The Amarakosha (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...

: अमरकोशः , IAST: ''Amarakośaḥ'' , ISO: ''Amarakōśaḥ'') is the popular name for ''Namalinganushasanam'' (

: नामलिङ्गानुशासनम् , IAST: ''Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam'', ISO: ''Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam'', which means "instruction concerning nouns and gender") a

thesaurus A thesaurus (plural ''thesauri'' or ''thesauruses'') or synonym dictionary is a reference work for finding synonyms and sometimes antonyms of words. They are often used by writers to help find the best word to express an idea: Synonym diction ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

written by the ancient Indian scholar

Amarasimha Amarasimha (IAST: Amara-siṃha, c. CE 375) was a Sanskrit grammarian and poet from ancient India, of whose personal history hardly anything is known. He is said to have been "one of the nine gems that adorned the throne of Vikramaditya," an ...

. The name Amarakosha derives from the Sanskrit words ''amara'' ("immortal") and ''kosha'' ("treasure, casket, pail, collection, dictionary"). According to Arthur Ba Keith, this is one of the oldest extant Sanskrit lexicons (kosha). According to Keith, Amarasiṃha, who possibly flourished in the 6th century, was "certainly a Buddhist who knew the

Mahāyāna ''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, texts, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BCE onwards) and is considered one of the three main existing bra ...

and used

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

." The author himself mentions 18 prior works, but they have all been lost. There have been more than 40 commentaries on the ''Amarakosha''.

Author

Narasimha is said to have been one of the Navaratnas ("nine gems") at the court of Vikramaditya, the legendary king inspired by

Chandragupta II Chandragupta II (r.c. 376-415), also known by his title Vikramaditya, as well as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, was the third ruler of the Gupta Empire in India, and was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta dynasty. Chandragupta continu ...

, a

Gupta Gupta () is a common surname or last name of Indian origin. It is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means 'guardian' or 'protector'. According to historian R. C. Majumdar, the surname ''Gupta'' was adopted by se ...

king who reigned around AD 400. Some sources indicate that he belonged to the period of Vikramaditya of the 7th century. Mirashi examines the question of the date of composition of ''Amarakosha''. He finds the first reliable mention in Amoghavritti of Shakatayana composed during the reign of

Amoghavarsha Amoghavarsha I (also known as Amoghavarsha Nrupathunga I) (r.814–878 CE) was the greatest emperor of the Rashtrakuta dynasty, and one of the most notable rulers of Ancient India. His reign of 64 years is one of the longest precisely dated ...

(814-867 CE).

Textual organisation

The ''Amarakośa'' consists of verses that can be easily memorized. It is divided into three s or chapters. The first, ' ("heaven and others") has words about heaven and the Gods and celestial beings who reside there. The second, ' ("earth and others") deals with words about earth, towns, animals, and humans. The third, ' ("common") has words related to grammar and other miscellaneous words. ''Svargādikāṇḍa'', the first kāṇḍa of the Amarakośa begins with the verse 'Svar-avyayaṃ-Svarga-Nāka-Tridiva-Tridaśālayāḥ' describing various names of Heaven viz. Svaḥ, Svarga, Nāka, Tridiva, Tridaśālaya, etc. The second verse 'Amarā Nirjarā DevāsTridaśā Vibudhāḥ Surāḥ’ describes various words that are used for the Deva-s (Gods). The fifth and sixth verses give various names of

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in ...

and Śākyamuni (i.e. Gautam Buddha). The following verses give the different names of Brahmā, Viṣṇu, Vasudeva, Balarāma, Kāmadeva, Lakṣmī, Kṛṣṇa, Śiva, Indra, etc. All these names are treated with great reverence. While Amarasiṃha is regarded to have been a Bauddha (Buddhist), Amarakośa reflects the period before the rise of sectarianism. Commentaries on Amarakosha have been written by Hindu, Jain and well as Buddhist scholars.Anundoram Barooah Makers of Indian literature, Biswanarayan Shastri, Sahitya Akademi, 1984p. 79 The second kāṇḍa, ''Bhuvargādikāṇḍa'', of the ''Amarakosha'' is divided into ten Vargas or parts. The ten Vargas are ''Bhuvarga'' (

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surf ...

), ''Puravarga'' (Towns or Cities), ''Shailavarga'' (Mountains), ''Vanoshadivarga'' (Forests and medicines), ''Simhadivarga'' (Lions and other animals), ''Manushyavarga'' (Mankind), ''Bramhavarga'' (Brahmana), ''Kshatriyavarga'' (Kshatriya), ''Vysyavarga'' (Vaishya) and ''Sudravarga'' (Sudra). The Third Kanda, ''Sāmānyādikāṇḍa'' contains Adjectives, Verbs, words related to prayer, business, etc. The first verse ''Kshemankaroristatathi Shivathathi Shivamkara'' gives the Nanarthas of the word Shubakara or propitious as Kshemankara, Aristathathi, Shivathathi, and Shivamkara.

Commentaries

* ''Amarakoshodghātana'' by Kṣīrasvāmin (11th century CE, the earliest commentary) * ''Tīkāsarvasvam'' by Vandhyaghatīya Sarvānanda (12th century) * ''Rāmāsramī'' (Vyākhyāsudha) by Bhānuji Dīkshita * ''Padachandrikā'' by Rāyamukuta * ''Kāshikavivaranapanjikha'' by Jinendra Bhudhi * ''Pārameśwari'' by Parameswaran Mōsad in

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

* A Telugu commentary by Linga Bhatta (12th century)

Translations

"Gunaratha" of

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani pronunciation: �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Pradesh by population and is the administrative centre of Ujjain district and Ujjain ...

translated it into Chinese in the 7th century. The Pali thesaurus '' Abhidhānappadīpikā'', composed in the twelfth century by the grammarian Moggallāna Thera, is based on the ''Amarakosha''.

References

Bibliography

* Krsnaji Govinda Oka, Poona City, Law Printing Press, 1913
''Amarakosha''
at sanskritdocuments.org

by Avinash Sathaye
The Nâmalingânusâsana (Amarakosha) of Amarasimha; with the commentary (Amarakoshodghâtana) of Kshîrasvâmin (1913)
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

.
A web interface to access the knowledge structure in ''Amarakosha''
at Department of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad. {{DEFAULTSORT:Amarakosha Sanskrit dictionaries Sanskrit texts Ancient Indian literature Early medieval literature History of literature Thesauri