Introduction to Sanskrit (Part One) [Paperback]

Thomas Egenes (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0913004693 | ISBN-13: 978-0913004692 | Publication Date: December 1990 | Edition: 2nd printing

Provides the student and the teacher with a tool, which can be used to start the study of the basis of Sanskrit, the oldest known and used language.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A dictactically well structured and student friendly text." Prof. Van Haven, The Netherlands --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Language Notes

Text: English

Product Details

• Paperback: 367 pages
• Publisher: Point Loma Pubns; 2nd printing edition (December 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0913004693
• ISBN-13: 978-0913004692
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

149 of 150 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Start here!, August 24, 2003

By 

Richard A. Weaver (lawrenceville, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to Sanskrit, Part 1 (Hardcover)

If you're interested in the Sanskrit language, whether for linguistic or philosophical reasons, this is the book you should start with.

It introduces the script and the grammar in slow, gentle steps. After about 7 lessons, you ease into the different kinds of external sandhi (sound changes and assimilations from one word to another). By the end of the first volume, you've learned a suprising amount: most of the major declensions, and been introduced to the verb, and the principles of compound formation.
Every lesson has plenty of exercises, both English to Sanskrit and vice versa, to test your comprehension and to give you practice. The answers to the exercises are given in the back of the book.

Just a great, great introduction to the language. After finishing Book I, you can continue with his Book II, or pick up, with confidence, any of the standard academic introductions - Maurer, Goldman and Sutherland, Deshpande, even (gasp!) Coulson.

I wish every ancient language had an introductory book like this.

101 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Sanskrit Pre-Primer, July 22, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Introduction to Sanskrit, Part 1 (Hardcover)

Egenes' book is excellent as a pre-primer. It presents enough information in its 18 lessons to give the beginning Sanskritist a firm foundation for progressing to a more difficult Sanskrit primer.

Covered are the basic uses of Classical Sanskrit's 8 cases; paradigms for 9 nominal declensions; a small list of verbs showing present, imperfect, future, and gerund forms; tables for external sandhi, and coverage of two internal sandhi rules.

The introduction to the Devanagari script is excellent. It goes beyond other primers and shows you how to actually write the characters. Plus, the text is large and very easy to read.

It is well-worth the price.

97 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best choice, May 31, 1999

By 

IM Taylor (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to Sanskrit (Part One) (Paperback)

I think I have looked at most of the available Sanskrit introductory books - Coulson, Goldberg, Apte, Rapid sanskrit method, etc, first as a student and now as a teacher. Egenes is the best that I have seen. It is clear, simple, well thought out. It uses English grammatical terms. The exercises are good, and the answers are at the back if you need them. The devanagari is big and clear.

My only reservations are that in the earlier edition, Egenes uses the nom. masc. singular ending -s, then has to explain it away a few chapters later.

If you are learning or teaching Sanskrit, this is definietly the best choice.