स्वागतं भवद्भ्यः ।
Welcome
This website is the home of the Elementary Sanskrit course (W1401 and W1402) taught at Columbia University (New York). I am just beginning to populate it with course materials and the like, so it is very much a work in progress (to be completed by spring, 2016). Although this site is geared toward students in the course and is not intended as a stand-alone MOOC or even a digital Teach Yourself Sanskrit text, I hope that those interested in learning something about the language will find it of use as well. The course is based on Prof. Madhav Deshpande’s excellent textbook, the संस्कृतसुबोधिनी Saṃskṛtasubodhinī: A Sanskrit Primer (the audio files for which can be downloaded from here). That text will be augmented here with an assortment of materials: video mini-lectures (restricted access for the time being), expository overviews, audio recordings, and handouts for download (including those I previously developed for the Goldmans’ textbook, देववाणीप्रवेशिका Devavāṇīpraveśikā: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language). The focus here is largely on the general rules by which various forms are made (e.g., 1st class verbs, etc.) since that information is often not explained in detail by Deshpande and because class time will be devoted for the most part to using the language.
Acknowledgements
Apart from the impressive array of online courses these days, this site has been inspired in particular by two kindred Sanskrit sites. The first is the Guided Sanskrit Lessons website for Walter Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language. That site is a model of clarity and accessibility, as well as a real tribute to Maurer’s text. The second inspiration is the UBC Sanskrit site, which is a remarkably beautiful and useful companion to Robert Goldman and Sally Sutherland Goldman’s देववाणीप्रवेशिका An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language. Both textbooks and their dedicated websites have a lot to offer students working their way through Deshpande’s text in conjunction with this site.
The audio files used on this site for the exercises and stories have been graciously provided by Prof. Deshpande himself, all of which may be downloaded here. The audio files for the nominal and verbal paradigms were kindly produced by two students: Sireesh Gururaja and Shiv Subramaniam.
The audio files used on this site for the exercises and stories have been graciously provided by Prof. Deshpande himself, all of which may be downloaded here. The audio files for the nominal and verbal paradigms were kindly produced by two students: Sireesh Gururaja and Shiv Subramaniam.
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The author of our textbook is Madhav Deshpande, professor of Sanskrit and Hindu Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, with a joint appointment in the Department of Linguistics, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Professor Deshpande has not been consulted in connection with this website, so any errors in the material presented here are mine (Guy Leavitt’s) alone.
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I, Guy Leavitt, am the author of this site and Lecturer in Sanskrit in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies at Columbia University.
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