Amarasimha (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: Amara-siṃha, c. CE 375) was a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the la ...

grammar In linguistics, the grammar of a natural language is its set of structural constraints on speakers' or writers' composition of clauses, phrases, and words. The term can also refer to the study of such constraints, a field that includes domain ...

ian and poet from

ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by ...

, 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 Vikramaditya (IAST: ') was a legendary king who has been featured in hundreds of traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi'' and ''Singhasan Battisi''. Many describe him as ruler with his capital at Ujjain (Pataliputra or Pratis ...

," and according to the evidence of Xuanzang, this is the

Chandragupta Vikramaditya 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 ...

(

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 ...

) who flourished about CE 375.''Amarakosha'' compiled by B. L. Rice, edited by N. Balasubramanya, 1970, page X Other sources describe him as belonging to the period of

of 7th century."Amara-Simha" in ''

Chambers's Encyclopædia ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia'' was founded in 1859Chambers, W. & R"Concluding Notice"in ''Chambers's Encyclopaedia''. London: W. & R. Chambers, 1868, Vol. 10, pp. v–viii. by William and Robert Chambers of Edinburgh and became one of the most ...

''. London:

George Newnes Sir George Newnes, 1st Baronet (13 March 1851 – 9 June 1910) was a British publisher and editor and a founding figure in popular journalism. Newnes also served as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for two decades. His company, George Newne ...

, 1961, Vol. 1, p. 311. Most of Amarasiṃha's works were lost, with the exception of the celebrated ''

Amara-Kosha The Amarakosha (Devanagari: अमरकोशः , IAST: ''Amarakośaḥ'' , ISO: ''Amarakōśaḥ'') is the popular name for ''Namalinganushasanam'' (Devanagari: नामलिङ्गानुशासनम् , IAST: ''Nāmaliṅgānuś ...

'' (IAST: ''Amarakośa'') (''Treasury of Amara''). The first reliable mention of the ''Amarakosha'' is in the 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 mo ...

(814-867CE) The ''Amarakosha'' is a lexicon of Sanskrit words in three books, and hence is sometimes called the ''Trikāṇḍī'' or the "Tripartite". It is also known as "Namalinganushasana". The ''Amarakosha'' contains 10,000 words, and is arranged, like other works of its class, in metre, to aid the memory. The first chapter of the ''Kosha'' was printed at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in Tamil character in 1798. An edition of the entire work, with English notes and an index by HT Colebrooke appeared at

Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampo ...

in 1808. The Sanskrit text was printed at

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, com ...

in 1831. A French translation by ALA Loiseleur-Deslongchamps was published at Paris in 1839. B. L. Rice compiled the text in

Kannada script The Kannada script (IAST: ''Kannaḍa lipi''; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state of Karnataka. Ka ...

with meanings in English and Kannada in 1927.

References

Attribution: *

External links

Amarakosha Sanskrit text
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amarasimha Indian Buddhists Indian male poets 4th-century Indian poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Sanskrit writers