Sanskrit Documents

Learning Tools




 

Learning Sanskrit

Sanskrit can be called as a "language of consciousness", may be because it opens the door to India 's rich spiritual literature. Sanskrit is not restricted to spirituality & religion, however, but also encompasses a vast literature of many genres; and for us to understand the beauty behind those copious beautiful texts, learning the Sanskrit language is a must.

Sanskrit, which was a primary language of communication in ancient India , lives on in modern India , though not in its full form: it survives in bits and pieces, in one way or another, in the various Indian languages that have descended from it. For natives of India , therefore, it is a matter of recapitulation of a language, which is present in them and merely seeking a proper channel.

Unlike English and other modern European languages, Sanskrit seems somewhat difficult to understand for most Westerners. This is true not only because of its script (devanagari), which is quite foreign to Western & European countries, but also because of its grammatically complex structure and highly inflected forms, which can be more richly inflected even than Greek or Latin, particularly the verbal conjugations.

The links below present an introduction to the Sanskrit language and a little motivation to joyously pursue it to one's own capacity.

  • available in advaita.org.uk .
  • .
  • Listen to the audio files available " Diamond Mountain University " website.  
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Sanskrit dictionary


  • The online Sanskrit dictionary is intended to build a repository of Sanskrit words/meanings in a simple, easy-to-extend format. We hope you find it useful and also contribute in adding more words to the collection -
    • for words in the dictionary.
  • The complete text of the dictionary is available in -
    • OR
    • format.
    • , Sanskrit thesaurus.
  • For more information on the dictionary see -
    • OR
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Tutorials & documentation:

 

Read Charles Wikner's reply on the purpose of the document . His FTP url is ftp.nac.ac.za/wikner/. He advises - "Beware: there is a very thin piece of wire to South Africa, and it is stretched rather taut, so the best time to ftp would be Sunday morning local time (GMT+2:00)".

  • Sanskrit Tutorial translated in French by -

Please read about this translation. Email: for more information.

  • Excellent "Introduction to Sanskrit" series at Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation: Units , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .
  • The is developed by Mr. Vasudeva Bhat on site. There are 39 lessons (Nov 2003) whic h are also translated in Kannada. For Kannadigas, this is an excellent site.
  • - and the Samskrit Education in Chennai , India . Information relating to Sanskrit and set of basic lessons to learn the language through self study. Devanagari Script via browser (without having to install any Fonts) , This site has a useful multilingual editor developed by Indian Institute of Technology Madras, at Chennai, and is available at It may be used in a number of ways to prepare documents in Sanskrit and all the Indian languages. Inline images for the tutorial are generated from special text files prepared using the Multilingual Software. Contact Professor for additional information.
  • Learn Sanskrit using Marathi from as one of the major activities of , in Sangli, Maharashtra . .
  • in Chennai presents "Teaching Sanskrit Through Web" series of lessons. The center offers diploma courses in Sanskrit. The founder V.C. Govindarajan vcgrajan at yahoo.com has also initiated a on yahoo where the lessons are first posted and discussed. The Kendram site also holds "Articles on History of Sanskrit Literature."
  • Master Sanskrit Easily written and presented by Dr. Narayan Kansara of Ahmedabad. This is an extensive 301 page tutorial and is well formatted for two sided booklet printing. The entire text is in Roman with Diacritics. Its details are summarized in the text file. Get the PDF files as , Parts , , and .
  • lessons in Sanskrit are provided at http://www.chitrapurmath.net/. A registration (free) is needed to access all the lessons.
  • prepared by Dennis Waite dennis.waite at virgin.net .
  • Dr. , Director, Computer Centre, Jawaharlal Nehru University , New Delhi , India , has coordinated development of a Sanskrit tutor called SanskritaPradipika for PC-Windows. It is available for download (after free registration) at . The file size is over 20 Mb.
  • Gabriel Pradiipaka and Andres Muni have compiled a procedure to . The FAQ written by Gabriel may be inspiring for new students.
  • at http://sanskrit.sriaurobindoashram.org.in/ is a site for various online display and audio of Sanskrit tutorials, magazine from Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry . The publications can be ordered from SABDA, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry - 605 002, India . For Ordering Information .
  • Vedic Accents:
    • Notes on Vedic accents by Charles Wikner. and files. (July 1997).
    • | | | | - svaramaJNjarii or vaidikasvarapaddhati text + trans. on Vedic accents
      grammar rules related to accents (by Tryambak B. Abhyankar)
  • A slide presentation with audio clips on for Sanskrit learners. (password for read only part is 12345). Prepared by S K Mishra.

