"The Abhijnanasakuntalam is an unparalleled work of the great poet and playwright Kalidasa, the brightest star in the firmament of Indian poetry. No other composition of this poet displays more the richness of poetical genius, the warmth and play of fancy, the profound knowledge of human heart that this masterly production.
The present edition is unique in several essentials. The editor has adopted the most popular and appropriate version of the text. He has put the variants in the footnotes. He has added a short Sanskrit commentary, copious notes, an exhaustive introduction and several useful appendices. The English translation of the text is literal as well as idiomatic.
It is hoped that this edition will meet the long-felt requirement of university students and the general reader alike."
"Kalidasa is admired for the portrayal of human emotion on the canvas of natural loveliness. Based on an anecdote mentioned in the Mahabharata, the simple tale of Sakuntala and Dushyant has been turned into poetical painting of picturesque scenery through his wonderful imagination. No poet had a richer and fuller sense of sensuous loveliness or a more masterly command of the resources of suggestive incidents, imagery and pictorial phrasing such as would reveal that loveliness in words.
Tagore remarks there are two unions in Sakuntalam and the central motif of the play is the progress from the earlier union of the first three acts with its youthful beauty and romance through an interval of separation and intense and speechless agony to the ultimate union in the Elysian regions of eternal bliss described in the last act. The play, therefore, naturally falls into three divisions each having a distinct atmosphere of its own-the first four acts constituting the first division, the fifth and sixth the second, and the seventh act the last.
For the first four acts the scene is laid in the hermitage. The poet has already in the prelude intimated that it was the time of pleasant summer, and even within the precincts of the sacred grove every tree and plant is touched by its magic fingers so that ""the wild-wood bloom outglows the garden flowers."""
The present English translation is based on the original German work written by Professor Winternitz and has been revised in the light of further researches on the subject by different scholars in India and elsewhere. Vol. I relates to Veda (the four Samhitas), Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanisads, Vedangas and the Literature of the ritual. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata. Puranic literature and Tantra. Vol. II deals with the Buddhist Literature of India and the Jaina Literature. Vol. III covers Classical Sanskrit Literature comprising ornate Poetry, Drama, Narrative Literature, Grammar, Lexiocography, Philosophy, Dharma-Sastra, Artha-Sastra, Architecture, Music, Kama-Sutra, Ayurveda, Astronomy, Astrology and Mathematics.
"The present English Translation is based on the original German work written by Professor Winternitz and has been revised in the light of further researches on the subject by different scholars in India and elsewhere.
Volume I is divided into two section. Section I relates to Veda (the Four Samhitas), Brahmanas, Aranyaka, Upanisads, Vedangas and the literature of the Ritual. Section II relates to the study of two great Epics of India-the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It carries out a general survey of the Puranic literature, and provides ample information about the Tantras too.
Volume II contains two section viz. Buddhism and Jainism. The edition has been translated from the original, incorporating the additional information as found in Mrs. Ketkar's translation from which a larger part of the text has been reproduced here verbatim.
Volume III covers the history of classical Sanskrit literature and scientific Indian literature with its characteristics, grammar, lexicography, philosophy, dharmasastra, architecture, sangitasastra, kamasastra, ayurveda, astronomy, astrology and mathematics and also has an appendix."
"The present English Translation is based on the original German work written by Professor Winternitz and has been revised in the light of further researches on the subject by different scholars in India and elsewhere.
Volume I is divided into two section. Section I relates to Veda (the Four Samhitas), Brahmanas, Aranyaka, Upanisads, Vedangas and the literature of the Ritual. Section II relates to the study of two great Epics of India-the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. It carries out a general survey of the Puranic literature, and provides ample information about the Tantras too.
Volume II contains two section viz. Buddhism and Jainism. The edition has been translated from the original, incorporating the additional information as found in Mrs. Ketkar's translation from which a larger part of the text has been reproduced here verbatim.
Volume III covers the history of classical Sanskrit literature and scientific Indian literature with its characteristics, grammar, lexicography, philosophy, dharmasastra, architecture, sangitasastra, kamasastra, ayurveda, astronomy, astrology and mathematics and also has an appendix."
"Introduction to Sanskrit, in two volumes, 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. Each lesson includes instruction in alphabet, grammar, and vocabulary, with concise explanations and easy practice exercises. Also included in Part One is a reading from the Bhagavad-Gita and Sanskrit quotations from the Rk Samhita, Upanisads, Yoga Sutas, Brahma Sutras, and Manu Smrti. Part Two uses verses from the Bhagavad-Gita to teach principles of grammar, and includes additional essays on Sanskrit grammar and pronunciation.
