Amarasimha (

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 ...

: , ) was a

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 ...

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

ian and poet from

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

, 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 (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 ...

," and according to the evidence of

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

, this is the Chandragupta Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) 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 Vikramaditya of 7th century."Amara-Simha" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. 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'' (IAST: ') (''Treasury of Amara''). The first reliable mention of the ''Amarakosha'' is in the Amoghavritti of Shakatayana composed during the reign of Amoghavarsha (814-867 CE) 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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

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

Henry Thomas Colebrooke Henry Thomas Colebrooke FRS FRSE FLS (15 June 1765 – 10 March 1837) was an English orientalist and botanist. He has been described as "the first great Sanskrit scholar in Europe". Biography Henry Thomas Colebrooke was born on 15 June ...

appeared at

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

in 1808. The Sanskrit text was printed at

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

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. I ...

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