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," and according to the evidence of Xuanzang, this is the Chandragupta Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) who flourished about CE 375.  Other sources describe him as belonging to the period of Vikramaditya of 7th century.  Most of Amarasiṃha's work was destroyed, with the exception of the celebrated Amara-Kosha (IAST: Amarakośa) (Treasury of Amara).  The first reliable mention of the Amarakosha is in the Amoghavritti of Shakatayana composed during the reign of Amoghavarsha (814-867CE)

The Amarakosha is a vocabulary of Sanskrit roots, in three books, and hence sometimes called Trikanda 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 in Tamil character in 1798.  An edition of the entire work, with English notes and an index by HT Colebrooke appeared at Serampore in 1808.  The Sanskrit text was printed at Calcutta in 1831.  A French translation by ALA Loiseleur-Deslongchamps was published at Paris in 1839.   B. L. Rice compiled the text in Kannada script with meanings in English and Kannada in 1927. 

References

Attribution:

External links
 Amarakosha Sanskrit text

Category:Indian Buddhists
Category:Indian male poets
Category:4th-century Indian poets
Category:Year of birth unknown
Category:Year of death unknown
Category:Sanskrit writers