# Nākappaṭṭiṉam, bronze label

Emmanuel Francis

Author of digital edition: Emmanuel Francis

Identifier: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00375

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

File path: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00375.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⟩ Āḷ-uṭaiya ṉā⟨2⟩yakar ↝

## Translation by Ramachandran 1954

⟨1–2⟩ The Nāyakar (i.e., Lord Buddha) who was the Lord of people.

## Translation

⟨1–2⟩ The Lord, Lord of men.

## Commentary

Ramachandran 1954 comments thus: “In this votive offering the Buddha is
appropriately praised as the Lord of men in the spiritual sense.”

The terms āḷ-uṭaiyāṉ / āḷ-uṭaiyaṉ and āḷ-uṭaiya, respectively a nominal
and a adjectival form, literally mean "who owns/possesses
men/servants/devotees". See MTL, s.v. āḷ-uṭaiyāṉ: “n. 1. One who has
accepted a person as servant; 2. Lord, Supreme Being.” In the present
case, it is not clear, but not relevant for the meaning, if we have to
read āḷ-uṭaiyaṉāyakar (āḷ-uṭaiyaṉ + nāyakar) or āḷ-uṭaiya ¡ṉ!⟨n⟩āyakar.

Compare Tamil Nadu 320.

The Śaiva saints and poets of the Tēvāram, Appar, Cuntarar, and
Campantar, are respectively known in epigraphical sources as āḷ-uṭaiya
v-aracu, āḷ-uṭaiya nampi, and āḷ-uṭaiya piḷḷaiyār / āḷ-uṭaiya tēvar.

## 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 p. 62,
plates XXVII, no. 75.

[R2] Ramachandran, T. N. 2005. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist
bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Revised edition. Chennai: Government of
Tamilnadu. Page 74, plates VI, no. 75.