Was there any attempt made to bring the Leiden Plates back to Tamil Nadu? Apart from the copper plates mentioned in the article what are the copper plates that we have?
Have these been digitized, in a way it can be readable online and preserved in the event of physical destruction or theft?
A few more links to do with the inscriptions. looks there are a few of them in the Madras museum. All such copper plats and movable memorabilia must be assembled in a great ethnic museum whereas the digital copies must be made available for the public eyes at several places across the country.
it will be great if tanjore, kumbakonam (Pazhayarai)and trichy (Urayur) are cleaned up (civic sense??!!)and a historic feel is created. Local public must be aware of the greatness of their region and behave accordingly.
Why, even the bus stations, railway stations and airports must resemble the local history and culture (like the Cochin airport does a little bit) - so that people get a feel of the history the moment they enter these places. Actually the distant temple towers seen when you travel, does a little bit of this already.
We must really learn to value and celebrate our history and past glory to bring some of that back again - western coutries do a great job of that - we can learn loads from them.
Swarna: Thanks a bunch for posting those links. Back in the days, Kings patronized art and culture. These days it has to be a private-public participation to nourish art and culture and preserve the past.
R.E.A.C.H exists, but its website does not have any updates recently. On December 31st 2009 I was looking for means to donate some money to the organization. Alas I could not find; I was ready to donate few hundred dollars.
But getting back artifacts from other countries has to systematically be pursued by Government organizations. On the other hand, maybe these artifacts are well preserved using state-of-the-art technology.