Sanskrit Manuscripts : Amarakośa

Amarasiṃha

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'> The <i>Amarakośa</i> by Amarasiṃha, probably a Buddhist author, is the most renowned Sanskrit lexicographical work, seemingly composed around the middle of the first millennium CE. "The bulk of the <i>Amarakośa</i> is a synonymic dictionary whose articles are grouped subjectwise" (Vogel 1979: 311). The fame of the "Immortal Lexicon" goes far beyond the boundaries of the Indian subcontinent, as testified by its renderings in Tibetan, Chinese, Mongolian, Sinhalese and Burmese, among others. A further proof of its importance and popularity is the number of commentaries dedicated to it: at least eighty, of which many still remain unpublished. As witnessed in the colophon, this palm-leaf manuscript has been written in Pātan in the 14th century, during the reign of Jayārjunadeva (1361-82), for the sake of a minister named Raghusiṃha (as given in Bendall 1883: 119; the reading <i>Campusiṃha</i> given in Petech 1984: 132 is wrong). </p>