Professional Documents
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Sanskrit Grammar Books
Sanskrit Grammar Books
org)
by SVS svsubrahmanian at yahoo dot com. It was reformatted by ravi at
ambaa dot org. Retain this header if you forward this message. Thank a
lot to Sri SVS.
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My teacher has compiled a list of good Sanskrit grammar books that one
should possess in order to be serious student of Sanskrit. I am sure
you understand that this list cannot be unique. It is one teacher's
opinion of what a simple/good collection is.
7. Siddhanta Kaumudi
====================
The Siddhanta Kaumudi is the re-ordering of Panini's Astadhyayi by
topic, done by the great grammarian Bhattoji Diksita about 400 years
ago. There are many editions and commentaries, but here are some good
ones:
The most popular Sanskrit grammar text studied today is the Laghu
Siddhanta Kaumudi, which as the name implies, is a condensed Siddhanta
Kaumudi containing about 1300 of the most important sutras organized
by topic. Here again there are many editions available but the
following Hindi translation is absolutely outstanding. This is the
first place I go to when I have a question. It is a must have even if
your Hindi is weak!
One should have at least one edition of the Kaasika and one of the
Siddhanta Kaumudi.
9. dhaatu paaTha
=================
10.4. Unadi Kosa - Since not all Sanskrit words can be derived using the
Astadhyayi, the Unadi sutras are like an appendix to the Astadhyayi
which explain the etymology of words not covered by Panini. Some of
these are very common words - like manas. Panini refers to the Unadi
sutras - see sutra 3.3.1 - but doesn't go into details. Unadi sutras
are also part of the Siddhanta Kaumudi. There are called Unadi because
the first affix given is 'uN' The following is a well-edited handy
book of Unadi sutras along with good appendices: "Unadi Kosa" edited
by Yudhishthira Mimamsaka, published by Ramlal Kapoor Trust.
11.2 For chanting purposes, a very good large type error-free Geeta
book is the "Sri PancaRatnaGeeta" by Geeta Press (book # 21). This
has VishnuSahasraNaamaStotram also.
11.3 For those who want to practice reading Sanskrit with the help of a
good English (or Hindi) translation, I would recommend the following
Geeta Press books (I have some copies of the English versions):
"Srimad Valmiki Ramayana" in 2 volumes with English translation -
Geeta Press book numbers 452, 453. The Hindi version is book numbers
75, 76. "Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana" in 2 volumes with English
translation - Geeta Press book numbers 564, 565. The Hindi version is
book numbers 26, 27
Like all Geeta Press books, these are of a high quality and also
inexpensive. Read the Ramayana first. It is much easier.
11.4 Finally there is the Bhatti Kavyam. Bhatti was a very great
grammarian who wrote his version of the Ramayana with the intention of
teaching Panini sutras. No course on Panini's Astadhyayi can be
complete without Bhatti. It's not for beginners. A must read for
serious students of Panini. Many editions are available.