This text is written to fulfill a need that still remains, which is to make the introductory study of Sanskrit simple, concise, and systematic, thereby making it more accessible and enjoyable for a beginning student. The text is not a complete survey of Sanskrit grammar, or even a primer. It is meant to be a ëpre-primer,í a step-by-step introduction to the fundamental aspects of the language.
Review:
“A useful primer acceptable to all Sanskrit students, no matter what their orientation. It fills a real need in supplying an approach which does not rush past the all-important foundations of ample practice with simple sentences.”, —David Reigle, Sanskrit Professor ""
...endorses this book and strongly recommends it for use by Sanskrit students... It is the finest textbook for beginners.""-The India Times, February, 1992
""Since we are conducting Sanskrit courses in our academy, we have been researching suitable teaching books. Having come across Thomas Egenes's Introduction to Sanskrit, we seem to have found what we were looking for."" - Sanskrit Academy, Brunate, Italy
""A didactically well-structured and student-friendly text.""-Prof. G.Van Haren, The Netherlands"
"This text focusses on the beginning study of Classical Sanskrit, although several of the quotations are in Vedic Sanskrit. Normally, Vedic Sanskrit is studied after Classical Sanskrit is learned.
This text is written to fulfill a need that still remains, which is to make the introductory study of Sanskrit simple, concise, and systematic, thereby making it more accessible and enjoyable for a beginning student.
After completing this text, you should be able to study any of the above Sanskrit textbooks more comfortably, or begin Part Two of this text. Part Two will feature the reading of selected verses from the Bhagvad-Gita, accompanied by a more thorough explanation of unfamiliar rules of grammar as they are encountered in the reading. Both volumes together will cover the basic rules of Sanskrit grammar. For college classes, Part One covers the standard material for a one-semester course and Part Two for the second semester. After completing Part Two, the student should be able to read the Bhagavad-Gita with the aid of a Sanskrit dictionary and a word-by-word English translation.
There are several reasons to study the subtle and refined language of Sanskrit. The sound,script, grammar, and systematic nature of the language is charming in itself, something of great beauty. The study of Sanskrit creates orderliness within the mind because Sanskrit is a highly systematic language, reflecting the orderliness of nature itselt.
Introduction to Sanskrit, in two volumes, 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. Part Two uses verses from the Bhagavad-Gita to teach principles of grammar, and includes additional essays on Sanskrit grammar and pronunciation.
Review:
""A useful primer acceptable to all Sanskrit students, no matter what their orientation. It fills a real need in supplying an approach which does not rush past the all-important foundations of ample practice with simple sentences."" - David Reigle, Sanskrit Professor ""
...endorses this book and strongly recommends it for use by Sanskrit students...It is the finest textbook for beginners.""-The India Times, February, 1992
""Since we are conducting Sanskrit courses in our academy, we have been researching suitable teaching books. Having come across Thomas Egenes's Introduction to Sanskrit, we seem to have found what we were looking for.""-Sanskrit Academy, Brunate, Italy
""A didactically well-structured and student-friendly text."" - Prof. G. Van Haren, The Netherlands
""It you're interested in do-it-at home learning of basic Sanskrit, this is among the best books we've seen. It is calibrated to small learning steps with appropriate exercises. The description of grammatical rules is clear...great place to start.""-Hinduism Today, September, 1990.
""Introduction to Sanskrit, by Prof. Thomas Egenes, is now undoubtedly the number one introductory Sanskrit text in use in the world today."" - theosophy.net/hct/hct9703.pdf
""Whether you are a teacher or a student, this is best book on the market. It includes the alphabet, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary. Both Devanagari script and transliteration are used."" - Sanskrit.bharat.com/Date/Books
""I have been using Introduction to Sanskrit in my first-year class at the University of Colorado at Boulder. After an unhappy experiment with another first-year text, I have been very satisfied with this one. The students like it, and it works well for them."" -Susan Trip, Univ. of Colorado
""Egenes is the best that I have seen."" - IANC's Sanskrit Granthalaya Bookstore
""Thomas Egenes's Introduction to Sanskrit seems the one to choose, judging from the reviews, which appear well-informed.""-cs.vu.nl/dick/Summaries/Misc/NatLang.html
""Introduction to Sanskrit, in two volumes is designed to open the self-teaching guide, present Sanskrit pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary in simple and systematic steps, allowing students to easily master the fundamentals of this enchanting language."" - Amazon.com"
This volume represents a good sample of current scholarship on South Asian languages, historical, descriptive, and typological. It includes material pertaining to most of the linguistic stocks of South Asia (Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Munda, Tibeto-Burman, even Burushaski-along with important comparisons with some of those outside it) - by contributors from six different countries. It grew out of an international contributors from six different countries. It grew out of an international conference on South Asian languages held in Moscow in July 2003.
