All lessons are conducted through Zoom.
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What's on:
Beginners' Sanskrit Session 1
(Session ended. If you would like to purchase the video-recordings, please contact me)
16th, 23rd and 30th July (Thursdays), 4-5.30pm British Standard Time
In these 3 classes we will cover:
the Devanāgarī script, the Sanskrit alphabet, Introduction to noun-declension, Introduction to verbs, Sandhi. The Beginners' Course in Sanskrit uses Coulson’s 'Teach Yourself Sanskrit', Gonda’s 'A Concise Elementary Grammar of the Sanskrit Language' and Kale’s 'Higher Sanskrit Grammar'. For Sanskrit text selections, Lanman's 'A Sanskrit Reader' is largely followed with additional sources from Sanskrit poetry. All relevant materials will be provided.
Beginners' Sanskrit Session 2
(Session ended. If you would like to purchase the video-recordings, please contact me)
15th, 22nd and 29th August (Saturdays), 3-4.30pm British Standard Time
In these 3 sessions we will cover:
personal pronouns, introduction to samāsa, reading simple Sanskrit sentences, declension of consonant stems, conjugation of imperative and optative tenses, extracts from classical Sanskrit literature, the Gītā and the Devīmāhātmya Revision. The Beginners' Courses in Sanskrit uses Coulson’s 'Teach Yourself Sanskrit', Gonda’s 'A Concise Elementary Grammar of the Sanskrit Language' and Kale’s 'Higher Sanskrit Grammar'. For Sanskrit text selections, Lanman's 'A Sanskrit Reader' is largely followed with additional sources from Sanskrit poetry. All relevant materials will be provided.
Navarātri Goddess Extravaganza: Readings from the Devīmāhātmya (Session ended. If you would like to purchase the video recordings please contact me. See the free video of the reading on Mahāṣṭamī below)
22-26 October, 3-4.30pm British Standard Time
The Devīmāhātmya, 'Eulogy to the Goddess', also known as the Caṇḍī and the Durgāsaptaśatī, is one of the most popular liturgies from the Śākta traditions. Narrating the deeds and conception of an all-encompassing, autonomous, all-powerful 'Goddess', the work is recited every year during the sacred festival of the Navarātra/Durgā Pūjā. The ritual recitation of the Caṇḍī is thought to avert great dangers and bestow power and prosperity.
Join me for five days of readings from the heroic battles and victories of the Caṇḍī (Chapters 5-10, the tale of the demons Śumbha and Niśumbha).
I shall be conducting these readings, which include translations into English from the original Sanskrit text, over the final five days of the Durgā Pūjā: Ṣaṣṭhī (22 October), Saptamī (23 October), Aṣṭamī (24 October), Navamī (25 October) and Vijayā Daśamī (26 October).
The Perfection of Generosity: A Buddhist Tale (Session ended. If you would like to purchase the video recordings please contact me.)
Āryaśūra's Viśvantarajātaka:
29-31 January 2021, 2-3.30pm British Standard Time
Some of the earliest examples of classical Sanskrit poetry are about the Buddha's past lives. Now that Christmas, the time for generosity and forgiveness approaches, let us remind ourselves of the great tales praising giving and renunciation from ancient India.
Join me for an in-depth exploration over three days of the Sanskrit tale of Viśvantara, the king of the Śibis, a bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be), as it is described in the Jātakamālā (A Garland of the Buddha's Birth Stories) by Āryaśūra (c. 2nd century CE). Āryaśūra, the earliest known writer of classical Sanskrit poetry (kāvya), is one of the finest writers from ancient India. The Viśvantarajātaka is a moving and powerful story, written in a combination of verse and prose. In his extraordinary generosity, Viśvantara gives up even his two beloved children. His wife Madrī mourns her loss in one of the most heart-rending depictions of human misery ever to be described in Sanskrit literature. All is righted in the end though.
Is Viśvantara generous or is he cruel? How is Madrī portrayed?
Pārvatī's tapas: Sarga 5 of Kālidāsa's Kumārasambhava
October 1, 8, 15, 20, 2-3.30 pm British Standard Time
The Birth of the Prince (Kumārasambhava) by Kālidāsa is one of the greatest works of ancient literature. These four sessions explore the fifth chapter of the work, in which the Goddess Pārvatī, performs ascetic worship for Śiva, and in so doing, is cast as the true protagonist of the work.
Coming SOON:
The Ancient Lore of the Goddess: readings from the Devīpurāṇa
The Devīpurāṇa, the Lore of the Goddess, was one of the most popular scriptures of the traditions of the Goddess (Devī/Śakti) in South Asia. Its theistic vision is of a bold, even transgressive, female persona: ruling over all gods, her energy radiating in multiple forms, the Goddess is essentially conceived in the penultimate chapter as a single formless entity, the fire of the god Śiva’s meditation. The importance of the autonomous female persona is further reflected in the work by the prominence of the fierce cremation ground goddesses Cāmuṇḍā and Carcikā, and is reflected in its attitude towards women, in whom the work says the Goddess inheres.
Join me over five days in 2023 as I read, translate and comment on the tale of the goddess's battles with the demon Ghora from the original Sanskrit text. This reading ties in with a research project I am developing that critically edits this much neglected work. Using fresh manuscript evidence I will present a revised text, and reconsider the myth considering other mythic and religious traditions that have shaped this rich and historically important scripture from the Śākta tradition
Email me: at info@bihanisarkar.com or bihani.sarkar@orinst.ox.ac.uk to register your interest and more information.
