Description

Sanskrit, the classical language of India, has long been renowned for its beauty, subtlety and complexity. It is the key to the civilisational treasures of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism, and provides direct access to a vast repository of literary, scientific and philosophical wisdom. At the ANU we seek to balance the traditional practice of textual reception—reading and grammar—with language production—speaking, chanting and singing—to provide a truly balanced curriculum. By the completion of the minor, students will be able to independently read simple epic and prose narrative texts, they will have mastered some basic spoken Sanskrit, and will be able to chant and recite with a good degree of accuracy.

A student may not take a course if that course is a prerequisite for another course which they have already passed.

Students with prior knowledge of the language will be required to take a placement test.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the Sanskrit language major students should be able to:

1. express themselves confidently in a polite, neutral or informal register, appropriate to the genre and the audience.
2. read, comprehend and infer authors’ meaning in literary texts in Sanskrit.
3. write texts in Sanskrit in the appropriate genre, with correct grammatical structures and thematic vocabulary relevant to the level of the student

Course Lists

The course lists in the "Requirements" section below is a definitive list and includes all courses that can be counted towards the major, whether or not they are offered in the current year. For a list of courses that will be offered in the current year, please see the Summary of Courses page.