[Advaita-l] Sanskrit Study

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Tue, 8 Nov 2005, Manjunath Joshi wrote:

> Namaskara,
> I am Manjunath B Joshi from Gulbarga, Karnataka. Now I am doing PhD in Basel 
> University, Switzerland. I am member of Advita mailing list and I enjoy 
> discussion very much.  I am very much intrested in learning sanskrit. Is 
> there any online or corresponding courses which offers sanskrit for 
> beginners?

There are some but I think they are of dubious value.  Someone of your 
background is probably quite capable of teaching himself.  The Gita is 
actually a good first text, its language is quite simple.  You just need a 
Sanskrit-English dictionary like Aptes' so you can look up words you don't 
understand.

Grammar is harder.  There is a book called "Teach Yourself Sanskrit" by 
Michael Coulson which should be available in any large bookstore.  It's 
fault (from my point of view) is that it teaches according to the Western 
method but its pretty good and has exercises to practice etc.  For a taste 
of the traditional method, there is an English translation of the 
laghusiddhantakaumudi by James Ballantyne.  Anyone of a logical mind will 
be fascinated by the intricate way the sutras (It is an abridgement of 
Paninis' sutras) are arranged.  But as a practical method of learning 
Sanskrit, it can be rough going without a proper teacher.



-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>