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INTRODUCTION
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words, or by words, such as stri, pums, etc., expressive of genders. In order that there may be no confusion a word preceded by the particle atha or followed by tu is not to be taken with the preceding group of synonyms. In the synonymous portion the method followed is to put down in succession the various names of all that relate to the particular object or animal or class of objects or animals that gives its name to the section. The homonymous portion is, on the other hand, arranged after the final consonants. Indeclinables form a separate chapter, while the last chapter is devoted to the general rules for determining genders.
Amara was a Buddhist.' He is traditionally believed to have been one of the nine gems of King Vikramaditya, whose very identity is involved in mystery. He must, however, have lived prior to the sixth century A.C. when his work was translated into Chinese.2 As to the earliest quotations from his work, K. G. Oka remarks, "Dr. Bhandarkar has found the words tantram pradhane siddhante (III. 3. 186) of Amarasimha quoted in the Käsikävivaraṇapanjikā of Jinendrabuddhi, who has been shown by Prof. Pathak to have flourished in the beginning of the 8th century. A reference to Amarakoşa is also found
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in the Amoghavṛtti written in Saka 789." The popularity and usefulness of the Amarakoşa may be best seen from the frequent quotations by all later commentators and from the fact that, like Panini's Aṣṭādhyāyi, it has cast all the works of the author's predecessors into the back-ground.
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1 Cf. ग्रन्थारम्भेsभीप्सितसिद्धिहेतुं जिन मनुस्मृत्यKgir., p. 2, 1. 10. अत्र चानुक्तोऽपि शाक्यलक्षणोऽर्थो ज्ञानदयादिभिः स्पष्टं प्रतीयत इति ... Sarvā., I. p. 2, 1. 19.
Lassen: Indische Altertumskunde, IV, 633.
Intro. to his edition of Amarakosa, p. 9.
