Learning Sanskrit, Hindi/Tibetan literature

[Anonymous No.21332334]

Recently I have become quite interested in Sanskrit which is why I am considering studying Classical Indology as a major but a requirement for that is learning either Hindi or Tibetan as a second language later on which made me wonder if these languages offer any interesting literature.

Is there any point in learning these languages except for perhaps research or interacting with locals?

Has anyone here studied Sanskrit? If yes: autodidactically or at university?

Any opinions?

https://youtu.be/TuNZbcJB26g

[Anonymous No.21332530]

maybe you can do Tamil or another Dravidian language at a different university? there's a lot of interesting classical Tamil literature

[Anonymous No.21332564]

>>21332530
Dear Anon, thank you for your answer! It seems that in the later semesters one can decide between either taking more classes in Hindi/Tibetan or optionally start learning a second Indian language (Tamil apparently included). Maybe some Hindi won‘t hurt me as there is the opportunity to also spent a semester abroad, although my decision is not final yet.

[Anonymous No.21333036]

>>21332334
Hindi would help with studying in India under teachers who speak both Hindu and Sanskrit etc however a lot of Tibetan texts would be philosophically interesting for someone who can read both Sanskrit and also Tibetan literature because the Tibetan writings are influenced a lot by earlier Mahayana and Tantric Shaivist literature that was written in Sanskrit

[Anonymous No.21333070]

>>21332334
maybe you can do Tamil or another Dravidian language at a different university? there's a lot of interesting classical Tamil literature

[Anonymous No.21333378]

>>21333070
My native language is tamil but I don't like Tamil books lol. But looking forward to. AMA

[Anonymous No.21333767]

>>21333036
>Hindi would help with studying in India under teachers who speak both Hindu and Sanskrit etc
Judging what I found on Google it also seems that quite many Indians speak decent English. How about secondary literature in Hindi? I imagine Chinese having the best secondary texts on Classical Chinese and its works for example — is it the same with Hindi?

>a lot of Tibetan texts would be philosophically interesting for someone who can read both Sanskrit and also Tibetan literature because the Tibetan writings are influenced a lot by earlier Mahayana and Tantric Shaivist literature that was written in Sanskrit
Thank you for this, definitely raised my interest as I quite underestimated the language because the only Tibetan book I have seen been talked about is the Bardo Thodol.

https://youtu.be/Ic_KKMSfufA

[Anonymous No.21334215]

I am bumping my own thread. Shameless bumping
because I think the other ones are worse
so there is no reason to feel guilt! Right…?

[Anonymous No.21334279]

>>21332334
https://learnsanskrit.org/

[Anonymous No.21334280]

>>21332334
Sanskrit is an ancient language with a rich literary tradition that stretches back over three thousand years. It is the language of many of the sacred texts of Hinduism and Buddhism, as well as the language of classical Indian science, philosophy, and poetry. Learning Sanskrit can be a rewarding experience for anyone who is interested in the history and culture of India, as well as for those who are interested in the study of religion, philosophy, or linguistics.

Hindi and Tibetan are also important languages in their own right, with their own literary and cultural traditions. Hindi is spoken by millions of people in India and is the official language of the Indian government, while Tibetan is spoken by millions of people in Tibet and surrounding regions, and is the language of Tibetan Buddhism. Learning either of these languages can be a valuable way to gain insight into the cultures and traditions of the people who speak them.

As for whether there is any point in learning these languages, that ultimately depends on your personal interests and goals. If you are interested in studying classical Indology, then learning either Hindi or Tibetan may be a useful way to further your studies and gain access to additional sources and scholarship. Additionally, if you are interested in interacting with locals or conducting research in India or Tibet, then learning one of these languages may be helpful. However, if you are not interested in these specific things, then there may not be much point in learning either Hindi or Tibetan.

I am not able to answer your question about whether anyone here has studied Sanskrit, as I am a large language model trained by OpenAI and do not have the ability to interact with other individuals or access information about individual experiences. As a language model, my primary function is to provide general information and answers to questions within my training data and knowledge.

