University of Georgia ¡ RELI 4615/6615 ¡ Spring 2006 ¡ MWF

 

                                                                                                 

                                                                       

Sanskrit for Religious Studies I

 

Instructor: Glenn Wallis Office: 20 Peabody

Telephone: 583-0309  e-mail: gwallis@uga.edu

Office hours: MWF 2:30-3:30 Favorite animal: Elephant

 

 

I. SCOPE AND PURPOSE OF COURSE

 

This course is designed to introduce the student to the elements of classical Sanskrit. Although extensive attention will be given to grammar, this goal will be approached practically (through application) rather than theoretically (through historical linguistics). The purpose of this approach reflects the main goal of the course; namely, to develop rapidly competence in reading Sanskrit texts.

 

II. TEXTS

 

Required: Madhav Deshpande, Sask¨tasubodhin´: A Sanskrit Primer

Recommended: William Dwight Whitney, The Roots, Verb-Forms, and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language

 

 

III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

 

   1. Attendance and participation. The primary goal of this course is to provide you with ample opportunities to practice reading Sanskrit sentences, verses, and short texts. Therefore, although I will often provide context and background material through brief presentations of the subject matter, the emphasis in this course will be on student presentation of prepared text. You should therefore think of the classroom as a workshop filled with a team of artisans. It is the place where you fashion knowledge out of the rough material of the readings, etc., which you prepare privately. A key term here is preparation. Unless you prepare, your work time in the classroom will be ineffectual. 

 

Such participation also assumes, of course, regular attendance. One-third of your final grade is based on classroom performance. Now, to make another obvious point: for this course to succeed, you must be here. Attendance and class participation are mandatory. If you miss more than three classes, it will be impossible to get an A. Unsteady attendance will adversely affect your grade. There is also a limit to absences: on your fifth absence I will withdraw you from the course. If this occurs before the midterm withdrawal deadline, I will assign a grade of W. If your fifth absence occurs after the deadline, I will assign a WF.

 

   2. Tests. I will give regular tests on paradigms, vocabulary, points of grammar, and text translation. One-third of your final grade is based on these tests. There will be a cumulative final, counting as one-third.

 

IV. COURSE SCHEDULE

 

The course will simply follow the plan of our textbook, Sask¨tasubodhin´. I expect to complete Lesson 22 by the end of this semester. (Note that this course is conceived as part one of a two-semester course.) Weeks one and two will be devoted to introductory matter (read ÒSanskrit languageÓ) and the learning of the Sanskrit alphabet (ÒLesson oneÓ). Beginning with week three, we will follow the textbookÕs table of contents.