Amara Kosa – the Sanskrit Thesaurus with notes & index

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Amarakosa, Amarasinha’s Sanskrit thesaurus well-known to every Sanskrit student, is the oldest work of the kind now extant. According to tradition Amarasimha was one of the nine distinguished men (nava ratna) of the court of King Vikramaditya (4th Century CE).

The Amarakosha consists of verses that can be easily memorized. It is divided into three khandas or chapters. The first, svargadi-khanda (“heaven and others”) has words pertaining to gods and heavens. The second, bhuvargadi-khanda (“earth and others”) deals with words about earth, towns, animals and humans. The third, samanyadi-khanda (“common”) has words related to grammar and other miscellaneous words.

It is of great interest to note that, though the production of a Buddhist, it has been universally accepted as an authority by the Brahmans and the Jainas alike. The fact that it has been commented upon by Buddhists like Subhutichandra, by Jainas like Asadharapandita and Nachiraja,and by Brahmans like Kshirasvamin, Mallinatha and Appayyadikshita testifies to its usefulness to every class of Sanskrit students. It is a well-known fact that translations of the Amarakosha into Chinese and Thibetan have been recently discovered.

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Amara Kosa – the Sanskrit Thesaurus with notes & index — 87 Comments

      • சரஸ்வதி மகாலில் அமரகோசம்
        மூன்றாவது காண்டம் (தொகுதி ஐந்து)3 புத்தகங்களில் வெளியிட்டுள்ளார்கள்.
        ஆனால் பல ஆண்டுகளாக தஞ்சை சரஸ்வதி மஹாலில் கிடைக்கவில்லை.இனியும் வெளியிடமாட்டார்களாம்.

        அதை பீடீஎப் ஆக தந்து உதவுங்கள்ஜி.

        தேவை படுகின்றது.

        நமஸ்தே

        Reply ↓

        • சரஸ்வதி மகாலில் அமரகோசம்
          மூன்றாவது காண்டம் (தொகுதி ஐந்து)3 புத்தகங்களில் வெளியிட்டுள்ளார்கள்.
          ஆனால் பல ஆண்டுகளாக தஞ்சை சரஸ்வதி மஹாலில் கிடைக்கவில்லை.இனியும் வெளியிடமாட்டார்களாம்.

          அதை பீடீஎப் ஆக தந்து உதவுங்கள்ஜி.

          தேவை படுகின்றது.

          நமஸ்தே

          Reply ↓

          • நமஸ்தே. இது மிக சமீபத்தில் வெளியிடப்பட்ட புத்தகம். இது பதிப்புரிமை மூலம் பாதுகாக்கப்படுகிறது.

    • the phoenix bird is an imaginary bird …yet ,it is recorded in the ancient sanskrit mythology….as vinitaksh…the explanation is thus :- vinita is the mother of garud and other birds like jatayu…hence actally garuda is also considered as phoenix…the greeks thought the bird from india visits ancient egypt every 500 years…vinitaksh means the darling in the eyes of vinita the mother…vinita+aksh….vinitaksh later changed to a corrupt form as viniksh> finiks> phoenix !

      Reply ↓

  4. It is really amazing that you have Amaram in Unicode.
    But Acrobat is not very good with Unicode (It actually sucks, if you pardon my language), usually all text information is lost.

    I am amazed to see that some text information is coming out right. But still that is no good for copy pasting or seeing it in other scripts (like Telugu or Kannada).

    For Eg:-
    मस्य ऻानदमालसधं ोयगाधस्यानघा गणु ा्
    सव्ये ताभऺमो धीया् स लश्रम े चाभतृ ाम च

    is what I get if I copy paste instead of
    यस्य ज्ञानदयासिंधो…

    So I beg of you sir, could you please email me the text version. Like a *.txt Unicode file. or a word document.

    धन्यवादानि
    राकेश्वरम्

    Reply ↓

    • Rakeshvar Rao

      I am sending you MS Word file of Amarakosa Unicode by email . I remember that I downloaded it from GRETIL as transliterated text and then converted it into Devanagari text. So, there could be some errors here and there.

      The font used is Sanskrit 2003

      regards

      shankara

      Reply ↓

  7. Hi,
    Could you please send me the translations for this in English?
    I have already downloaded the unicode version.

    Thanks in advance.

    Ramki

    Reply ↓

    • Nitesh,

      You can easily download the book by clicking on the download link given at the bottom of the post. So, there is no need for me to send you this book.

      Reply ↓

  14. Namaskaram,

    I want to learn samaskridham.i studied in tamil medium so am very much comfortable in tamil.how to learn sanskrit through tamil.kindly send ebooks link.

