SANSKRIT LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE MOD.1

This is one of the core courses within the Indian Subcontinent curriculum of the Corso di Laurea in "Lingue, Culture e Società dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea".
The course objectives are to offer a basic knowledge of Sanskrit grammar and to enable students to read and write in Sanskrit and to translate simple sentences from Sanskrit into Italian.
A basic knowledge of classical Sanskrit is essential in order to have access to Indian civilization. The course will offer a complete overview of Sanskrit grammar and will also introduce the student to Sanskrit literature.

Knowledge of the basic grammar of classical Sanskrit (through the translation of sentences from Sanskrit into Italian)
1. Knowledge and Comprehension
To complete the knowledge of the basic grammatical structures of the Sanskrit language.
To know and comprehend the functioning of the grammatical structures of the Sanskrit language (basic level).
2. Ability to apply the acquired knowledge and comprehension
To be able to identify the different grammatical categories and their properties.
To demonstrate a general understanding of the basic grammatical structures of the Sanskrit language.
To be able to describe the constructions and the grammatical phenomena studied in class by using the appropriate terminology and the instruments of syntactic analysis.

No prerequisite is necessary.

We will follow step by step the Sanskrit grammar of M. Coulson.
We will especially focus attention on the following subjects:
1. How ro read and write in devanagari
2. Declensions and cases
3. Pronouns
4. Verbal conjugations
5. The main types of compounds.

M. Coulson, Sanskrit, Teach Yourself Books, 1976
G. Boccali - S. Piano - S. Sani, Le letterature dell'India, Utet Libreria, 2000.
More texts will be handed out during class

All translations will be done together in class.
The final exam will entail a written test (with translations of sentences from Sanskrit into Italian; max. time: 3 hours) and an oral test (with questions on Sanskrit grammar and literature).

Lectures in class, during which we shall read and translate the exercises taken from the grammar (from Sanskrit into Italian)

Italian

written and oral