Introduction to Sanskrit, Part 1

by Thomas Egenes

Introduction to Sanskrit is designed to open the door to India`s rich spiritual literature. This self-teaching guide presents Sanskrit pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary in simple and systematic steps, allowing students to easily master the fundamentals of this enchanting language. The text gently leads the beginner through small steps with clear, concise explanations. Each lesson includes instruction in alphabet, grammar, and vocabulary, with easy practice exercises at the end. Also included is a reading from the Bhagavad-Gita and Sanskrit quotations from the R.K. Samhita, Upanisads, Yoga Sutras, Brahma Sutra, and Manu Smrti.

Genres: Language, Reference, Nonfiction

386 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Azaghedi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great tool for those who want to learn Sanskrit but lack a very thorough understanding of linguistics. Many Sanskrit textbooks have been criticized for presupposing a certain level of linguistic sophistication, which was usually developed through Latin and Greek courses, before attempting to tackle Sanskrit. Egenes realized that many people interested in learning Sanskrit were English speakers with no background in synthetic languages. So what he has created with his "Introduction to Sanskrit," as he mentions in the introductory chapter, is a sort of pre-primer, in so much as this book is an introduction to an introduction. After going through Part 1 (Part 2 of his series focuses mostly on reading practice and prosody, I believe), you will be ready to move on to a more traditional, dense textbook, like Goldman's "Devavanipravesika," Coulson's "Teach Yourself Sanskrit," Desphande's "SamskrtaSubodhini," etc.

"Introduction to Sanskrit" is not, though, a piece of fluff which will teach you very little, in a mind-numbingly slow fashion. By the end of the book you will have learned: the devanagari syllabary, the seven cases and how to decline many types of nouns, a healthy number of verb tenses, how to recognize how to make sandhi changes, and built up a good-sized vocabulary. And as someone who was an absolute neophyte when they came to this book, the challenge is daunting! Sandhi, if not handled gradually like Egenes did, could be enough to drive many people away from Sanskrit. But thankfully, Egenes approached all of the difficult aspects of Sanskrit with sympathy for the learner (especially the autodidact, which many budding Sanskritists are these days); he paced the book so that it would challenging enough to hold our interest, but without alienating us with pedantry. It was very rewarding to know that after completing this book that I could comprehend, with the aid of a dictionary, sections of the "Bhagavad Gita."

So with that I will conclude my rambling with simply this: Egene's "Introduction to Sanskrit" is a godsend to the student of Sanskrit, and I'd encourage anyone interested in learning the language to study with it before moving on to any other text.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sanskrit is a beautiful but highly inflected language, so unless you are a linguist or just gifted with languages I highly recommend this slow and gentle introduction. Learning the devanagari script takes time, but even so the first few lessons may be a little too basic. No worries though. The learning curve steepens after the fifth or sixth lesson. Sanskrit is written exactly the way it is pronounced, so the sandhi rules -- which govern how the endings of words change depending on the sound that follows -- must also be mastered. This is a big hassle for students, but Egenes again uses a gradual approach and keeps the confusion to a minimum.

Plenty of exercises and a repetition of vocabulary and grammatical constructions help to cement previous lessons as the student progresses. This is a fantastic primer. Would that all language instruction books were so thoughtfully constructed! On to Part 2!

[Igor Perisic · Rating 5 out of 5]

This textbook is great. Sanskrit is not an easy language to learn but the lessons are not too big so everything is manageable. Sure there are many declensions, but that should not discourage anyone, because with frequent repetitions, everything is done in a satisfactory way. I personally find that Sanskrit is a beautiful language and that everyone will enjoy learning it. Also knowledge of this language will deepen your understanding of all Sanskrit translations as many things cannot be translated adequately in English or any other language for that matter.

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Back in high school, a friend challenged me to learn Sanskrit with him. At the time I demurred, but last year I became intrigued by the language for several reasons. I had listened to courses on Hinduism and Buddhism and learned about the ancient scriptures written in Sanskrit. I was also curious to explore another ancient Indo-European language, to discover the similarities and differences with Greek and Latin. Finally, I wanted to learn the Devanagari alphabet (technically an abugida), mainly to impress friends at Indian restaurants.

Thomas Egenes's "Introduction to Sanskrit, Part 1" was a perfect primer on the language. You start by learning the Devanagari characters step-by-step, along with Sanskrit words and grammar in Roman letters. Gradually the Roman characters are phased out until you are reading and translating from Devanagari only. Each chapter includes exercises, including translating both from Sanskrit-to-English and from English-to-Sanskrit. The latter discipline was quite challenging, but immensely useful in absorbing the grammar and vocabulary (and in learning to write the Devanagari script).

With all that said, Sanskrit is probably the most difficult language I have ever studied. It has the grammatical complexities of Latin and Greek, amplified to a greater degree. Then the Devanagari script adds further difficulty, for in addition to all the individual characters, there are certain combined characters that are unpredictably formed from the constituent parts. Finally, and most vexing of all, is the feature called sandhi. Basically, sandhi is a process that changes the spelling of words based on the combination of one word's ending and the following word's beginning. And then there are rules for when words are combined without a break. The benefit of sandhi is it accurately reflects the way words are pronounced. The problem, for me at least, is that it is much harder to parse the words in a sentence without being able to immediately identify the familiar word endings.

Hopefully some of these difficulties will be allayed as I move into Part 2 of Egenes's textbook. I am eager to find out!

[Jacob Rabinowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I worked through Part 1 cover to cover, and am now catching my breath (and reviewing all the vocabulary and paradigms I learned there) before plunging into Part 2. I had begun by trying to slog thrugh MacDonald's "A Sanskrit Grammar for Students," which is really a reference book, not a primer, so I didn't make out too well with that. Egenes made it possible for me to at least get ankle deep into the ocean of Sanskrit— by well planned lessons and increments that could be mastered. This is a serious introduction to the language, which should not be underrated simply because it causes no suffering.