"The Eighteenth Round Table of South Asian Language Analysis (SALA) was organised by the Centre of Linguistics and English, School of Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi (India), January 4-6, 1997. The conference was attended by scholars from all over the world and about 150 papers were presented in 20 parallel sessions and plenary sessions. This volume is a representative sample of the breadth and quality of research that is being carried out in South Asian linguistics today."
"This is a thoroughly revised and expanded version of a book published earlier under the same title in 1972. It has been redrafted as an introductory text-book for students of linguistics by giving copious examples and also exercises and recommended readings. It has been prepared with students of the Indian subcontinent in mind, as the examples derive primarily from the languages (Dravidian, Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman) of this area."
"The present work attempts to identify spatial patterns of the extent and nature of language shifts among the tribal population in India. It provides social, economic and political dimensions of changing linguistic identity. Based on both secondary and primary data, some of the socio-economic variables have been statistically tested through Correlation and Regression to determine the relationship with language shifts. The impact of urbanisation and regional development on the linguistic behaviour of the tribal population has been analysed.
The study rejects the claim that language shift indicates the process of integration-rather it shows the process of assimilation of the tribal people into the majority culture group. In fact, language shifts among these societies have been perceived more often as social compulsions.
The study emphasizes the need of promoting and preserving the tribal languages as these are cultural heritage of India. The study may provide a basis to understand the dynamics of language shift-as it might have implications of language planning in multilingual societies like India."
"This book is about the cultural and religious patterns as these may be reconstructed on a twofold basis: Vedic poets views as known from the Rgveda and some old Indo-European literary sources examined in a comparative perspective.
In its main bulk offers a novel approach to the Vedic theory of sacrifice from the point of view of the Vedic priest as an individual social type whose doing was conditioned by the conflict between the groups practising sacrifice as well as the tension between the patron of the sacrifice and the officiant. It also envisages the integration of the warrior into the sacrificial ritual and suggests a solution to the problem of the daksina (commonly called sacrificial priest`s salary) interpreted as a materialisation of the relation between the priest, the gods invoked and the patrons of sacrifice, the daksina`s function being to denote the value of the poetic word in the prayer.
The book tackles also some particular issues in Vedic and Indo-European religions: the typology of the warrior, the `cooking` of the poetic word linked to the double-entendre in Vedic poetry designed as a means to solve the problem of the relative importance of the speech within sacrificial ritual and of the food offerings to the gods; the early origins of the yogic practice in Vedic times related to some Indo-European practices as disclosed in Avestan, Hittite and Latin texts."
Maithili: Some Aspects of Its Phonetics and Phonology presents an account of some phonetic and phonological aspects of a variety of the `standard` dialect of Maithili, a modern Indo-Aryan language spoken by more than 21 million people in the northern and eastern regions of the state of Bihar in India and in the Tarai districts of Nepal. The author attempted to establish, describe and classify the speech sounds and sound systems of Maithili using a relatively more modern phonological framework, especially using the `standard theory` to generative phonology as presented by Chomsky and Halle in The Sound Pattern of English.
It is hoped that this book will prove useful to linguists and phoneticians in particular and scholars interested in Maithili and related studies in general.
This book provides a fairly comprehensive description of the Morphology of Hindi. This description is located in the theory proposed by Ford and Singh. They question some of the most celebrated concepts of morphology and build a theory of morphological relatedness around the word as the basic unit and a set of bidirectional Word Formation Strategies. Morphology is essentially regarded as the study of relationships obtaining among formally and semantically related words. These Word Formation Strategies constitute extremely complex networks of word-relatedness. Access to a single member of a given network can activate the whole network. It examines critically not only the concepts used in traditional morphology but also the work done on Hindi morphology during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. In addition to examining intra-and intercategorial relationships among Hindi nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs, the book includes sections on morphophonemic changes, minimization of morphological marks, non-morphemic morphemes and multiple affixation.
