The Imperial Charter of the Oceans: Unlocking the Chola Leiden Plates
The artifacts known as the Leiden Plates are among the most structurally complex, heavy, and historically significant copper-plate charters (sasanas) ever discovered in the Indian subcontinent. Totaling 24 individual sheets bound by heavy bronze rings and weighing approximately 30 kilograms, they preserve a flawless record of 11th-century geopolitics.