Need for the present study

The popularity of Amarakośa is evident from the fact that it has more than eighty commentaries, of which only about ten are published and the rest are found in manuscripts. But there has not been much study done on Amarakośa or its commentaries despite the fact that the editions of Amarakośa by, Kṣīrasvāmin G. Oka, Dr. Hardutt Sharma and Dr. N. G. Sardesai and A. A. Ramanathan carry introductions of great academic value. The Amarakośasya Vātāyanāt, by Dr. Rama Dubalish^[1] and Nāmaliṅgānuśāsane Pāṇinīyaprabhāvaḥ by Prof. Janamaddi Ramakrishna^[2] are major studies done on Amarakośa While studies on Amarakośa themselves are quite few, only much less can be stated about its commentaries.

Except the study on the commentary of Jātarūpa by Dr. Mahesh Raj Pant^[3], no other study on commentaries on Amarakośa has been done in detail. It is to be noted that Jātarūpa's commentary is available only in fragments. Hence the Amarakośodghāṭana, the earliest fully available commentary of Kṣīrasvāmin, is taken up here for a detailed critical study.