Lexical Botany in Amarakośa

Abstract

Sanskrit literature abounds in lexicons. Amarakośa is the most celebrated and authoritative ancient thesaurus of Sanskrit. There are references to various lexicons in many ancient Sanskrit texts, but none of these except for Dhanvantari’s and Amarasiṃha’s are extant. Between the two, the latter’s work Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana popularly known as Amarakośa is very familiar to every student of Sanskrit. The actual name of the book ‘Nāmaliṇgānuśāsana’ means instruction concerning nouns and gender. It is divided into three kāṇḍas (volumes). Eachkāṇḍa is divided into Vargas depending on the subject they deal with. A list of more than 220 plants is mentioned with all the synonyms in the four Vargas. The plants that are revealed in the Amarakośacan be classified into huge trees, edible fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, creepers, water plants, grasses, pulses, cereals, wild cereals and others. Plants that are generally used for incensing, perfumery and cosmetics for human consumption are mentioned in the Manuṣhya Varga. In the Vaiśyavarga crops of commercial value are included.