Welcome! Svágatam!

The Sanskrit language is an indigenous language of India. It is about 15,000 years old. Back then one common language was current all the way from Central Asia and Eastern Europe to Southeast Asia. The influence of this language is still present in Indo-European languages. A branch of that language that was popular in the southeastern parts of that expanse was called Sanskrit. The language spoken in the northwestern parts was Vedic.

One of the most ancient texts known to mankind, Rgveda, composed about 15,000 years ago in Southern Russia, was in Vedic. Vedic is considered an older form of Sanskrit. They both belong to the Indo-European language family. The influence of Vedic or Sanskrit is evident in the vocabulary of Latin, Russian, and several other European languages. Sanskrit was a spoken language in the Indian subcontinent up until about ~3000 years ago.

Prakrit, a local dialect of Sanskrit commonly used by the masses in India up until about ~2000 years ago, gained popularity in the Buddhist era. From Prakrit, many other Indian languages were born. Sanskrit influences Indian languages even to this day by means of borrowed words, morphological, phonological, and grammatical structures. The influence of Sanskrit and Vedic is evident in many modern Indo-European languages too.

Sanskrit >>> Persian

Maasa >>> Maah (month)

Sapta >>> Haft (seven)

Sindhu >>> Hindu (sea or ocean)

Sanskrit >>> Latin >>> English

duhitr >>> duhitar >>> daughter

naktram >>> noctum >>> night

Sanskrit >>> Russian

nabha >>> nebo (sky)

bhrátá >>> bratt (brother)

kadá >>> kogda (when)

Vedic >>> Russian

dháma >>> doma (home)

This website intends to make Sanskrit alive for all those who wish to learn Sanskrit, but may or may not have a background in any of the Indian languages and/or scripts. Sanskrit is made accessible through easy-to-learn course modules prepared using the Roman Saḿsktra script for ease of learning and communication.

Vowels: a, á, i, ii, u, ú, r, rr, lr, lrr, e, ae, o, ao, aḿ, ah

ka, kha, ga, gha, uṋa (Velar)

ca, cha, ja, jha, iṋa (Palatal)

t́a, t́ha, d́a, d́ha, ńa (Retroflexive)

ta, tha, da, dha, na (Dental)

pa, pha, ba, bha, ma (Bilabial)

ya (palatal), ra (retroflexive), la (dental), va (labio-dental)

sha (palatal), śa (retroflexive), sa (dental), ha (glottal), kśa (velar-retroflexive)

Visit the Course Modules page to learn about the structure of the course, various levels, and access study material.

Write to sanskrit4allclasses@gmail.com to know more about classes, and join a class. Start your Sanskrit Journey!