67058 - Sanskrit Language 2 B

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, the student will complete his/her mid-level competence in the Sanskrit language; he/she will be able to study the relevant literature and the problems related to it, referring to the most updated bibliography.

Course contents

For attending students, the course programme consists of reading, translating and commenting on Sanskrit texts from different literary genres, authors and periods, but all sharing the use of humour in the broadest sense. Following this fil rouge, we will study extracts from works by Kālidāsa (5th century AD), Kṣemendra (11th century), Nīlakaṇṭha Dīkṣita (17th century), pseudo-Kālidāsa (date unknown) and others.

This course aims to consolidate and advance the level of learning achieved in Sanskrit 2A. The texts considered in this course are of intermediate or advanced difficulty. 

Topic of the individual lessons
The programme will include an introductory lecture on the texts selected for reading and will conclude with a lecture devoted to a summary of the most relevant linguistic aspects and literary themes covered during the course. Exercises in preparation for the examination will be carried out during the course. The detailed programme of topics for each lesson will be presented in the first lecture.

Non-attending students must contact the lecturer to agree on a list of texts to work on, which may differ from that provided for attending students.

Readings/Bibliography

For attending students: the course texts will be distributed by the teacher during the lessons and will mostly be made available in digital format via Virtuale.

The reference grammar is:

• C. Della Casa, Corso di sanscrito, Milano, Unicopli, 2021.

The book is available as a printed volume and as a free pdf file; for the latter, see the website of the Associazione italiana di studi sanscriti (http://www.associazioneitalianadistudisanscriti.org/), under "Risorse".

The reference text for Sanskrit literature is:

• Boccali, G., S. Piano, S. Sani, Le letterature dell'India, Torino, UTET, 2000.

The reference dictionary is:

• M. Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. (Any publisher will do, as long as the title coincides with the one given above.)

Useful reference tools are:

• Speijer, J. S., Sanskrit syntax. Leiden 1886 (e varie ristampe).
• Tubb, G. A., E. R. Boose, Scholastic Sanskrit: a handbook for students, New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies, 2007.

Both of these manuals are owned by the G. R. Franci library and will be made available to students during the lessons.

Non-attending students must contact the lecturer to agree on the list of texts to be studied (which may differ from that for attending students), to receive the relevant critical bibliography for further reading, and to agree on the methods of collaboration, study, and exam preparation. The reference texts (grammar and dictionary) are the same as those indicated for attending students.

A note for all students
This course requires a good knowledge of Sanskrit grammar and the Devanagari script. Students who do not have this knowledge are invited to review the content of the Sanskrit I course. Alternatively, an in-depth study of M. Coulson, Sanskrit: An Introduction to the Classical Language, Sevenoaks: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976 (various re-editions), including all exercises, is highly recommended.

Teaching methods

The course consists of lessons during which various texts from Sanskrit literature will be read, translated and discussed, with active participation from students.

The texts will be chosen to provide students with an overview of the different styles and genres of Sanskrit literature, with a focus on the commentary tradition.

Multimedia tools will be used during the lessons.

Attendance is not mandatory but is strongly recommended.

Assessment methods

Students who attend at least 75% of the lessons are considered to be attending.

The exam is oral and normally lasts 30 to 60 minutes. It consists in the translation of excerpts from the texts and exercises read in the classroom (for attending students) or arranged with the lecturer (for non-attending students).

Grading is based primarily on student's linguistic preparation, but will also take into account the clarity of exposition, the ability to use an appropriate terminology, and the fluency with which one reads the Devanāgarī script.

Broadly speaking:

• The ability to identify without hesitation the grammatical forms met with in the texts and to describe them precisely, using an appropriate grammatical terminology, together with a fluent reading of the Devanāgarī script and a correct and elegant Italian translation, will be evaluated with excellent marks (28 to 30+).
• The ability to recognise a good part of the grammatical forms in the texts and to describe them through a decent grammatical terminology, together with an acceptable fluency in reading the Devanāgarī script and a correct Italian translation, will be evaluated with decent to average marks (24 to 27);
• A limited ability to identify the grammatical forms in the texts, a patchy knowledge of the grammatical rules, a laborious reading of the Devanāgarī script and an inadequate Italian translation, will lead to mere pass marks (18 to 23);
• The inability to identify a substantial part of the grammatical forms in the texts, to describe the relevant rules, to read the Devanāgarī script or to provide an Italian translation, will lead to exam failure.

Exam sessions are scheduled for the following months of the academic year: January, February, March, May, June, July, October, November.

IMPORTANT NOTE
This 6 CFU course can be chosen as a part of the 12 CFUs Integrated Course "SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE II (C.I.) (LM)". If the student has included this Integrated Course (12 CFUs) in his study plan, the examination of the two courses making up the Integrated Course must be taken on a single date and the final mark will be the arithmetic mean of the marks obtained in the two components ("SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 2A" and "SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE 2B").

Teaching tools

Through the Virtuale platform, students will have access to various materials: Sanskrit texts and commentaries, secondary literature of various kinds (research studies, sections of reference manuals, etc.), exercises and tests, PowerPoint presentations, IT material (software and fonts for writing Sanskrit texts on the computer, in transliteration and in Devanagari script).

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilities: please, contact theoffice responsible (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students) as soon aspossible so that they can propose acceptable adjustments. The request for adaptation must besubmitted in advance (15 days before the exam date) to the lecturer, who will assess theappropriateness of the adjustments, taking into account the teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Marco Franceschini