INTRODUCTION THE Namalinganuśasana, or the Amarakośa as it is popularly called after the name of its author Amarasimha, is the most celebrated and authoritative ancient lexicon in the Sanskrit language. Intimate acquaintance with the Amarakośa was considered as an essential requisite for a Sanskrit scholar. It is the lexicon most profusely quoted by the commentators on Sanskrit literature. It is concise, comprehensive and indisputably the most memorized dictionary in the world.¹ Its position is similar to that of the Concise Oxford Dictionary in English, as most people refer to it and only some advanced scholars have the need to look into more elaborate lexicons. There is hardly any Sanskrit scholar worth the name who is not acquainted with some line or other of this kośa. It is said that the work of Amara is sanātana (perpetual or most ancient): amaro 'yam sanātanaḥ.2 No greater tribute can be paid to his thorough mastery of the grammar of Pāṇini than the popular humorous saying that he robbed all the authoritative interpretations of Patañjali's Mahabhasya: अमरसिंहो हि पापीयान् सर्व भाष्यमचूचुरत् । अ Malli. says in one of his concluding verses at the end of Kāṇḍa III that the immortality of Amara's Namalingānusāsana is assured as this faultless work will last as long as the moon and the stars shine in the sky: कवेरमरसिंहस्य कृतिरेषा सुनिर्मला । आचन्द्रतारकं स्थेयान्नामलिङ्गानुशासनम् ॥ 1 Ak. is committed to memory at an early age by pupils. 2 Ak., BSS, 1886, Introd. p. 1. 3 Ak., NSP, Bombay 1905, p. 1.
