# Nākappaṭṭiṉam, bronze label

Emmanuel Francis

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis

Identifier: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00348

Repository: Tamil Nadu (varia) (tfa-tamilnadu-epigraphy)

File path: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00348.xml

Language: Tamil [Tamil]

Commit: 2026-11-09 18:23 (fbd1441), last modified 2026-09-29 11:10
(5251b7d)

## Summary

Label on a Buddhist bronze.

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## Edition

⟨1⟩ pira¡n!⟨ṉ⟩ āḻvār nāyakar.

## Apparatus

⟨1⟩ pira¡n!⟨ṉ⟩ ⬦ piṟan R1.

## Translation by Ramachandran 1954

⟨1⟩ The Nāyakar (Lord Buddha) put up by Piranāḻvār.

## Translation

⟨1⟩ The Lord of Piraṉ Āḻvār.[1]

## Commentary

Ramachandran 1954 comments thus: “The donor is a devotee (āḻvār) by name
Pirān. Piran may be Pirān. Here Piran or Pirān is used in the
theological sense, when it is applied by different votaries to their
respective gods or objects of worship.”

## Bibliography

Edited in Ramachandran 1954, with a facsimile.

Edited and translated here by Emmanuel Francis (2024), based on
Ramachandran 1954 and the facsimile therein.

### Primary

[R1] Ramachandran, T. N. 1954. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist
bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum,
New series, General section 7.1. Madras: Government Press. Page TBC,
plate TBC.

[R2] Ramachandran, T. N. 2005. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist
bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Revised edition. Chennai: Government of
Tamilnadu. Pages 55–56, plates V, no. 48.

[1] That is, "the devotee of God." See MTL, s.v. pirāṉ: “n. prob.
peru-mai. cf. br̥han nom. sing. of br̥hat. [M. pirān.] 1. Lord, king,
chief, master; 2. God; 3. Śiva.”