Admission requirements
Having successfully finished 5481K2SA Sanskrit 2. Please, contact the student advisor, Nicole A.N.M. van Os or Prof. dr. P.C. Bisschop, if you are interested in taking this course, but do NOT fulfill the abovementioned requirement.
Description
This course introduces students to different forms and styles of Sanskrit literature. The selected texts are introduced at the first meeting and vary from year to year. We meet two times a week to read two original Sanskrit texts and discuss issues of grammar, syntax, translation and interpretation. The course requires active preparation and participation.
Course objectives
Enhanced understanding of different forms and styles of Sanskrit
Improved reading and translation skills
Increase of the student’s range of Sanskrit vocabulary
Knowledge of aspects of ancient Indian culture through reading authentic texts
Timetable
Mode of instruction
- Workgroup
Course Load
Classes (13×4) and exams (2×2): 56 hours
Preparation and revision of set texts and additional literature: 144 hours
Revision and preparation for exams: 80 hours
Total: 280 hours (10 EC x 28 hours)
Assessment method
Two written examinations (w): one at the end of the first block (40%) and one at the end of the second block (60%), covering the texts read during each block.
The individual exams cannot be retaken. If the average of both exams is less than 6.0 there is one opportunity for a resit of the entire course (100%).
Blackboard
Blackboard is used as the main means for communication and for distribution of additional course materials.
Students are requested to register on Blackboard for this course.
Reading list
The texts to be read are announced at an introductory meeting. Students are requested to contact the instructor beforehand.
Aside from the texts read during the course students should have access to:
Jan Gonda, A Concise Elementary Grammar of the Sanskrit Language. With Exercises, Reading Selections, and a Glossary. Translated from the German by Gordon B. Ford, Jr. Leiden: Brill, 1966.
M. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899. (various reprints)
William Dwight Whitney, Sanskrit Grammar. Including both, the classical language and the older dialects of Veda and Brāhmaṇa. Fifth Edition. Leipzig, 1924. (various reprints)
Registration
Students are requested to register through uSis, the registration system of Leiden University for this course. General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch.