Part 5 - Maṅkhakośa commentary

There is a commentary on the Maṅkhakośa, also extant, regarding the authorship of the which, Theodor Zachariae, in the preface to his edition of the Maṅkhakośa comments that the commentary was probably composed by Maṅkha himself.^[1] However, the manuscripts of the commentary, is not complete. Again, they end with the comment on the words under stanza 683.^[2] The examples found mentioned in the said manuscripts of the commentary is said to be about 3400.^[3]

Theodor Zachariae, remarks that numerous quotations are found, both from the text and the commentary of the Maṅkhakośa in Mahendrasūri’s ṭīkā on the Anekārthasaṃgraha. He further states about the importance of Mahendra’s commentary, regarding the recovery of parts of the Maṅkhatīkā.^[4] The Maṅkhaṭīkā however, confines itself completely in giving illustrations and discussing the meaning of the words and while doing this, it places the examples before the meanings, separating the later from the former by the term itādau.^[5] Some of the important words, found in the text, also interpreted and explained nicely in the commentary are as follows-the word bheka has been interpreted as maṅḍūka, also referred to as pānthjanā.^[6] The Amarakoṣa explains the word bheka as bheke maṅḍūkavarṣābhū-śālura-plava-darddurāḥ.^[7]