy of the Chola dynasty, beginning with the mythical lineage linked to the Hindu god Vishnu. The Tamil text highlights the accomplishments of Rajaraja I, father of Rajendra I, including his donation of an entire village’s revenue to a Buddhist pagoda in the 21st year of his reign”.

It can be seen from this about the religious tolerance of Rajaraja I, who allowed a Malay Buddhist ruler of the Sriwijaya empire, spanning Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, to establish a sanctuary in Nagapattinam, then a key port and trading hub on the Coromandel Coast.

In the writ petition, M Kalimuthu, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Chennai circle in his status report had stated “the copper plates from the Chola period are ancient inscription and documents inscribed onto plates made of copper. Chola dynasty, in reference, ruled major parts of Southern part of India during 9th and 13th Cent. CE. These plates were used for recording grants of land, taxes and other royal decrees. These are significant for historical and cultural insight into the society, economy and governance of Chola Dynasty”.

He said that the Chola period copper plate from Tamil Nadu are at present kept in the Leiden University Library of Netherlands.  It is written in two sections. The first secition is Sanskrit language and in Grantha script containing 111 lines on both sides of the five plates. Both the language and script of the second section containing 232 lines in 16 plates are in Tamil. It records the gift of the Anaimangalam village to a Buddha vihara called Chulamanivarma-vihara of Nagapattinam built by ruler Srivijaya (Sri Vijaya) ofm Kataka (Kadaram)  king, Sri Mara Vijayothunga Varman , of Sailendra family (a Malay Buddhist empire of 7th -11th century BE) in the name of his father, Sri Chudamanin Varman.

Adding further that the Indian Embassy in The Hague is raising the issue of restation of the Chola period copper plates in its meetings with the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs , Ministry of Education, Culture and Science as well as Leiden University since May 2019.

The official said “it was informed by the MEA in late September 2023 the Director of the Library informed that the library would cooperate with the Embassy on the issue of restitutio ofn copper plates and that then Library would request the Dutch ministry of Education, culture and science to refer restitution request to the Independent Colonial Collections Committee (ICCC). Then committee will advise the state secretary for culture and media on all restitution requests. In his letter, Leiden university Director has conveyed that library will follow the advice of the committee… ASI has already provided the provenance dossier to MEA which is supposed to be asked by ICCC and Dutch authorities….. on 15th May 2024, PRI at UNESCO has informed that the issue is proposed to be discussed in 24th session of UNESCO Inter governmental committee for promoting the return of cultural property to the country of its origin during 29-31 May 2024.

In his petition Jagannath had stated that the The Anaimangalam copperplate – a series of copper plates of the Chola Era mentions that KasibaThera (Buddhist Monk) renovated the shrine in 6th century AD with the help of monks of “Naganadu” (Nagapattinam). The Pallava King Rajasimha (690–728) permitted a Chinese king to build Buddha vihara in Nagappattinam. The same is also mentioned in South Indian Inscriptions, Volume 12, ASI. According to the copperplate record of Chola king Rajaraja, the Sailendra king, Sri Mara-vijayottungavarman constructed the vihara with the support of Emperor Rajaraja Cholan. Further, it is written in Ponniyin selvan by Kalki that the Copper plates are at Leiden University at Netherlands….

He had given a detailed historical detail to prove his stand and reasons for its restitution to Bharat.