Nākappaṭṭiṉam, bronze label

Version: (945c2a7), last modified (945c2a7).

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.