Dutch national daily, Trouw, writes: Although, books can hardly be called books. They are inscriptions on copper plates held together by metal rings. They look most like gigantic sets of keys, but weighing thirty kilos. In full, these engravings are referred to as charters from the Indian Chola empire.
But imported scholars usually simply refer to them as the ‘Leiden Plates’, after the South Holland university town where the famous engravings have been lying since the year 1863. The Indian government wants the copper plates back.
According to Indians, the engravings tell an important story about Indian history, and would therefore be better displayed in a local museum in South India. Recently, the Indian government stepped to UNESCO to increase the pressure.
India’s UN ambassador is ‘encouraged’ by ‘positive signals’ in bilateral negotiations between India and the Netherlands.
