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On the Vicissitudes of Subhūticandra's <i>Kāmadhenu</i> Commentary on the <i>Amarakoṣa</i> in Tibet

On the Vicissitudes of Subhūticandra's Kāmadhenu Commentary on the Amarakoṣa in Tibet
Journal of the International Association of Tibetan Studies
Format: Journal Article
Publication Date: 2009-12
Publisher: Tibetan and Himalayan Library
Sources ID: 128184
Visibility: Public (group default)
Abstract: (Show)

Creator's Description: Subhūticandra's (ca. 1050-ca. 1110) circa 1100 Kāmadhenu commentary on the A ma ra ko sha (Amarakoṣa) is one of the great monuments of Indian lexicography. Only several incomplete manuscript witnesses of the Sanskrit text are known to have survived. However, a complete manuscript of Nepali origin was translated into Tibetan by the great Si tu Paṇ chen Chos kyi 'byung gnas (1700-74) in the eighteenth century. This paper seeks to provide a preliminary biography and bibliography of the Kāmadhenu and the ways in which, beginning with the translation of an incomplete manuscript by Kīrticandra and Yar klung lo tsā ba grags pa rgyal mtshan (1242-1346) in Kathmandu, this work was able to insinuate itself in Tibetan intellectual circles. As a matter of course, it shares a great deal of history with the A ma ra ko sha itself.