Summary

For buying the book go to Garuda Books or to Amazon

Summary

My book, 108 Facts about Sanskrit you didn’t know, has just been published. In this, and the accompanying eleven posts, I present a summary of the book. There is also a set of twelve YouTube videos that presents the same information.

There is a great revival of interest in the Sanskrit language. This revival is due to the realization that India’s ancient heritage has come down to us through the medium of Sanskrit; that almost all of India’s languages owe their being, either directly or indirectly, to Sanskrit; that there is a tremendous amount of literature available in Sanskrit for us to enjoy; and finally, that we need a language other than English that we, in India, can call our own and take pride in.

There is also the realization that Sanskrit, as the earliest of the Classical languages, has contributed immensely not only to the other Classical languages, but also to the current languages; and so, a study of these languages and of the civilizations in the world will not be complete without a good understanding of Sanskrit.

However, there is no handy book that gives readers a simple but broad introduction to the language. Of course, there are many learned books on grammar, semantics, reinterpreting our ancient books, literature etc., but nothing simple that covers all these aspects in one book. This book hopefully addresses this concern.

This book, 108 Facts about Sanskrit you didn’t know, is an attempt to bring to readers the great treasure that is Sanskrit.

The objective of the book is to give readers an overall idea of what the Sanskrit language is: specifically,

· how ancient the language is;

· what its contributions to the world are;

· what the origins of the language are and how it is related to the other languages of the world;

· how it evolved into the currently spoken Indian languages but still continued to be India’s lingua franca;

· the great amount of literature available in the language;

· an idea about the structure of the language

· Sanskrit during the Vedic period

· how to analyse and appreciate the language; and

· how we, in the modern era, can reclaim the language for ourselves

The book is presented in 9 sections with the 108 “facts” spread unevenly across these sections.