Continuing education courses

• Traditional Indian health maintenance: essential Āyurvedic practice through its sources.
• CG2.
• This course introduces the basic routines for healthy living prescribed in the ancient Indian science of {A}yurveda. Selected verses from the chapters concerning healthy habits and ideal daily routines provide the textual basis for practices taught. Practical instruction in the conduct of daily routines is provided with demonstrations.
• Instructors: Peter M. Scharf, Tanuja P. Ajotikar, and Shankar P. Adluri, M.D., D.N.B., M.Phil.
• Schedule: 8 April–10 June 2022.
• Course meeting times: Friday 9:00-10:00am U.S. Central Time and 7.30 pm Indian Standard Time
• Course fee: $500; ₹5,000 for residents of India.
• Syllabus.
• Registration for non-Indian residents.
• Registration for Indian residents.
• Introduction to the {f}gveda.
• CG10.
• The Vedic literature is the principal pillar on which the Indian tradition rests. The {f}gveda, being one of the most ancient extant literary works and being of great historical and linguistic significance, has always been a worthy subject of research for scholars worldwide. Various fascinating aspects of this work will be dealt with in the course. Though designed for a general audience interested in literature in general or in Sanskrit literature in particular, the course may also be of interest to students in an academic program in Sanskrit.
• Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar.
• Schedule: 10th September – 19th November 2022.
• Course meeting times: Saturday 9:30–10:30am U.S. Central Time (8:00–9:00pm IST; 9:00–10:00pm IST after 6th November 2022).
• Prerequisite: None.
• Course fee: $300.
• Course fee for residents of India: ₹3,000.
• Syllabus.
• Register.
• Register (residents of India).
• Introduction to the {p}ARinian tradition
• CG20
• This course offers an overview of the architecture of {p}ARini’s {a}zwADyAyI as well as an introduction to the whole Indian grammatical tradition. The {a}zwADyAyI, a fairly complete generative grammar of Sanskrit composed by the 4^th century BCE, is considered one of the greatest works of human intelligence. The main aim of the course is to introduce the structure of the {a}zwADyAyI and richness of the Indian linguistic tradition to those who are not Sanskrit scholars but are curious to know about scientific literature in Sanskrit.
• Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar
• Instructor's introductory video
• Schedule: 28 May – 30 July 2022.
• Course meeting times: Saturday 9:30–10:30am U.S. Central Time; 8–9pm IST
• Prerequisite: None.
• Course fee: $300.
• Course fee for Indian residents: ₹3000.
• Syllabus.
• Register
• Register (Indian residents)
• {p}ARinian sanDi rules
• CG21.
• This course offers an introduction to detailed study of {p}ARini's grammar with the study of five sanDi rules beginning with reading the {s}idDAntakOmudI on these rules. Those who have learnt basics of {p}ARinian grammar will enjoy this course by reading rules with the help of a commentary. A detailed description of each rule will be discussed in the course. The course will meet for an hour once a week for 10 weeks. The topics covered in the course are as follows
• Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar.
• Prerequisite: US101–102 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit, or CG20 Introduction to the pARinian tradition, or equivalent.
• Schedule: To be announced.
• Course meeting times: Saturday 9:00-10:00am U.S. Central Time (IST 8:30pm-9:30pm).
• Course fee: $400.
• Syllabus.
• Express interest.
• The retelling of {r}Ama's story in Sanskrit literature.
• CG30.
• The epic {r}AmAyaRa is one of the two most celebrated epics in Indian tradition. It was composed by {v}Almiki and consists of 24,000 verses. However, {v}Almiki's {r}AmAyaRa is not the only version of the story of {r}Ama. The story appears in several versions in Sanskrit as well as in the regional language of India. The story of {r}Ama is told as episodes in the {m}ahABArata and in {p}urARas. There are also independent compositions that retell the story in Sanskrit. There are Jain and Buddhist versions of the {r}AmAyaRa in Prakrit and Pali too. The story of {r}Ama spread not only throughout India but also across South-east Asia. Taking into consideration the vast number of retellings of the story of {r}Ama, we will study only the Sanskrit versions in this course. It is important to study the various narrations of the story of {r}Ama with reference to the original Sanskrit texts rather then translations and secondary sources. Doing so will help us re-examine popular opinions about the story and reveal the complexity of the transmission of this story and texts in general in Sanskrit. This will also help us understand the importance of and need to undertake philological analysis of Sanskrit literature.
• Instructor: Anuja Ajotikar and Tanuja Ajotikar.
• Schedule: 11 April–13 June 2021.
• Course meeting times: Sunday 9:00–10:30am U.S. Central Time (IST 7:30pm-9:00pm).
• Course fee: $500.
• Syllabus.
• Express interest.
• Understanding the Sanskrit theatre
• CG40.
• This course introduces certain core ideas of Sanskrit thetare with reference to {B}arata’s {n}AwyaSAstra. The course involves discussion as well as demonstration of the play {a}BijYAnaSAkuntala to explain how some theoretical concepts were brought into practice.
• Instructor: Prasad R. Bhide.
• Prerequisite: No.
• Schedule: Saturday, 12 March – 14 May 2022.
• Course meeting times: 9:30–10:30am U.S. Central Time; 9:00pm IST on 12 March, 8:00pm thereafter since the U.S. begins Daylight Savings Time 13 March.
• Course fee: $300; ₹3,000 for residents of India.
• Syllabus.
• Registration for non-Indian resident.
• Registration for Indian resident.
• Concepts of the self in classical Indian philosophy.
• CG50.
• This course considers concepts of self in the early writings of the upanizads, in the Buddhist canon, and in the systematic analyses of the {y}ogasUtras and {b}rahmasUtras.
• Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
• Schedule: Saturdays, 7 September – 9 November 2024.
• Course meeting times: 10:00–11:00am U.S. Central Time; 8:30–9:30pm IST.
• Course fee: $500.
• Indian course fee: ₹5,000.
• Syllabus.
• Register.
• Register (residents of India).
• Creation mythology and enlightenment.
• CG80.
• Accounts of creation in Sanskrit literature appear in a number of hymns of the {f}gveda, and in the {m}AnavaDarmaSAstra, the {m}ahABArata, and purARas. Although scholars generally describe these accounts as various, mutually inconsistent myths, or as superseded stages of philosophical thought, they appear to convey a consistent model of the origin of the world. Moreover, the first stages of creation mirror the descriptions of the development of enlightenment in foundational texts of {v}edAnta and systematic analyses of {y}oga. The descriptions of creation may therefore rather be the result of the special insight of enlightened sages than the results of individual imagination. This course takes a close look at these creation accounts and descriptions of enlightenment in various translations including the professor’s own.
• Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
• Schedule: To be announced.
• Course fee: $500.
• Syllabus.
• Express interest.
• Vedic philosophy of language.
• CG90.
• In his introduction to the {f}gveda, {s}AyaRa describes the {v}edas as the breath exhaled by the great lord thereby situating speech between the unmanifest absolute and the manifest world. A number of hymns in the {f}gveda describe speech as creating all things, with a range that extends deep into consciousness below the level of expressed speech anticipating the identification of speech with brahman by {B}artfhari. This course surveys these Vedic passages and elucidates how they present a coherent concept of the central position of speech in the manifestation and knowledge of the absolute.
• Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
• Schedule: To be announced.
• Course fee: $500.
• Syllabus.
• Express interest.