Intermediate Sanskrit II

SANSKRIT 102BR Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Continuation of Sanskrit 102AR. In the spring semester of the Intermediate course, students learn advanced skills in syntax, morphology, compound analysis, and metrics. Students learn how to analyze kṛt and taddhita suffixes, recognize a variety of poetic meters, categorize and take apart compounds in greater detail, and determine the various senses in which kārakas and vibhaktis are being used. In the final month of the course, students learn how to interpret commentarial and expository prose (śāstra). In addition to developing the discrete skills above, students read and discuss three different Sanskrit texts. We continue the story that we began in the fall semester—that of the encounter between Arjuna and Śiva in book 3 of the Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata. Then we study Bhāravi’s Kirātārjunīya, a sixth-century kāvya (poetic) composition based on that epic story. Finally, students practice their commentary-reading skills by interpreting select portions of Mallinātha’s Ghaṇṭāpatha, a fourteenth-century commentary on the Kirātārjunīya. Overall, the intermediate-level Sanskrit course enables students to interpret Sanskrit texts in three major genres: epic, poetry, and scholarly prose. Students expand and strengthen the skills in reading comprehension, grammatical analysis, and vocabulary retention that they developed during the first year of study. Students will be able to dissect and describe nominal compounds, verbal forms, poetic meters, and morphological and syntactical features of Sanskrit words, sentences, and verses in greater detail. As a whole, the course prepares students to participate in Sanskrit language and reading courses at the advanced level. Most lessons involve collaborative work among students. No auditors will be permitted. Enrolled students must take the course for a letter grade. Please note that this course includes a required weekly review session with the Teaching Fellow at a time to be determined within the first two weeks of the semester.

Prerequisite: Sanskrit 102AR. 

Course Notes

No auditors will be permitted. Enrolled students must take the course for a letter grade.