Of these 27 articles on Dravidian subjects, 23 deal with linguistic topics, several ranging through the Dravidian family as a whole; others concentrate on specific languages, such as Toda, Kota, Kodagu, Brahui, but all attempt to fit specific language data into the comparative study the languages of the family. The author has realized that the comparative study of a language family depends on the firm identificatioin of etymologies, and several of the papers concentrate on etymological study. Such general questions as India as a some-what unified linguistic area, or the structure of personal names, or the ethnological basis of some lexical items, appear in several papers. Four of the papers are on specific Toda subjects; in three of these the approach is in the first place linguistic. These results of some 50 years of study further knowledge of the Dravidian component of India`s people and culture.
This volume brings together eight contributions of Professor Madhav M. Deshpande relating to the historical sociolinguistics of sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The studies brought together here represent his continuing research in this field after his 1979 book: Sociolinguistic Attitudes in India: An Historical Reconstruction. The main thrust of these studies is to show that patterns of language, including grammatical theories are deeply influenced by political, religious, geographical, and other sociohistorical factors. This is true as much of ancient languages as it is for modern languages.
Dr. Steever explores the linguistic structure and development of the Serial Verb Formation, a family of constructions whose very existence has escaped the notice of earlier Dravidianists.
This Volume contains 30 papers viz. Structure Convergence, and Diglossia of S.A. languages, arrnaged under five sections relating to I. Syntax and Semantics, II. Phonetics, Phonology and Morphology; III. Orthography, Script and Archaeology, IV. Convergence, V. Diglossia.
"The language whose phonology is described in this work is standard Hindi, i.e., the Hindi used in everyday casual speech by educated native speakers in cities such as Varanasi, Lucknow, Delhi etc., which is different from highly Sanskritized Hindi called literary style Hindi and highly Perso-Arabicized Urdu, a native speaker being one who has learnt the language as his first language.
The author’s interest lies in accounting for the Hindi speakers’ competence i.e., providing evidence for the psychological reality of certain sound patterns of Hindi. This study is a mixture of two types of evidence. Some evidence is provided from experimental data and other is from hypercorrection, from children’s mistakes, from native speakers’ reactions to certain forms. The model used is that of generative phonology with modifications suggested throughout.
The work is divided into six chapters. The first chapter deals with the segments of Hindi that need to be recognized as phonemes. Chapter 2 deals with current morpheme structure theory, and some suggested revisions of it. Chapter 3 discusses the 'abstractness’ issue. Chapter 4 gives a detailed account of the initial, medial and final clusters of Hindi, and gives the if-then sequential constraints necessary to account for these. Chapter 5 has two parts, the first discussing the problem of nasalization in Hindi and the second dealing with the issue of homorganic nasals in Hindi. The sixth chapter discusses the o-deletion rule in Hindi."
"Siddhanta Kaumudi is a critical and scholarly commentary on the sutras of Panini by Bhattoji Diksita, a stalwart grammarian of the Panini system who flourished in the first half of the seventeenth century. The Sutras are arranged topic-wise and fully explained with examples and counter-examples. The work is exhaustive, yet not voluminous, difficult yet popular, and critical yet lucid. The work is next in importance to the Mahabhasya in the system of Panini, and its study prepares the way for understanding the Mahabhasya. It is prescribed for study in the courses of Vyakarana at every academy and Pathasala and is expected to be committed to memory by students who want to be thorough scholars of Vyakarana. By virtue of its methodical treatment it has thrown into the background all kindred works and glosses or Vrttis on the Sutras of Panini. It is arranged into two halves, the first half dealing with seven topics (1) Sangya Paribhasha, (2) Panchsandhi, (3) Shadling (4) Stri Pratyay, (5) Karak, (6) Samas, (7) Taddhit and the latter half dealing with five topics (1) Dashgani (2) Dwadashprakriya (3) Kridant, (4) Vaikiki, and (5) Swar!
The present work is the translation of the above book in English in two volumes. S.C. Vasu has rendered a great service to the ancient Indian Literature by translating this book into English. This translation commands a unique position in the world of scholarship."
"Panini’s Astadhyayi represents the first attempt in the history of the world to describe and analyse the components of a language on scientific lines. It has not only been universally acclaimed as the first and foremost specimen of Descriptive Grammar but has also been a chief source of inspiration for the linguist engaged in describing languages of different regions.
To understand Sanskrit language, and especially that part of it which embodies the highest aspirations of ancient Aryan people, viz., the Brahmanas, Samhitas, and Upani-sads, it is absolutely necessary to have a complete knowledge of the grammar elaborated by Panini. Being a masterpiece of reasoning and artistic arrangement its study is bound to cultivate intellectual powers. Western scholars have described it as a wonderful manife-station of Indian intelligence.
