Current courses

Below are the courses the Sanskrit Library is offering this fall.

For an overview of the Sanskrit Library courses with links to all planned course offerings please click here.

  • History of Sanskrit literature I: veda and vedANga
    • UH101
    • This is the first of four courses in The Sanskrit Library’s digital humanities programs that provide students with an historical overview and sampling of Sanskrit literature. The courses survey the history of the literature; introduce students to surveys, editions, translations, and studies on it; and read selected passages of the original texts. This course begins with the Vedic saMhitAs, brAhmaRas, and upanizads, and introduces students to the six vedANgas and their interrelation.
    • Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar and Peter M. Scharf
    • Schedule: Sundays, 14 January – 28 April 2024.
    • Course meeting times: 9:00–11:00am U.S. Central Time; 8:30–10:30pm IST.
    • Prerequisite: Basic knowledge of Sanskrit: US101 with concurrent enrollment in US102 or equivalent.
    • Course fee: $1,500.
    • Course fee for Indian residents: ₹15,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register
    • Register (residents of India)
    • Course materials: a bibliography will be distributed to registered students.
  • Introductory Sanskrit I.
    • US101.
    • This course aims to provide a linguistically rich study of the world's most fascinating language equivalent to a first-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. After introducing the Devanāgarī script and Sanskrit phonology, the course surveys the intricate and highly organized structure of the grammar with the aim of enabling a student to begin reading original materials after the second semester. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf
    • Schedule: 9 September – 19 December 2024.
    • See also the intensive summer courses US101S and US102S 3 June–29 July 2024.
    • Course meeting times: Monday and Thursday 9:00-10:00am U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $3,000, or $5,000 for both US101, and US102.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit II.
    • US102.
    • This course completes the linguistically rich survey of Sanskrit grammar begun in US101 and is roughly equivalent to a second-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial. After this course, students will be able to read original materials in late Vedic, Epic, and Classical Sanskrit.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf
    • Prerequisite: US101 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 20 January – 8 May 2025; No class Thursday 20 March and Monday 24 March.
    • See also the intensive summer courses US101S and US102S 3 June–29 July 2022.
    • Course meeting times: Monday and Thursday 9:00-10:00am U.S. Central Time. Time commitment: 10-12 hours/week.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit I (Summer intensive)
    • US101S.
    • This course aims to provide a linguistically rich study of the world's most fascinating language equivalent to a first-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. After introducing the Devanāgarī script and Sanskrit phonology, the course surveys the intricate and highly organized structure of the grammar with the aim of enabling a student to begin reading original materials after the second semester. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Schedule: 3–28 June 2024.
    • See the continuation US102S 1–29 July.
    • Intensive course meeting times: Live meetings everyday Monday–Friday 10:30-11:30am, 3:30–4:30pm U.S. Central Time, recorded lectures, daily interactive on-line exercises, flexible consultation. Time commitment: 40 hours per week.
    • Course fee: $3,000, or $5,000 for both US101S and US102S.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit II (Summer intensive)
    • US102S.
    • This course completes the linguistically rich survey of Sanskrit grammar begun in US101 and is roughly equivalent to a second-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial. After this course, students will be able to read original materials in late Vedic, Epic, and Classical Sanskrit.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Prerequisite: US101 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 1–29 July 2024.
    • Continuation of US101S 3–28 June 2024.
    • Intensive course meeting times: Live meetings everyday Monday–Friday 10:30-11:30am, 3:30–4:30pm U.S. Central Time, recorded lectures, daily interactive on-line exercises, flexible consultation. Time commitment: 40 hours per week.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Intermediate Sanskrit prose reading.
    • US120.
    • In this course intermediate Sanskrit students are given practice reading Classical Sanskrit, Epic and Vedic prose. Readings may include selections from any of the following: the {h}itopadeSa and {p}aYcatantra, which consist of short stories with a moral embeded in a longer narrative composed for the instruction of youth in leadership ({n}ItiSAstra); the {m}ahABArata and {p}urARas; the {b}rAhmaRas and {u}panizads.
    • Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar, or Peter M. Scharf.
    • Prerequisite: US101–102 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 15 January – 2 May 2023.
    • Course meeting times: Monday and Thursday 11:00am–12:00noon U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $1,500.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Verbal conjugation in {B}awwoji {d}Ikzita’s {s}idDAntakOmudI.
    • US205.
    • In this course, we read the portions in the {s}idDAntakOmudI that deal with verbal roots, the introduction of l-affixes, their replacement with verbal terminations, Atmanepada and parasmEpada terminations, the introduction of stem-forming affixes, and other aspects of verbal conjugation.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Prerequisite: Advanced Sanskrit with CG20 Introduction to the {p}ARinian tradition, or equivalent.
    • Schedule: Tuesdays, 16 January – 30 April 2024, except 26 March.
    • Course meeting times: 10:00am–12:00noon U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $2,000.
    • Indian course fee: ₹20,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • {D}AtupAWa: The {m}ADavIyaDAtuvftti.
    • US310.
    • Students are introduced to the structure and content of the {p}ARinian {D}AtupAWa and study the beginning of the {m}ADavIyaDAtuvftti with detailed exploration of the sUtras of the {a}zwADyAyI cited in the derivation of the speech forms mentioned in it with the {k}ASikA and other commentaries on them.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Prerequisite: advanced Sanskrit, a thorough introduction to {p}ARinian grammar, and permission of the instructor. Prospective students are advised to contact the instructor before registering by email to: info@sanskritlibrary.org
    • Schedule: 20 January – 4 May 2024.
    • Course meeting times: Saturday 2:00-4:00pm U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • saMskftapAWasya maDyamA SreRI.
    • UP120.
    • asyAM kakzyAyAM CAtrAH maDyamAyAM SreRyAM saMskftaM paWeyuH. pAWe hitopadeSasya pANktamaDyayanaM Bavet. sarvatra pARinIyasaYjYAnAM prayogaH Bavet.
    • Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar.
    • Medium of instruction: Sanskrit.
    • Prerequisite: US101–102 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: Fridays, 19 January – 3 May 2023, except 22 March 2024.
    • Course meeting times: 9:30-11:00am U.S. Central Time. 9:00-10.30PM IST
    • Course fee: ₹5,000 for students, or ₹15,000 for employed adults, residents of India
    • Course fee: $1,500 (for non-residents of India).
    • Syllabus.
    • Register (residents of India).
    • Register (non-residents of India).
  • Character and higher-level encoding.
    • UT102.
    • This course begins by examining methods of character encoding for Sanskrit: the Sanskrit Library Phonetic (SLP) encodings, ASCII meta-encodings, and Unicode. The course then introduces the extensible markup language (XML), and the Text-Encoding Initiative (TEI). Students will learn how to markup text and bibliography, and formalize morphological (lexical and inflectional) tagging in TEI. The course concludes with training in the use of the exceedingly powerful and ubiquitously useful regular expressions. This is the second technical course in The Sanskrit Library's digital humanities programs.
    • Instructors: Tanuja P. Ajotikar and Peter M. Scharf.
    • Schedule: Saturdays, 20 January – 4 May 2024, except 23 March.
    • Course meeting times: 9:00–11:00am U.S. Central Time.
    • Prerequisite: Advanced competency in Sanskrit, fluency reading Devanagari script, and regular access to a computer and basic computer use skills.
    • Course fee: $1,000.
    • Course fee: ₹10,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
    • Register (residents of India).