About This Site
In the course of refreshing my meagre knowledge of Sanskrit, I recently began reviewing George L. Hart’s A Rapid Sanskrit Method. I found this book the most useful when I was first learning the language, and reviewing it, I came to remember what a superb resource it is. While Whitney’s thorough and comprehensive Sanskrit Grammar is an in-depth reference book, it is not a primer for beginners (or one reviving long dormant knowledge), nor is it convenient for quickly locating the most commonly accessed bits of information. A Rapid Sanskrit Method is both concise and well organized, providing the basics of the language required by a novice. However, the book (at least the version I have) has one major deficiency. A good portion of the conjugations and declension listed in the book are in Roman transliteration. Not to mention the fact that transliteration has been made obsolete by modern technology, I myself, being more familiar with the Devanāgarī (देवनागरी) script, found it difficult to learn the conjugations and declensions in transliteration.
In our current age, the ability to digitally represent various non-Latin scripts has vastly improved. With just a little bit of technical know-how, one can relatively easily represent a great majority of languages, including Sanskrit. So, I began to create documents containing the tables of the conjugations and declensions found in Hart using Devanāgarī Unicode script. I did this for my own edification in the Open Office word processor. As these have grown, they have become a valuable resource tool for my study of Sanskrit. But I have several different documents: one for nouns, one for verbs, another for saṃdhi, and so on. Even switching between documents and finding the right section can be cumbersome. It struck me that these could be put up online in a single site where one could more easily navigate between topics. Furthermore, having these online might benefit other students of Sanskrit using Hart’s grammar. So, with these intentions I have create this site with the hope of gradually putting my various Sanskrit reference documents up here.
About Me
I received my M.A. and Ph.D in Tibetan Buddhism from the University of Virginia and have since been working on various Digital Humanities projects at UVA. I am currently employed by the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia, in conjunction with the Religious Studies Department, as a Research Scientist developing their Mandala Suite of tools and the Tibetan and Himalayan Library.