Nākappaṭṭiṉam, bronze label

Editors: T. N. Ramachandran, Emmanuel Francis.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSTamilNadu00302.

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-Araṅka-nāyakar

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ tiru-Araṅka-nāyakar ⬦ tiru Araṅka nāyakar R1954.

Translation by Ramachandran 1954

(1) The Nāyaka (Buddha), the lord of Buddhist forum of theological debate.1

Translation by Emmanuel Francis

(1) The glorious Lord [of] the stage (araṅkam2).

Commentary

The suggestion by Ramachandran 1954 that the Buddha is here “the lord of Buddhist forum of theological debate” with reference to the Maturai caṅkappalakai3 appears far-fetched. 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 381.

Bibliography

Edited in Ramachandran 1954, with a facsimile (p. 90 and pl. XXIV, no. 2). See also Ramachandran 1965, Ramachandran 1992, Ramachandran 2005 (p. 106 and pl. III, no. 2).

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

Primary

[R1954] Ramachandran, T. N. 1954. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Madras: Government of Madras. Page 90.

[R1965] Ramachandran, T. N. 1965. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Reprint. Madras: Government of Madras.

[R1992] Ramachandran, T. N. 1992. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Reprint. Madras: The Director of Museums.

[R2005] Ramachandran, T. N. 2005. The Nāgapaṭṭiṇam and other Buddhist bronzes in the Chennai Museum. Revised edition. Chennai: Government of Tamilnadu.

Notes

  1. 1. Cf. Madurai Śaṅgappalagai.
  2. 2. That is, Sanskrit raṅga.
  3. 3. See MTL, s.v. caṅkappalakai: “Miraculous seat capable of accommodating only deserving scholars, believed to have been granted by Śiva at Madurai to the Sangam poets.”