Editing Amarasimha

{{Short description|Indian poet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2017}}
[[File:Amarakosha.jpg|thumb|Cover of a modern copy of ''Amara kosha'']]
'''Amarasimha''' ([[IAST]]: '''{{IAST|Amara-siṃha}}''', {{Circa|CE 375}}) was a [[Sanskrit]] [[grammar]]ian 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.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}<ref name=Rice1970>''Amarakosha'' compiled by [[Benjamin L. Rice|B. L. Rice]], edited by N. Balasubramanya, 1970, page X</ref> Other sources describe him as belonging to the period of Vikramaditya of 7th century.<ref name=Rice1970/><ref name=Chambers>"Amara-Simha" in ''[[Chambers's Encyclopædia]]''. London: [[George Newnes Ltd|George Newnes]], 1961, Vol. 1, p. 311.</ref> Most of Amarasiṃha's works were lost, with the exception of the celebrated ''[[Amara-Kosha]]'' (IAST: ''{{IAST|Amarakośa}}'') (''Treasury of Amara''). The first reliable mention of the ''Amarakosha'' is in the Amoghavritti of Shakatayana composed during the reign of [[Amoghavarsha]] (814-867 CE)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mirashi |first1=Vasudev Vishnu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0JUwf2BXVAC&pg=PA50 |title=Literary and Historical Studies in Indology |date=1975 |publisher=[[Motilal Banarsidass]] |isbn=9788120804173 |pages=50–51 |language=en |authorlink1=Vasudev Vishnu Mirashi}}</ref>

The ''Amarakosha'' is a lexicon of Sanskrit words in three books, and hence is sometimes called the ''Trikāṇḍī'' or the "Tripartite".{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} It is also known as "Namalinganushasana".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mukherjee |first1=Sujit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YCJrUfVtZxoC&pg=PA15 |title=A Dictionary of Indian Literature: Beginnings-1850 |date=1998 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |isbn=9788125014539 |page=15 |language=en |accessdate=6 July 2017}}</ref> 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 [[Henry Thomas Colebrooke]] appeared at [[Serampore]] in 1808. The Sanskrit text was printed at [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in 1831. A French translation by [[Auguste-Louis-Armand Loiseleur-Deslongchamps|ALA Loiseleur-Deslongchamps]] was published at Paris in 1839.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} [[B. L. Rice]] compiled the text in [[Kannada script]] with meanings in English and Kannada in 1927.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rice|first1=Benjamin Lewis|authorlink1=Benjamin Lewis Rice|title=Amarakōśa vemba nāmaliṅgānuśāsanavu, Iṅglish Kannaḍa artha mattu padagaḷa paṭṭi sahita|date=1927|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120602601|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BuujuWMmv0wC}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
'''Attribution:'''
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Amara Sinha|volume=1|page=781}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040513012824/http://sanskrit.gde.to/doc_z_misc_amarakosha.html Amarakosha Sanskrit text]

{{Buddhism topics}}

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[[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]]