SanskritWho this site is for
It is for the school student who has Sanskrit as a subject and wants the tables, the sandhi rules and the meanings of well-known shlokas in one clear place. It is for the parent helping with homework after twenty years away from the subject. And it is for the adult who has always meant to learn a little Sanskrit, enough to understand the verses heard since childhood.
Why Hindi readers start ahead
You already read the script. The formal half of your Hindi vocabulary is Sanskrit. Sandhi and compound words are familiar from विद्यालय, सूर्योदय, राजपुत्र. What is new is the system of endings, in which a noun changes its tail instead of taking a separate को, से or का. That system is regular, and it is learnt from a handful of tables. The grammar pages give those tables and explain each idea through its Hindi equivalent.
A sensible order
- Sounds and greetings, in the first week.
- Daily sentences with "I", then the cases.
- The Rama table, chanted daily, and the verb table.
- Sandhi, and then your first shloka, worked out by the method in how to read a shloka.
The eight week plan spreads this over two months.
About the shlokas
The site carries thirty-six well-known verses of the Bhagavad Gita. Their Sanskrit text was copied by program from a public transcription, not typed from memory, and each is given with a roman reading, our own plain meaning in Hindi and English, and a short note. Please read the About page for the source and its limits before using a verse in print or at a function.
Common questions
Is Sanskrit hard to learn?
It has a large and exact grammar, but for a Hindi reader the start is easy: the script is the same, thousands of words are shared and the sentence order is the same. With 20 to 30 minutes a day you can speak simple sentences and read easy verses in about two months.
Where does the text of the shlokas come from?
The Sanskrit text of the Bhagavad Gita verses was copied by program from the public transcription on Sanskrit Wikisource. It has not yet been checked against a printed edition, so please verify a verse before reciting or printing it. The meanings are written by us.
What are shabda roop and dhatu roop?
Shabda roop is the table of a noun in all its cases and numbers, such as the table of "rama". Dhatu roop is the table of a verb in a tense, such as "pathati, pathatah, pathanti". They are the first things every Sanskrit student learns.
Can Sanskrit be spoken?
Yes. Simple spoken Sanskrit is taught in schools and conversation classes. The sentence pages here give sixty everyday sentences to begin with.
Does the site explain the philosophy of the Gita?
No. It gives the plain meaning of the words of a few well-known verses, as an aid to learning the language. For interpretation, please turn to a teacher or the commentaries of your own tradition.