This book is an English translation of Astadhyayi in two volumes and has won a unique position in the world of scholarship."
"The present volume, which is the third and final of the three-volume-series, consists of five chapters containing the elucidated translation of 508 sutras and 69 varttikas which lay down the meaning conditions for the use of case-endings and explain the derivational process of primary (krdanta) and secondary (taddhitanta) derivates, compounds (samasa) and feminine forms. The scheme and method of exposition adopted in the preceding two volumes have been followed here also.
In the first chapter, the krt-affixes are expounded. The affixes, which are prescribed after verbal roots in the governing domain of dhatoh (763) and are other than tin-affixes, are designated as krt in accordance with the aphorism krdatin (301). These primary affixes are employed to form nominal bases like karta, pacaka, etc. and other primary derivatives such as pitva, gacchan, etc. These affixes have been treated under four heads in the Laghu: (1) krtya affixes, (2) purvakrdanta, (3) unadisutras and (4) uttarakrdanta. The second chapter entitled vibhaktyartha-prakarana discusses the karaka and upapada case-endings very briefly. The third chapter is devoted to compounds (samasa). The words for the sake of brevity. The purpose of the grammatical function of compounding words is to bring about a unique single word which is to have one main accent (aikapadyam aikasvaryan ca samasatvad bhavati, Kasika on Pa 2.1.27). To explain, the syntactically and semantically connected words rajnah and purusah occurring in the string rajnah purusah, are combined into a single compound word rajapurusah by sasthi (927). Since it is treated as a single word, it has one main accent, that is, the last vowel a, following the cerebral sibilant s, is marked with the udatta accent by samasasya Pa. 6.1.223. The fourth chapter explains the derivational process after the introduction of taddhita affixes which are introduced after a finished word ending in a sup-affix which is deleted as the derivatives formed with these affixes are assigned the pratipadika designation by krttaddhitasamasasca (116). The last chapter contains the elucidation of the sutras which prescribe feminine affixes to form feminine derivates."
The present volume, which is the second of the three-volume-series, expounds 391 sutras of the Laghusiddhantakaumudi that explain the conjugational process of verbal roots and related grammatical principles. When the verbal terminations, that is tin-affixes which are replacements for the abstract affix are introduced, the conjugational process is set in motion. This process is more complex than the declensional process of nominal stems. This is the reason why the exposition o the conjugation of verbal stems requires a more detailed analysis for the sake of comprehensibility and clarity. The verbal roots after which the verbal terminations are added are listed in the dhatupatha and arranged in ten groups known as ganas. There are about 1944 verbal roots out of which 226 have been treated in the present work, besides the five sautra roots. The second kind of verbal roots, after which the verbal endings are introduced, are those which are derived with the introduction of the following twelve affixes: san, kyac, kamyac, kyan, kyas, kvip, nic, yan, yak, aya, iyan and nin. The latter kind of derived verbal roots are assigned the dhatu-designation by sanadyanta dhatavah (467). The personal verbal terminations which are used after both kinds of verbal stems are prescribed in the governing domain of dhatoh. They are divided into two mutually exclusive categories: sarvadhatuka and ardhadhatuka. The derivational journey of a verbal root starts with the introduction of the abstract affix and ends with the finished verbal form fit to be used in an actual utterance. As such, the significance of the conjugational analysis can be inferred from the important role that a finished verbal form plays in a sentence. The transformations, which a verbal stem under goes till it reaches the finished form with which it is actually used in a speech condition, are so varied and sometimes so drastic that the original form of the verbal root becomes difficult to identify. That is why it is of prime importance to have a sound knowledge of the conjugational derivation of a verbal root, which is the subject-matter of the present volume.
Varadaraja wrote the Laghusiddhantakaumudi, a short version of Bhattojidiksita's Siddhantakaumudi, in order to inculcate an ability in beginners to gain access to the Astadhyayi as he claims in the invocatory verse. This work, which is the first of the three-volume project, covers 371 sutras on samjna, sandhi, subanta and avyaya prakaranas. It includes the translation of the sutra and the vrtti on it by Varadaraja, which is followed by the paraphrased sutra in which padas are kept in nonsandhi form. The carried over padas are given along with the sutras from the Astadhyayi from which they have been carried over. In the elucidation that follows the paraphrase, the meaning of the sutra and the vrtti thereon is explained in detail. Relevant grammatical aspects have also been discussed so that some light is thrown on the depth and nuances of vyakarana-sastra. The present work fulfils a compelling need for a detailed commentary on the Laghusiddhantakaumudi in English.