India on Thursday, 15 October 2026 handed over a replica of the 9th-century Nalanda Copper Plate — an ancient inscription documenting maritime and cultural links between India and the Srivijaya Empire — to the Nalanda Institute in Jakarta. The Indian Embassy in Indonesia confirmed the handover, describing it as a reaffirmation of civilisational ties that predate modern diplomacy by over a millennium.

The Handover Ceremony

India's Ambassador to Indonesia, Sandeep Chakravorty, formally presented the replica to the Nalanda Institute. In a gesture layered with symbolic weight, a Bodhi plant was also planted on the institute's campus to represent the enduring bilateral relationship between the two nations.

'This historic inscription stands as timeless proof of ancient maritime diplomacy, cultural ties, and shared heritage between India and the Srivijaya Empire,' the Indian Embassy said in a statement. 'A Bodhi plant was also planted on campus to symbolise enduring bilateral ties,' it added.

What the Nalanda Copper Plate Represents

The original 9th-century Nalanda Copper Plate is one of the most significant epigraphic records of ancient India-Southeast Asia exchange. It documents a land grant by the Pala king to a monastery founded by a Srivijayan ruler — evidence that Buddhist scholarship and maritime commerce connected the Indian subcontinent to the archipelagos of Southeast Asia centuries before European contact. The Srivijaya Empire, centred in present-day Sumatra, was a major Buddhist maritime power that maintained close cultural and trade ties with Nalanda, the celebrated ancient university in Bihar.

Tagore-Dewantara Year of Cultural and Educational Diplomacy

The handover falls within the broader framework of the 'Tagore-Dewantara Year of Cultural and Educational Diplomacy', a 15-month bilateral celebration running from July 2026 to September 2027. The commemorative year was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia and was jointly declared by both countries.

The initiative is named after Rabindranath Tagore — Asia's first Nobel laureate — and Ki Hadjar Dewantara, the father of Indonesian national education. In 1927, Tagore travelled through Java and Bali, encountering a society he found awakening through art, learning, and self-belief. The 2026-27 commemoration marks a century since that visit, with programming spanning festivals, films, fashion, textiles, literature, and scholarship exchanges across both nations.

Broader Diplomatic Context

India and Indonesia have deepened cultural and strategic engagement over recent years, with the Tagore-Dewantara Year adding a people-to-people dimension to what is otherwise a relationship increasingly defined by trade, defence, and Indo-Pacific alignment. This copper plate handover — a replica of a document that records royal patronage of cross-border Buddhist scholarship — underscores both countries' interest in anchoring their modern partnership in a shared ancient heritage. Notably, the choice of venue, the Nalanda Institute in Jakarta, directly echoes the original inscription's connection to the ancient Nalanda university in India.

Further cultural exchanges under the Tagore-Dewantara Year are expected through September 2027, with both embassies coordinating events across major Indonesian and Indian cities.