The Sanskrit Library

Courses/courses

Current

Current courses

Below are the courses the Sanskrit Library is offering this summer.

For an overview of the Sanskrit Library courses with links to all planned course offerings please click here.

  • Workshop: Digital literacy for Sanskrit studies.
    • An introduction to digital text encoding:
    • Day 1 establishes where texts live and how to interact with digital scripts (SLP1, Unicode, digital dictionaries).
    • Day 2 solves the acquisition bottleneck: turning paper volumes and scanned PDFs into raw digital text.
    • Day 3 provides the academic gold standard for structuring that text for critical editions and long-term research.
    • Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar
    • Schedule: 21 – 23 August 2026.
    • Course meeting times: Friday-Sunday, 8:30–10:00pm IST, 9:00–10:30am U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: ₹500.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit I.
    • US101.
    • This course aims to provide a linguistically rich study of the world's most fascinating language equivalent to a first-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. After introducing the Devanāgarī script and Sanskrit phonology, the course surveys the intricate and highly organized structure of the grammar with the aim of enabling a student to begin reading original materials after the second semester. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf
    • Schedule: 1 September – 11 December 2026.
    • See also the intensive summer courses US101S and US102S 7 June–30 July 2027.
    • Course meeting times: Tuesday and Friday 10:00-11:00am U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $3,000, or $5,000 if enrolling in both US101 and US102 and paid before 25 August.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit II.
    • US102.
    • This course completes the linguistically rich survey of Sanskrit grammar begun in US101 and is roughly equivalent to a second-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial. After this course, students will be able to read original materials in late Vedic, Epic, and Classical Sanskrit.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf
    • Prerequisite: US101 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 12 January – 23 April 2026.
    • See also the intensive summer courses US101S and US102S 7 June–30 July 2026.
    • Course meeting times: Monday and Thursday 10:00-11:00am U.S. Central Time or by arrangement. Time commitment: 10-12 hours/week.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit I (Summer intensive)
    • US101S.
    • This course aims to provide a linguistically rich study of the world's most fascinating language equivalent to a first-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. After introducing the Devanāgarī script and Sanskrit phonology, the course surveys the intricate and highly organized structure of the grammar with the aim of enabling a student to begin reading original materials after the second semester. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Schedule: 7 June – 2 July 2027.
    • See the continuation US102S 5–30 July.
    • Intensive course meeting times: Live meetings everyday Monday–Friday 10:00am-12:30pm U.S. Central Time, recorded lectures, daily interactive on-line exercises, flexible consultation. Time commitment: 40 hours per week.
    • Course fee: $3,000, or $5,000 if enrolling in both US101S and US102S before 1 June.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Introductory Sanskrit II (Summer intensive)
    • US102S.
    • This course completes the linguistically rich survey of Sanskrit grammar begun in US101 and is roughly equivalent to a second-semester university course. Exercises introduce the extensive literature, profound philosophy and rich mythology of ancient India which has and continues to influence over a quarter of the world’s population today. Readings in the course are adapted from Sanskrit literature. An interactive on-line exercise platform provides immediate intelligent feedback and focused help at every stage of sentence analysis and translation virtually eliminating the difficulty and frustration felt by language learners in a typical course. On-line video presentations supplement the course so class time can focus teacher-student interaction where it is most beneficial. After this course, students will be able to read original materials in late Vedic, Epic, and Classical Sanskrit.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf.
    • Prerequisite: US101 or equivalent introduction to Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 5–30 July 2027.
    • Continuation of US101S 7 June – 2 July.
    • Intensive course meeting times: Live meetings everyday Monday–Friday 10:00-12:30pm U.S. Central Time, recorded lectures, daily interactive on-line exercises, flexible consultation. Time commitment: 40 hours per week.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • Selected readings in the {s}idDAntakOmudI.
    • US201.
    • The {s}idDAntakOmudI is a 16th CE commentary on the {a}zwADyAyI. It is widely used by beginners in the study of {p}ARinian grammar to understand rules in the {a}zwADyAyI. It is important to read the selected parts of this text in order to understand the {p}ARinian grammar. This course offers to read some of the important parts in the Siddhāntakaumudī, i.e. sandhi, nominal morphology, compounds etc.
    • Instructor: Tanuja P. Ajotikar and Anuja P. Ajotikar.
    • Prerequisite: Advanced Sanskrit with CG20 Introduction to the {p}ARinian tradition, or equivalent.
    • Schedule: 1 September – 1 December 2026.
    • Course meeting times: to be arranged.
    • Course fee: $1,500.
    • Course fee: ₹15,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
    • Register (residents of India).
  • Character and higher-level encoding.
    • UT102.
    • This course begins by examining methods of character encoding for Sanskrit: the Sanskrit Library Phonetic (SLP) encodings, ASCII meta-encodings, and Unicode. The course then introduces the extensible markup language (XML), and the Text-Encoding Initiative (TEI). Students will learn how to markup text and bibliography, and formalize morphological (lexical and inflectional) tagging in TEI. The course concludes with training in the use of the exceedingly powerful and ubiquitously useful regular expressions. This is the second technical course in The Sanskrit Library's digital humanities programs.
    • Instructors: Tanuja P. Ajotikar and Peter M. Scharf.
    • Schedule: Saturdays, 5 September – 21 November 2026.
    • Course meeting times: 9:30–11:00am U.S. Central Time, 8:00–9:30pm IST.
    • Prerequisite: Advanced competency in Sanskrit, fluency reading Devanagari script, and regular access to a computer and basic computer use skills.
    • Course fee: $1,500.
    • Course fee: ₹10,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
  • TEI-conformant XML markup workshop.
    • UT110.
    • This practicum allows students to work closely with an instructor to engage in higher-level encoding of complex texts, especially commentaries, using the extensible markup language (XML) in accordance with the Text-Encoding Initiative (TEI). Examples of texts students are currently working with or could work with include {s}AyaRa's {m}ADavIyaDAtuvftti, {m}allinATa's {s}aYjIvanI, subcommentaries on the {k}ASikAvftti, and {s}AyaRa's {f}gvedaBAzya.
    • Instructors: Peter M. Scharf and Tanuja P. Ajotikar.
    • Prerequisite: UT102 Character and higher-level encoding, advanced Sanskrit, a thorough introduction to {p}ARinian grammar, and permission of the instructor. Prospective students are advised to contact the instructor before registering by email to: info@sanskritlibrary.org
    • Schedule: 9 August -- 15 November.
    • Course meeting times: Sunday 9:30-11:00am U.S. Central Time.
    • Course fee: $1,500.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register.
    • Workshop on drama texts (India), course fee: ₹7,500.
    • Register drama workshop (India).
  • {r}aGuvaMSa sarga 2
    • UP114.
    • The {r}aGuvaMSa by {k}AlidAsa, the greatest of classical Sanskrit poets, ranks as one of the Sanskrit {m}ahAkAvyas. This great poem is a part of the traditional syllabus of learning Sanskrit. Applying the traditional methods to study a text facilitates independence in reading, understanding, internalizing and translating Sanskrit. In this course we read the second canto of the {r}aGuvaMSa closely, attending explicitly with sanDi analysis, verbal conjugation, nominal declension, identification and analysis of {s}amAsas, identification of voice, change of voice (vAcyaviparivartana), rendering the verse in prose syntax (anvaya) and translation into more common Sanskrit.
    • Instructor: Peter M. Scharf or Tanuja P. Ajotikar
    • Prerequisite: Introductory Sanskrit.
    • Schedule: 1 September – 8 December 2026.
    • Course meeting times: To be arranged.
    • Course fee: $3,000.
    • Syllabus.
    • Register