Selected Bibliography with Annotations

Author(s): Eastern School
Publisher: Eastern School

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Sanskrit Course Textbooks
the study of any regular Sanskrit Grammar." It includes useful appendices listing noun and pronoun declension paradigms, verb conjugation paradigms, and a complete listing of the sandhi rules.
Thomas Egenes' Introduction to Sanskrit: Part One "is not a complete survey of Sanskrit grammar, or even a primer," but similar to Tyberg's in function, "is meant to be more of a 'preprimer,' a basic step-by-step introduction to the fundamental aspects of the language." (p. vii). Like Tyberg's, it shows how to write the devanagari characters, but spreads this out over five lessons. Being confronted with learning forty-nine new characters, and all at once, can be overwhelming; but as T. Saraydarian said, it is quite easy if you merely take one per day. The principle of "small, learnable steps" has been followed in this book. It includes "answers to exercises" for students on their own.
Kurt Leidecker's Sanskrit: Essentials of Grammar and Language presents an overview or outline of the language. For many of us, it is important to see a map of where we are going before entrusting ourselves to even the best of drivers. This book gives a list of all commonly used verb-roots, nearly 300, with meanings. It is these action-phonemes, rather than nounroots, or thing-phonemes, which are the basic building blocks of the Sanskrit language. In fact, in the Hindu doctrine of sabdabrahman, or sound as brahman, these verb-roots are thought to be the basic building blocks of the universe itself. The book then shows how words, both nouns and verbs, are built from these verb-roots according to the regular processes of Sanskrit grammar.
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Sanskrit Course Textbooks
Devavāņipraveśikā: An Introduction to the Sanskrit Language, by Robert P. Goldman and Sally J. Sutherland. 1st ed. 1980; 2nd rev. ed. 1987; reprinted with corrections, 1992; Berkeley: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California. A Rapid Sanskrit Method, by George L. Hart III. 1st ed. Madison: South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, 1972; reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1986.