Grammar

  • Sanskrit alphabets, their strokes and sounds: , , , , , , , , .

A by Dhananjay Vaidya

  • | | | - A chart of Devanaagarii letters for beginners
  • | | | | - Consonant-Vowel combination, baaraakhaDii (ka, kaa, ki, ... GYaH)
  • | | | - Numbers (cardinals, ordinals, fractions, time telling) in Sanskrit
  • | | | Numbers in Hindi
  • | | | | A pronunciation table for the Sanskrit alphabet
  • | | | Introduction to Sanskrit Grammar; (needs proof-reading/correction)
  • | | Sanskrit Nouns/Verbs tables - "shabdavibhaktii pratyaya".
    (needs proof-reading/correction)
  • Automatic by Gerard Huet's declension display and grammarian engine.
  • Gerard Huet's utility It can break a sentence in words, try sugandhi.mpu.s.tivardhanam. It requires TeX/Velthuis convention transliteration entry. The sindhi program is directly linked .
  • | | Dhaatu PaaTha list of 2200 roots from Indian Lexicon Site
  • | | Verb forms (Whitney) from Indian Lexicon Site
  • Shabda Vyutpatti Nirukta is on-line at: encoded by Tokunaga in Kyoto encoded format.
  • containing over 3000 basic words and their meaning organized in 300+ pages. The site also contains English translations of plays: Bhasa's Carudatta in Poverty (daridra chaarudattam), The Minister's Vows (pratij~naa yaugandharaayaNam), The Vision of Vasavadatta (svapna vaasavadattam), Harsha's Nagananda and Priyadarshika, and Kalidasa's Shakuntala. In addition, it has English translation of Swargarohanika Parvan in Mahabharata, and French translation Mahâbhârata, Strîparva ou Livre des Femmes.
  • | | - dhaatu ruupaaNi - verb tables and templates from Himanshu Pota (uses SKT)
  • | | - Sanskrit word declensions from Avinash Sathaye's (uses
  • of Sri Taralabalu Jagadguru Brihanmath, Sirigere - 577 541 Karnataka, India , has developed a software for PC-Win95/98/XP (not for NT) use for broader study of Panini's Ashtadhyayi. It includes pada-paaTha, Vrittis, and explanation. The newer version has the option of selecting Roman script or Devangari script. The Vrittis in Siddhanta Kaumudi and Laghu Kaumudi will also be given seperately. The data is being revised and updated. This also includes explanation on sandhi system.

Panini's Ashtadhyayi or suutrapATha is also available in Sanskrit in different formats among .

  • A selected word index to the nighaNTu and the nirukta studied and presented by Charles Wikner. The file ( and ) provides cross-index between some of the chapters, relating to synonyms, list of grammarians, technical terms, dhaatu and word index. The text is in Devanagari and Roman+diacritics. (April 2001).
  • The book by Charles Phillip Brown published in 1869 is available on the . Login to an account is needed.
  • has created that cover , Transliterator to generate display in Devanagari using multiple transliteration schemes (Itrans, Kyoto , and single key map), a Sandhi engine that joins two words and displays them in Devanagari, and a Pratyahara-Decoder based on the Shiva sutra of Panini. The Java based sandhi project software is available for download. An article "Introduction to the Technique of Paninian Grammar" supplements the utilities. The dictionary allows Copy to ClipBoard function for the Devanagari/eLatin Output and makes it more User-Friendly.
  • The following links give additional information on Sandhi/Conjunts for Sanskrit.
 
