sanskrit lexicons of ancient india

Sanskrit Lexicons of ancient India Page 1

Sanskrit Lexicons of Ancient India

By

Dr. A.S. Nene

Retired Professor of Civil Engineering, VNIT Nagpur, India

E mail: [email protected]

Introduction: Shabdakosh or lexicons are encyclopedias of words. The first

Shabdakosh or lexicon known as Nighantu was compiled in a period 2000

B.C approximately. This text, referred by many composers of lexicons, is not

available now.

The Nighantus are the glossaries or lists of rare and obscure words occurring

in the Vedic hymns. According to Yaska Muni they were collected and

classified by the descendants of ancient sages for the easier understanding

of the Vedic texts.

The Nirukta is a famous work of Yaska. It is the oldest Indian Treatise on

Etymology, Philology and Semantics. This being a commentary on the

Nighantus, collection of obscure words which tradition ascribes also to

Yaska, follows the three-fold division of the contents of the Nighantus.

Subsequently the word Nighantu became equivalent word to lexicon. The

nature of lexicons changed from time to time. The noun, verb, adjective,

proper noun related to a specific word were included. The work of

compilation of a lexicon was considered as an art and was included in sixty-

four art of engineering. This art was named as Abhidhan Shastra. The

ancient lexicons were arranged alphabetically as these are arranged in

present times.


Un-available Lexicons: There were many lexicons which were referred by

next generation but are not available now. Authors of such lexicons are;

1 Bhaguri 6 Rantidev

2 Bopalit 7 Vachaspati (ShabdarNav)

3 Durgasingh (Hugga) 8 Vararuchi

4 Katya 9 Vikramaditya (Sansaravart)

5 Rabhas 10 Vyadi (Utpalini)

The names in bracket are the titles of the lexicons.

Available Lexicons: The oldest available lexicon is Namalinganushasan or

Amarakosh of Amar Simha. He belonged to the period of King Vikramaditya

of 7th century. There are 80 commentaries available on the text. No other

Sanskrit text has received such attention. The book Amarkosha comprises of

three volumes and each volume has numerous chapters.

The first volume Heaven and others has words pertaining to gods and

heavens. The second volume, "Earth and others" deals with words about

earth, towns, animals and humans. The third volume "Common" has words

related to grammar and other miscellaneous words.

The text was basically composed for the use by poets or writers. Most of the

verses are in a specific poetic meter (Anushtupa Chanda).

The lexicon Anekarth Samucchyaya (Different name of same word) was

composed by Shashwat. This text is based on Amar Kosh.

The authors and titles of other lexicons, compiled during 10th to 17th century,

are given in a table below.

10th Century

Author Title & Brief Description


MahakshyapaNak Anekartha Dhwanimanjiri

Halayudh Abhidhan Ratnamala

Dhanapal Prakrutlakshmi

Yadavprakash Vaijayanti consists of 43 chapters and 3500 words

11th Century

Raja Bhja Bhojan Nighantu

Ajaypal Nanartha Sangraha

Mankh Anekarthkosh

12th Century

DharaNidas Anekartha Saar

Dhananjaya 1 Namamala or Nighantusamay.

Dhananjaya 2 Paryay Shabdaratna Sanskrut with Talagu script.

Maheshvara Vishvaprakash mentions exact year of

composition i.e. 1112

PurushottamDeo 1. Trikandkosh

2. Haravali

3. Ekaksharkosh

4. Dwirupkosh

5. VarNadeshna

Hemachandra (A Jain

Muni)

1. Abhidhan ChitamaNi

2. Anekarth Sangraha

3. Deshinam Mala

4. Nighantushash on Botanical terms.

13th to 15th Century

Keshavswami NanartharNavsamkshepa

Medinikar Nanarthashabdakosh

Shridhar Sen Viswalochan or Muktavali

Padmanath Datta Bhuriprayoga


Mahip Shabdaratnakar and Anekarthtilak

Erugapa Nanartharatnamala

Raghav Nanarthamanjiri

Vamanbhatt BaNa Shabdaratnakar and Shabdachandrika

Makarand Das Paramandiya Namamala

Harshkirti 1. Sharadiyakhyanmala

2. Anekarth-Namamala

3. Shabdanekarth

16th Century

Appyadikshit Namasangrahmala

16th Century

Shahaji Raje of

Tanjore

Shabdaratna Samanvaya and Shabdarth Sangraha

Mahadev Ekaksharkosh and Avyayakosh

Shriharsha Dwirupakosha and Sankhyakosh

unknown authors Vastuvidyankosh (on Physics)

Vaidyakiya Kosh (Medical- 25 in numbers)

Jyotishyakosh ( Astrology -5 in numbers)

Bi-lingual lexicons by

unknown authors

Sanskrit to Kannada- 2Nos.

Persian to Sanskrit - 4Nos.

Sanskrit to Nepali

Sanskrit to Tibetan

17th Century

Raghunath Pandit

minister of Shiwaji

Raje

Rajavyavharkosh Marathi,Farsi and Telagu

equivalent words of Sanskrit.

Conclusion: The ancient Indian lexicons are essential tools of study of the

Sanskrit language. Composing a lexicon was considered as an art and was

patronized by various rulers of India.


Acknowledgement: This article is based on chapter 21 of the book by

Velankar.(Ref.5)

References

1. Amarakosha, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarakosha

2. Claus Vogel, (1979),Indian lexicography -A History of Indian

literature; Vol. 5. Scientific and Technical Literature. Fasc. 4.) Viii, pp.

303401.. DM 48, Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz.

3. Hemchandracharya , Abhidhan Chintamani Kosh published by

Devchand Lalbhai Jain Pustakoddhar Samstha , Jain eLibrary Website

www.jainelibrary.org , Folder No. 016087.

4. Lakshman Sarup, The Nighantu and The Nirukta (London, H. Milford

1920-29), Repr. Motilal Banarsidass 2002, ISBN 81-208-1381-2.

5. Velankar, S.B.(1985), Physical Sciences of ancient India, a Marathi

book published by Ms K.B. Dhavle, Girgaon Mumbai, chapter 21,pp

114-117.

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