Sanskrit Grammar

I am presently useing this book in conjunction with Lanman's- Sanskrit Reader. In a University setting with a competent professor, this is undoubtledly a superb combination. Although I am turning the corner on this language (picking up steam, "cooking" with oil...) might I suggest to other beginning independent students such as myself, try something a little kinder and gentler, then work up to this. It is customary and common practice for me to jump headlong into these sorts of disciplines. However, since the difficulties of this language are at the begining; perhaps something along the lines of: Edward Perry's- A Sanskrit Primer, might be more in order. As I do have a measure of: Greek, German, and Morse Code(that counts also); the general grammatical concepts and terms I am for the most part familiar with. Since this is a very detailed, comprehensive Grammar; it does require: patience, persistance, and effort. As for me, I am accustomed to the underdog posistion- looking for fairness and justice, you ain't gonna find it down here. Furthermore, if I am going to be dominated by anything; it might as well be Sanskrit. This Grammar is a "Classic", and I shall rise to the occasion. See, I can sound like college kid's and your professors. And that's my review.

I like the introductory sections and discussion of differences in classical and Vedic Sanskrit. Still it moves quickly into more detail than can be absorbed with casual study. It is a good reference text -- easier to find things than some of the other grammatical texts -- and it answers some basic questions, like the history of the word spacing in modern texts. But still engages in the vocabulary of advanced grammar without defining the terms -- for example, desiderative, aorist, etc.

Whitney is the prototype for Sanskrit grammars in English. I suspect the author had in mind Allen and Greenough's Latin grammar or H.W. Smythe's Greek grammar when designing the numeric scheme for each point, theme, and paradigm. It is a very useful system of notation for referencing from other works. I can't honestly see going through this lesson by lesson with most students who are not dedicated to long term research in the field and want to begin reading Sanskrit without learning every arcane morphological exception. This book serves as an indispensible reference work by including Vedic forms as well as accentation in the paradigms, which I would imagine is more authoritative than Coulson's simple rules. The book is long and comprehensive, and like Smythe and Greenough, has gained the respect of being "the" authoritative source. It is a wonderful book for learning troublesome concepts correctly and more fully than several of the shorter grammars treat them.

We have been using Whitney's Grammar in addition to Whitney's Roots and the Lanman Reader for the purposes of learning Sanskrit this year. Our professor teaches from a historical linguistic perspective for which this book is fairly well suited. This book is most remarkable for its extremely well organized format and exhaustive treatment of the forms. The inclusion of Vedic forms is very nice. The Sanskrit Reader by Charles R. Lanman is the perfect complement to this reference grammar. The excellent notes in Lanman's reader refer the student to Whitney's Grammar, the vocabulary is helpful and the stories are delightful. Whitney's Grammar is a must for a thorough grasp of the forms though.

Fresh, readable, and a treasure. I used this book at the University of Washington and it is as great as ever.