    Thanking you,
    uganya.kk

    Reply ↓

  15. Thank You so much. A great way to start exploring Samskrit. Any English translations available. Kindly mail me the link.

    Reply ↓

  21. Namaste.! I was trying to download PDF and Unicode text files. After clicking download I am getting redirected to mediafire site but

    “The resource you are trying access belongs to an account that has been suspended

    Still have questions, or think we’ve made a mistake? Please contact support for further assistance.”

    Thi. Is the message I see there.

    I need these books in Sanskrit version. If I don’t get interpretation also no problem. I just want those books.
    Amarakosha
    Subhashitas
    dhatu roopavali
    Panchatantra

    Could you please mail to my email ID

    Reply ↓

  22. I need Sanskrit terms for LOTUS. Kamalam, Ambujam, Padmam etc are well known. Some three other poetic sounding synonyms, please!

    Reply ↓

    • Anandalakshmy,

      Giving below the relevant verses from Amarakosa.
      (१.१०.५९६) वा पुंसि पद्मं नलिनमरविन्दं महोत्पलम्
      (१.१०.५९७) सहस्रपत्रं कमलं शतपत्रं कुशेशयम्
      (१.१०.५९८) पङ्केरुहं तामरसं सारसं सरसीरुहम्
      (१.१०.५९९) बिसप्रसूनराजीवपुष्कराम्भोरुहाणि च

      Reply ↓

  23. Respected bharateeya sir,
    1) I want sabdamanjari book for free download.i already downloaded this book written by Vidyasagar and klv Sastri.i want one more book with all sbdhas.
    2) Amarakosa Sanskrit with English and Telugu explanation
    Kindly send your reply to my email also.

    Reply ↓

  24. निवेदनमस्ति यत् पुनः स्थापयन्तु अमरकोषमत्र.

    Reply ↓

  25. Sir
    I have studied Sanskrit from 5th standard to 10 th standard in my school in Kerala.i am now 58 years old and engaged in
    business. I would like to study Sanskrit more and more to the level where I can read and understand Bhagvat Geeta clearly. I would like to buy Amarakosam in Malayalam or English version. Kindly reply me where is the source of this book.

    Reply ↓

    • Anagha, Sanskrit lexicon ‘Sabda Kalpadruma’ gives the following vigraha.
      प्रयोजनं, क्ली, (प्रयुज्यते इति । प्र + युज् + ल्युट् ।)
      कार्य्यम् । (प्रयुज्यतेऽनेनेति । प्र + युज् + करणे ल्युट् ।) हेतुः । इति मेदिनी । ने, १९३ ॥
      यथा, “सर्व्वस्यैव हि शास्त्रस्य कर्म्मणो वापि कस्यचित् ।
      यावत् प्रयोजनं नोक्तं तावत् केन प्रगृह्यते ॥
      सिद्धार्थं सिद्धसम्बन्धं श्रोतुं श्रोता प्रवर्त्तते ।
      ग्रन्थादौ तेन वक्तव्यः सम्बन्धः सप्रयोजनः ॥” इति प्राञ्चः ॥

      Reply ↓

  29. Hi sir it is really great to meet like you people, can you pls send the word file of Sanskrit amarkosa along with Telugu meaning. Pls.pls.

    How many parts are in amarkosa and what it really meant.

    Thank you,
    Phanikumar.

    Reply ↓

  30. Hello Bharateeya,

    Firstly thank you for your good work in spreading sanskrit.

    The book that you uploaded has the commentary of Kshiirasvaamin in sanskrit . Is there translation of this commentary in any other language like English, Hindi,…

    I did some search and there seem to two translation in English, the commentrators are Maheshwara, Jatarupa.
    http://www.mlbd.com/SearchBook.aspx?search_text=amarakosa&btnSearch=Go

    Appreciate if you can let me know the existence of translation of commentaries on amarakoasa in English, Hindi,…

    Thanks
    Arjun

    Reply ↓

      • Hi bharateeya,

        Thanks for your reply.

        Appreciate if you can throw some light on my following questions:-

        1. Are there English translation of commentaries on Amarakosha? If yes which one is best? Hopefully they will be available atleast on Amazon to buy.

        2. I found another commentary in hindi on Amarakosaha, the links:-

        http://www.amazon.in/Amarkosha-Amarsingh-Virachit-Sampurna-Vishwanath-Jha/dp/8120826205/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466162151&sr=1-1

        What are your views on it?

        3. Is there good audio recording of Amarakosha, the way it should be recited so that it can be easily committed to memory and can be used effectively?

        Thanks in advance.

