Introduction to Basic Spoken Sanskrit

The knowledge of Sanskrit is very helpful for anyone who is interested in delving into the original texts relating to various subjects from the Indian traditional knowledge systems. This language, however, is often presented as a difficult language to learn for many and moreover as a classical language of the past that is of no special relevance in the contemporary world. Those who have been exposed to it in school often regard it as nothing more than a scoring subject and have little appreciation for the variousdimensions of the language. The objective of this course if to give students a taste of Sanskrit as a living language by introducing them to its basic grammatical structures so that they can start understanding simple texts as well as allow them to use it in daily life. It also seeks to give them an understanding and appreciation of the beauty of the different aspects of this language from its sounds to its rich content so that they feel enthused enough to delve further into it.     INTENDED AUDIENCE:This is a basic language course and therefore it would be relevant for students from different disciplinary backgrounds of science, technology, computer sciences and humanities and social sciences. PREREQUISITES: NIL INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Not applicable

COURSE LAYOUT Week 1 : Introduction: Some Unique characteristics of Sanskrit -Basic introduction of oneself -Simple verbs Daily vocabulary Week 2 : Introducing different declensions and tenses - 1 Week 3 : Introducing different declensions and tenses - 2 Week 4 : Practice with various verbs in different moods and tenses Summary of the Sentence structure with different questions