Course abstract

The knowledge of Sanskrit is very helpful for anyone who is interested in delving into the original texts relating to various subjects from the Indian traditional knowledge systems. This language, however, is often presented as a difficult language to learn for many and moreover as a classical language of the past that is of no special relevance in the contemporary world. Those who have been exposed to it in school often regard it as nothing more than a scoring subject and have little appreciation for the various dimensions of the language. The first part of this course titled ‘Introduction to Basic Spoken Sanskrit’ was offered in August 2018, which generated sufficient interest in the students, many of whom, requested for a follow up class. The objective of this course is to give students a more elaborate foundation of Sanskrit as a living language. It will introduce them to further grammatical structures that will facilitate their understanding of simple texts as well as allow them to use it in daily life. It also seeks to give provide them with a deeper appreciation of the beauty of the different aspects of this language from its sounds to its rich content so that they feel enthused enough to delve further into it.