        Reply ↓

        • Arjun

          1. I have not come across any English translation of Amarakosa commentaries.
          2. Hindi commentaries are available, but they are not translations of traditional commentaries in Sanskrit, they are independent ones.
          3. Smaskrita Bharati had brought out audio CD of Amarakosa. You may contact them for purchasing its copy. Some audio files of Amarakosa are available at http://sanskritcentral.com/audio/amarakosha. I am not sure about their authenticity.

          Reply ↓

          • Hi Bharateeya

            Thanks for your reply. Under the current circumstance my best option seems Pandit Visvanath Jha book.

            Best wishes
            Arjun.

          • Hello Bharteeya,
            After 2 years of gap restarting my study of Sanskrit.

            I was again looking some good edition of Amarkosha for beginner and to my surprise the best edition seems to be of 19 century publication first one by Colebrook (in English) and other by Devdutt tiwari(in Hindi). Apart from providing meaning that verse describe they also give gender and other information right in the verse itself.
            It’s pretty sad that in last 200 years no one came up with some good edition of Amarkosha which follow the pattern of Colebrook with commentaries translated either in English or Hindi.
            By chance do you have any information of Amarkosa edition which follows pattern pattern of Amarkosha translation by Colebrook (in English) with detailed some commentary so that it’s easy for beginner in sanskrit to get good grasp of Amarkosa.

            Thanks in advance
            Arjun

  31. I want to buy Amarkosh,please suggest me reliable writer or publication.Or I should go with any old publication?If you have book I am ready to buy.
    Please help.
    Thanks,
    Pritesh Tiwari
    +91 7359921999

    Reply ↓

  34. Hello. I understand that there is a book that explains the genders of nouns. It’s called Linga anushasanam. It’s Amara Simha’s work, right? It’s a different book. Please could you confirm or correct me. If you know where to get the book I am referring to, please mention that too. Thank you, and thank God for this site.

    Reply ↓

  36. Respected Sir,

    I usually address everyone ‘Dear’ to keep it casual but this page alone provided me enough links to understand Samskrit correctly and I could not address without showing my utmost respect towards you and your effort in helping those like me looking for appropriate directions to proceed. Please keep up the great work. Truly appreciated. May Jagadguru Sankaracharya be with us all to see the only Truth.

    Reply ↓

  38. the book of amarakosha was great to download and read. even though an old book the scan is quite nice and felt like reading an actual book. great service

    Reply ↓

  40. In the fifth shloka of amarakosam referring to ‘mithunetu dwayoriti ‘ I wish to know whether this dwayoriti is used for streeling n pumling or any two. OK clarify.

    Reply ↓

    • The vigraha of Anuradha is राधां विशाखामनुगता, i.e. the star that comes after Visakha (which is also known as Radha). The possible synonyms can be अनुविशाखा, राधानुगामिनी, विशाखानुगामिनी.

      Reply ↓

  42. Hello Bharteeya,
    After 2 years of gap restarting my study of Sanskrit.

    I was again looking some good edition of Amarkosha for beginner and to my surprise the best edition seems to be of 19 century publication first one by Colebrook (in English) and other by Devdutt tiwari(in Hindi)(https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/amarakosh-NAI510/). Apart from providing meaning of verse, they also give gender and other grammatical information right in the verse itself.
    It’s pretty sad that in last 200 years no one came up with some good edition of Amarkosha which follow the pattern of Colebrook with commentaries translated either in English or Hindi.
    By chance do you have any information of Amarkosa edition which follows pattern of Amarkosha translation by Colebrook (in English) or Devdutt Tiwari, with detailed commentary like that of ksirsvamin so that it’s easy for beginner in sanskrit to get good grasp of Amarkosa.

    Thanks in advance
    Arjun

    Reply ↓

    • Arjun, I was keeping quiet since I saw your query at Samskrita group and thought you might get better guidance from the group members. I feel that Hargovind Sastri’s edition of Amarakosa is good enough. It has Hindi commentary and he mentions the gender of the words. I hope you would have already seen it.

      Reply ↓

      • Thanks Bharateeya for the reply.

        Well yes I seen Hargovind Sastri’s edition of Amarakosa. I too found it best in term of commentation but it does not have grammatical and other information in the verse itself. The best strategy seems to be go through Devdutt tiwari hindi edition of Amarkosha https://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/amarakosh-NAI510/
        and then for more indepth information can refer to Hargovind Sastri’s edition of Amarakosa.

        Hope my approach is effective and efficient?

        Thanks.
        Arjun.

        Reply ↓

        • Any one commentary is not sufficient to understand any text fully. That is why all classical texts have multiple commentaries. Your plan to focus on 2 commentaries of Amarakosa seems good, at least for time-being.

          Reply ↓

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