Nākappaṭṭiṉam, bronze label

Editor: Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00381.

Summary: Label on a Buddhist bronze.

Hand description:

Language: Tamil.

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

Version: (b3b3a47), last modified (4a0c02e).

Edition

⟨1⟩ tiru-v-araṅka-nāyakar

Translation by Ramachandran 1954

(1) The Nāyakar (i.e., Buddha) who was the Lord of the Pulpit.

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

(1) The glorious Lord [of] the stage (araṅkam1).

Commentary

Ramachandran 1954 comments thus: “By araṅkam the Buddhist form is probably meant. (Cf. caṅkappalakai).”. This appears a far-fetched explanation. It seems that the Buddha is presented here as a rival of Viṣṇu, known as Raṅganātha, "the Lord of the stage," in his famous temple on the Śrīraṅga island at Trichy.

For the same label, with a variant spelling, on another Buddhist bronze from Nākappaṭṭiṉam, see Tamil Nadu 302.

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. Madras: Government of Madras. Page TBC, plates XIV, no. 2.

[R2] Ramachandran, T. N. 2005. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Revised edition. Chennai: Government of Tamilnadu. Page 106, pages III, no. 2.

Notes

  1. 1. That is, Sanskrit raṅga.