27521 - Sanskrit Language and Literature (1)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students reach a first level of proficiency in the Sanskrit language and literature and are able to properly communicate the contents learned, with reference to relevant literature.

Course contents

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12 Credits - course

 (for the 6 Credits course, see below)

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The program includes the study of the main grammatical structures of Sanskrit and an introduction to Indian literature in Sanskrit.

- For the linguistic part: all the grammatical arguments set out in Della Casa, C., Corso di Sanscrito, second edition, Milan, CLUEB-Unicopli, 1998, except the aorist and perfect.

Exercises to be completed in view of the exam:

For students attending the course:

1) exercises in Devanāgarī script to be downloaded from the "educational materials" section;

2) From Della Casa, C., Corso di Sanscrito, exercises I: all sentences; II: all sentences; III: all sentences; IV: 1-10; V: 1, 6, 7; VI: all except 11; VII: 1-7; VIII: 1-4, 6-8; IX: 1, 2, 4, 8-10; XVI: 1-3; XVIII: 1-3, 5, 12; Excerpts: "The father of Somasarman", p. 91);

Students not attending the lectures are invited

1) to do the exercises in Devanāgarī script to be downloaded from the "educational materials" section;

 2) the follow this alternative list of exercises from Della Casa, C., Corso di Sanscrito: Exercise I Complete (1 to 15); Exercise II: 1,2,3,10,11 sentences; Exercise III: 12,13,14 sentences; Exercise IV: Complete (1 to 13); Exercise V: Clauses 1, 3, 6; Exercise VI: sentences 3, 10; Exercise VII: sentences 6, 7, 8. Exercise VIII: phrase 6, 7, 8. Exercise X: Exercise XI: sentences 2, 3, 6, 8. XII Exercise: Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 6; XIII Exercise: Clauses 1, 2, 3; Exercise XIV: Clause 8; XV Exercise: 5 sentences; Exercise XVIII phrase 11. And excerpts No. 4 on page 89 ( "The swans and the tortoise"), the No. 5 on page 90 ( "The Brahmins who give life to the lion").

 

As to the part of the history of literature, students should know the basic lines of development of ancient Indian literature. A short anthology of texts in Italian translation is available at the reference area of the library "G. R. Franci", via Zamboni 33.

Essential tool for consultation is the volume Boccali, G. - Piano, S. - Sani, S., Le letterature dell'India, Turin, UTET, 2000: students are invited

1) to read attentively the section on classical literature (Part III, introductory note and chaps. 1-6, as well as the description of a work chosen from those listed in Sec. 7)

and

to study one out of the four topics listed here:

A) The Vedic corpus and the exegetical texts and technical nature of the Brahmins (Part I, Ch. 1)

B) The Jaina and Buddhist "canons" (Part I, ch. 2 and 3)

C) Itihāsa and Purāṇa (Part II, ch. 1)

D) The doctrinal treatises on the three purposes of human existence / Agama Samhita, Tantra / The grammar, lexicography, literature of darśana and the technical and scientific literature (Part II, ch. 2, 3 and 4)

 

 

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6 Credits- Course

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[Please note that the Indian words may be written without the usual diacritics]

 

The program provides an introduction to the study of the basic grammar of Sanskrit and a brief introduction to Indian literature in Sanskrit.

- For the linguistic part (Reference book: Carlo Della Casa, Corso di Sanscrito, second edition, Milan, CLUEB-Unicopli, 1998).

Indicative Program ( "p." and "§" refer to pages and paragraphs of Della Casa): 0. Introduction to the History of the Sanskrit language. The role of the discovery of Sanskrit in the emergence of Indo-European linguistics. The Indo-Aryan languages (pp. VI - XI). 1. Phonetics, writing in Devanāgarī (pp. 83-85), introduction to sandhi. Final consonants and external sandhi (§ 5 and table published in the "educational materials" section). Main rules of the internal sandhi (§§ 40a, 41). 2. Morphology of the verb. The present indicative system and verbal classes (I conjugation); vowel gradation (§ 3); present tense and imperfect parasmaipada and ātmanepada (§§ 80-84). Conjugation of as- to be (§87b). 3. The past passive participle (§117). The absolutive (§121). 4. Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions. "Iti", "eva", "iva", "api", etc. (§§ 122-125). The verbal prefixes (§127). 5. Morphology of the name. Uses and meanings of the various cases. Declination themes in -a and -ā (§§ 43-45). Personal prounouns, demonstrative etc. adjectives and pronouns  (§§69, 70, 71, 72, 73). Adjectives with pronominal declension (§75). 6. Ordinal Numerals (§78). 7. Introduction to the nominal composition: tatpuruṣa compounds, karmadhāraya and bahuvṛhi compunds (§130-134). 8. Syntax elements.

Exercises to be done in view of the exam:

- From Della Casa, C., Corso di Sanscrito: exercises I and II in full and V nn. 1, 6, 7;

- Exercises in Devanāgarī to be downloaded from the "educational materials" section.

As to the part of the history of literature, students should know the basic lines of development of ancient Indian literature. A short anthology of texts in Italian translation is available at the reference area of the library "G. R. Franci", via Zamboni 33.

Essential tool for consultation is the volume Boccali, G. - Piano, S. - Sani, S., Le letterature dell'India, Turin, UTET, 2000: students are invited

either

1) to read attentively the section on classical literature (Part III, introductory note and chaps. 1-6, as well as the description of a work chosen from those listed in Sec. 7)

or

to study one out of the four topics listed here:

A) The Vedic corpus and the exegetical texts and technical nature of the Brahmins (Part I, Ch. 1)

B) The Jaina and Buddhist "canons" (Part I, ch. 2 and 3)

C) Itihāsa and Purāṇa (Part II, ch. 1)

D) The doctrinal treatises on the three purposes of human existence / Agama Samhita, Tantra / The grammar, lexicography, literature of darśana and the technical and scientific literature (Part II, ch. 2, 3 and 4)

Readings/Bibliography

- Della Casa, C., Corso di sanscrito , II edizione, Milano, CLUEB-Unicopli, 1998.
- Boccali, G. - Piano, S. - Sani, S., Le letterature dell'India, Torino, UTET, 2000.

A useful complement to the study of the Sanskrit language, and a great choice for not attending students, is the book of M. Coulson, Sanskrit: An Introduction to the Classical Language, Sevenoaks: Hodder and Stoughton, 1976 (several editions). For the 6 credits course students are asked to study the first 5 lessons.

Assessment methods

Oral examination. The exam is divided into two parts:

1) reading and translation of sentences and excerpts in Sanskrit selected from those listed in the "Course contents" section above. The assessment takes into account the student's ability to identify the grammatical forms that appear in the exercises.

2) a question of literary history, as detailed in the "Course contents" section.

The assessment takes into account the strength of the preparation, the clarity and the ability to use appropriate terminology.

Office hours

See the website of Saverio Marchignoli