AM'ARASIN'HA, or AIVFARA-SI1THA. A celebrated Sanskrit lexicographer of antiquity, whose vocabulary, .Iina•a-ko.u. or Treasury." formed a storehouse ot words in early times, and a mine of information for later work ers in the field. This glossator is commonly called simply Amara in the native commentaries; but his title Siqilia shows that he belonged to the princely class. Little is known of his life, except that he was a Buddhist in religion, and it is as sumed that all his writings, except the diction ary, perished through the persecutions which the Buddhists at one time suffered at the hands of the orthodox Brahmans. There is. however, great uncertainty as to the time when Amara lived. His date has been generally put at about 500 A.D. His name is associated with the poet Kalidasa (q.v.), and the others of the "nine gems" at the court of Vikramaditya in an Augustan Age of Sanskrit literature. The sixth century A.D. is the date most commonly assigned for the reign of this monarch: but the Hindus place him some centuries earlier, a view which there is rather a tendency to follow than to re ject. (See KatinAs.1..) The real title of Amara's Sanskrit vocabulary is not A mara-koia, but NamaliuganuiCtsana, "a book of words and gen ders." It is also called Tri-kitnda or Tri-karicli,
i.e. tripartite, from its three books of words and homonyms relating to the world and man and miscellaneous matters. The second of these is the longest, and each book is subdivided into chapters. called cam-gas. The whole work com prises about 1500 verses, generally consisting of lines of sixteen syllables, and the words are ar ranged. not alphabetic-ally. but, in general. as synonyms according to subject and gender. There are numerous editions of the dmara-ko,i'a, accompanied also by the old native commentaries. Mention may be made of the edition with intro duction, English notes. and index by Colebrooke (Serampore, 'SOS). This was reprinted in 1529. A French edition, with translation, was published by Loiseleur-Deslongschamps (• vol tunes, Paris, I S39-45 ). Valuable are the editions by Chint5mani S5stri Thatte, under the superin tendence of F. Kielhorn (2d edition, Bombay, 1852), and in the collection of Sanskrit ancient lexicons. or Abhidhanasamgralm (Bombay, 1889). Consult Zacharke, "Die indischen Worterbficher" (Ko§'a), in Bidder's Grundriss der indo-arischen. Philoloyle and Altertumskunde (Strassburg, 1897).