  • Some Simple Sanskrit stories -
  • Sanskrit learning/speaking camp experience notes -
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Conversational Sanskrit (lessons and documents)

, based in Bangalore , India (Bharat) has been instrumental in promoting conversational Sanskrit on world-wide basis. The program has been circulated through camps, publications, correspondence courses, studies through personal contacts, and by various means suitable to individual's needs. The following books are some of their publications.

  • | | | One Thousand Sentences for conversation Sanskrita Vyavahaara Sahasari.  
  • - Sanskrita Vyavahaara Sahasari in Browseable Index of gif files.
  • 's abhyaasa pustakaM, a book for self study. The pages in the book are individually scanned to JPEG image format. The scanned images given below were re-editted, improved, bundled in MS Word files, and are provided in zip format for interested individuals , , .

Pages

  • 's exercises for students of conversational camps.
    • | | | | Exercise 1
    • | | | | Exercise 2
    • | | | | Exercise 3
    • | | | | Exercise 4
    • | | | | Exercise 5
    • | | | | Exercise 6
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 7
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 8
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 9
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 10
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 11
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 12
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 13
    • | | | | Exercise 14
    • | | | | Exercise 15
    • | | | | Exercise 16
    • | | | | Exercise 17
    • | | | | Exercise 19
    • | | | | Exercise 20
    • | | | | Exercise 21
    • | | | | Exercise 22
    • | | | | Exercise 23
    • | | | | Exercise 24
    • | | | | Exercise 25
    • | | | | Exercise 26
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 27
    • | | | | Exercise 28
    • | | | | Exercise 29
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 30
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 31
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 32
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 33
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 34
    • ITrans | PS | PDF | GIF | HTML Exercise 35
    • | | | | Exercise 36
    • | | | | Exercise 37
    • | | | | Exercise 38
    • | | | | Exercise 39
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 40
    • | | | GIF | HTML Exercise 41
    • | | | | Exercise 42
    • | | | | Exercise 43
    • | | | | Exercise 44
    • | | | | Exercise 45
    • | | | | Exercise 46
    • | | | | Exercise 47
    • | | | | Exercise 48
    • | | | | Exercise 49
    • | | | | Exercise 50
 



 

Software:

  • - A verse a day PC/DOS utility by Ajaya Durg.
  • Technology Development for Indian Languages, , a program launched by Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India in 1991, has developed excellent related to word processing and analysis of Indian languages. The tools can be downloaded freely with simple registration from . Some of the software include
    Indian Language Keyboard Driver and Fonts
    iLEAP an Intelligent, Internet ready Indian language word processor on Windows
    Desika: Natural Language Understanding System for Sanskrit
    Shabdhabodha:to analyze the semantic and syntactic structure of Sanskrit sentences.
    Geeta Reader
    Apex Language Processor (ALP) is a character mode Wordprocessor
    Akshar (Word processor) for Windows
    Punjabi SpellChecker
    Speech Synthesizer
  • Sivananda Org -
    • http://www.sivananda.org/misc/anim/anim.htm Chakras - Animated ShockWave of the Chakras with pronunciations of the Biija aksharas.
  • Ulrich Stiehl's sanskritweb.net has an http://www.sanskritweb.net/deutsch/ipa_sans.pdf>International Phonetic IPA chart of Sanskrit alphabet pronunciations.
  • A research paper by Kalpesh Gajiwala surprisingly in an Internatinal Journal of Plastic Surgery! "Inherent advantage of this arrangement of Sanskrit alphabets to effectively analyze defective cleft palate speech and provides a tool for surgeons to decide a course of action in their routine clinical practice."
  • Sanskrit Pronunciation Audio Utilities for PC/Dos/Win -
  • with International phonetic alphabet pronounciation (IPA) prepared by Yves Codet, Toulouse communicated by Sylvain Lavoie, Québec , Canada . (In French) Also see associated .