The Amarakosha (

Devanagari Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...

: अमरकोशः,

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

: ''Amarakośaḥ'',

ISO The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ; ; ) is an independent, non-governmental, international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Me ...

: ''Amarakōśaḥ'') is the popular name for ''Namalinganushasanam'' (

: नामलिङ्गानुशासनम्,

: ''Nāmaliṅgānuśāsanam'',

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

thesaurus A thesaurus (: thesauri or thesauruses), sometimes called a synonym dictionary or dictionary of synonyms, is a reference work which arranges words by their meanings (or in simpler terms, a book where one can find different words with similar me ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

written by the ancient Indian scholar

Amarasimha Amarasimha (IAST: , ) 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," and according to the evidenc ...

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

Mahāyāna Mahāyāna ( ; , , ; ) is a term for a broad group of Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices developed in ancient India ( onwards). It is considered one of the three main ex ...

and used

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali (god), Kali"; 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 Hindu Puranas and philosophy. ...

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

Author

Amarasimha is said to have been one of the

Navaratnas Navaratnāḥ (Sanskrit dvigu ''nava-ratna'', , ) refers to a distinguished assembly of nine learned and virtuous individuals who adorned the royal sabhā (court) of certain illustrious List of Indian monarchs, bhūpati-s (kings) in History of ...

("nine gems") at the court of

Vikramaditya Vikramaditya (Sanskrit: विक्रमादित्य IAST: ') was a legendary king as mentioned in ancient Indian literature, featuring in traditional stories including those in ''Baital Pachisi, Vetala Panchavimshati'' and ''Singhasan ...

, the legendary king inspired by

Chandragupta II Chandragupta II (r.c. 375–415), also known by his title Vikramaditya, as well as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, was an emperor of the Gupta Empire. Modern scholars generally identify him with King Chandra of the Iron pillar of Delhi, Delhi iron ...

, a

Gupta Gupta () is a common surname of Indian origin, meaning "guardian" or "protector". Origins and distribution The name is based on the Sanskrit word गोप्तृ ''goptṛ'', which means "guardian" or "protector". According to historian ...

king who reigned around AD 400. Some sources indicate that he belonged to the period of

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 Nrupatunga I) (r. 814 – 878 CE) is considered by many historians to be the greatest emperor of the Rashtrakuta dynasty. His reign of 64 years is one of the longest precisely dated monarchical reign ...

(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 hindu 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 legends, he was ...

and Śākyamuni (i.e.

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

). 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. 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 It is still used as one of the major source of Sanskrit grammar. It was widely taught in

gurukula A () is a traditional system of religious education in India with ('students' or 'disciples') living near or with the guru in the same house for a period of time where they learn and get educated by their guruji. Etymology The word is a com ...

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 languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

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

Translations

The Pali thesaurus ''

Abhidhānappadīpikā The Abhidhānappadīpikā is a Pali thesaurus composed in the twelfth century by the Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It ...

'', 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 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

.
A web interface to access the knowledge structure in ''Amarakosha''
at Department of Sanskrit Studies, University of Hyderabad. {{DEFAULTSORT:Amarakosha Sanskrit dictionaries

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

Ancient Indian literature Early medieval literature History of literature Thesauri