Learning Sanskrit
 

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good resource for learning Sanskrit. I have searched and found many different ones, and I don't know how to choose. Any suggestions? Thank you.

Namaste.

Sanskrit is pretty much just formalised Hindi....just like how Latin is formalised Italian/Spanish...so to learn Sanskrit, I would begin by learning Hindi..the way an Indian child would learn the language... through the written and spoken alphabet.

There are many good books out there to teach Kindergartners the Hindi language..

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i..._QEChffheFpm3A

After you learn to read Hindi a bit, you can begin reading children's comics like Amar Chitra Katha...here is one called "Shiv Parvati".

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...13AsEwqBnAz_Ln

The best way to learn Sanskrit, is to teach yourself...learn the alphabet, watch Hindi movies on YouTube subtitled in English, relate written Hindi back to spoken Hindi and vice versa...after learning Hindi, Sanskrit will just come naturally.

It took me about 5 years to learn Sanskrit.

I also found a good resource on YouTube about 3 months ago called "The Sanskrit Channel" when I was looking for a certain translation of Soundarya Lahari by Adi Shankaracharya:

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCqFg6...gpxrx-A/videos

Here are also beginner's lessons in Sanskrit from the Shivananda Yoga Ashram:

http://203.143.86.244/~sivayoga/sanskrit.html

I hope these last two resources offer you with a good starting point.

All the best with this.

Namaste, Shivani Devi

Wonderful, thank you. I will take your suggestions. I just went to the YouTube link and the Sivayoga link and will return for further learning. It is also interesting to know that it took you 5 years. That sounds like a nice goal.:hug2:

You are very welcome and I am happy to offer assistance.

I wish you all the best in your studies and may you progress swiftly. :hug3:

When I learned Sanskrit, I learned it through Kakawin or traditional Javanese poetry:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakawin

I grew up in Bali, Indonesia...hell bent on trying to understand the language of the puppet plays and cultural dances .

I already had a pretty good handle on Bahasa Indonesian, from there I started learning the local Balinese dialect..from there, I could make the jump to Javanese (seeing as how people from Bali came from Java originally) which led me to the Brahmi Script and proto Indo-European languages..which culminated in me learning Devanagari (Sanskrit).

That is how I learned it, but I wouldn't recommend that way unless you have been raised into that environment, because even Indians would have a hard time understanding Sanskrit the way it is spoken in Bali and Java... UNLESS, it is processed back the other way and studied in reverse..

Anyway, that is just a bit of my own personal experience.

Shivani Devi,

Thank you for your well wishes and for sharing about your personal path to Sanskrit. I look forward with much joy to this study and its challenges.

Namaste:hug3:

I'm going to look into these myself: https://www.reddit.com/r/sanskrit/co...nskrit_online/ I've been picking it up bit by bit just by teasing apart the mantras, slokas and other hymns and prayers I use. There are lots of "cheat-sheet" resources too:

1. http://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?direct=au
2. http://spokensanskrit.org/index.php?mode=7
3. https://ubcsanskrit.ca/lesson3/sandhicharts.html#vowels
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_grammar
5. https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena...n/skpro_01.pdf
6. https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena...n/skpro_02.pdf
7. https://www.sanskrit-trikashaivism.c...iation-1-1/456

Numbers 1, 2, and 3 are my all-time favorite go-tos.

Namaste.

I am really liking number 7!!!
https://www.sanskrit-trikashaivism.c...scriptures/277

Oohhh...it has:

Abhinavagupta’s Paramārthasāra
Mālinīvijayottaratantra
Parāprāveśikā
Parātrīśikālaghuvṛtti
Parātrīśikāvivaraṇa
Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam
Pratyabhijñāhṛdayam
Ṣaṭtriṁśattattvasandoha
Śivasūtra-s
Śivasūtravimarśinī
Spandakārikā-s
Spandanirṇaya
Tantrāloka
Tantrālokaviveka
Vijñānabhairava

NICE ONE!!! THANK YOU!!! :hug2: :hug3:

A place where all of the Shaivite scriptures are together!!!

So awesome!!!

Aum Namah Shivaya
Iti Shivam

All you guys are too cool. :wink:

.......................I just put this together so as to help out.

..........Also, this might help out as to what transliteration is all about.

.................................................. ..........HINDI
NUMMBER..SANSKRIT...TRANSLITERATED.....#...HINDI TRANSLITERATED
.....0.............शून्य.................śūnya..............०......शून्य...........shuny
.....1.............एक..................éka.................१......एक..............ek
.....2.............द्वि....................dvi.................२......दो................do
.....3.............त्रि....................trí..................३......तीन..............teen
.....4.............चतुर्.................catúr...............४......चार.............chaar
.....5.............पञ्च..................pañca............. ५.....पाँच.............paaMch
.....6.............षष्...................ṣáṣ.................६.....छः..............chhe
.....7.............सप्त..................saptá..............७.....सात.............saat
.....8.............अष्ट..................aṣṭá................८.....आठ.............aaTh
.....9.............नव...................náva...............९.....नौ...............nau

............................................ नमस्ते

............................................नमस्ते