[Anonymous No.21335360]

>>21334279
thanks

[Anonymous No.21335439]

Hindi is a very modern language so it's literary history is pretty shit. Most of the good lit from India comes from Bengali or dravidian languages like Tamil.

[Anonymous No.21335941]

>>21335439
>indi is a very modern language
No it isn't. What makes you lie like that?

[Anonymous No.21336524]

>>21334280
Wow, AI posts are already higher in quality than those by real posters. Still scary…

[Anonymous No.21336619]

>>21335941
Hindi is not even 200 years old and the government of India had to impose it on various ethnic groups in the north and assimilate their languages as dialects of hindi to make it seem like hindi is the majority language of the country. Not even going into all that history about how Urdu was Sanskritized to create hindu. It's part of the nationalist myth making following the formula of one nation, one culture, one language but thanks to Tamilians and Telugu, hindu didn't make it to the position of le national language.

[Anonymous No.21336686]

>>21336619
Fucking Dravidian supremacists. But yeah, learn Sanskrit rather than Hindi. Sanskrit has much richer and longer history of literature. If you learn Sanskrit then you'll be able understand most of Hindi as well, because proper Hindi is highly Sanskritized with next to no adulteration from Urdu, unlike colloquial Hindi/Hindustani that most "Hindi" speakers speak. You should also be able to master other northern Indian languages (and even some Dravidian languages) quite easily if you learn Sanskrit, since all of them are just derivatives of Sanskrit and Prakrit.

[Anonymous No.21336842]

>>21335439
Hindi is not a classical language but sanskrit and tamil are. You will be wasting your time if you are learning Hindi.

[Anonymous No.21336862]

What is there to read in Sanskrit for us input-oriented language learners. Any good intermediate readers, or native works that are known to be relatively easy to read?

I have had a real renaissance of language learning in the last few years and I feel ambitious enough to attempt Sanskrit, so I would appreciate the advice of anyone who has ever made real progress. I can take recommendations in English, Russian, or French.

[Anonymous No.21336909]

>>21336862
i don‘t know how much input it offers but i have seen much praise for the assimil sanskrit course in french. it also includes an audio cd.

>>21336686
>But yeah, learn Sanskrit rather than Hindi.
Sanskrit is mandatory anyways and the main reason why I am even interested. I was just asking what a nice second/third pick would be since I never heard much about Hindi or Tibetan. Reading through the posts I doubt that I will ever pick Hindi.

[Anonymous No.21336919]

>>21336909
the cambridge textbook i used in the op also seems good
in the archive i‘ve seen recommendations of using both cambridge and assimil

[Anonymous No.21336933]

I'm currently majoring in Indology (and English as a double major) and we study both Sanskrit and Hindi, without being able to choose any other languages (i think later on in the studies we get to pali or prakrits or something).

If you're asking as to whether there is a point in learning these languages, I think you've already missed the mark, because looking for a utilitarian answer is the wrong approach imo. You pick these languages based on whether you enjoy the culture, like learning the language, like interacting with the people from said culture etc. Basically very subjective things, so pick among those two without worrying much, and give them an equal amount of research beforehand. And I don't know if Hindi has any interesting lit, sorry.

I don't know much about Tibetan, so I'll make the case for Hindi: with Hindi you're able to talk to most people from India (and Pakis), and even though most of them know and speak English, there's always gaps in their knowledge which they fill with Hindi. On top of that, Hindi offers you a gateway to other Indian languages which may have less English material than they do Hindi material. Finally, lots of people from Bangladesh and Nepal will talk to you in Hindi if they notice you can speak it. In terms of learning Hindi, you'll have an easy time if you're learning Sanskrit alongside it, because they share quite a bit of vocabulary.
Also you get to understand most of Bollywood stuff which is fun.

[Anonymous No.21337554]

Hindustani might just be a good standardizing base to work from but it is just the latest development in the line of Indo-Aryan languages. It's prominence was preceded by multiple other historical and regional varieties such as the prakrits, Apabhraṃśa, and Awadhi.

[Anonymous No.21337578]

>>21336842
Hindustani seems like it would be useful for understanding early modern religious literature like Sufi works.

[Anonymous No.21337601]

It seems like there would be a parallel with the relation between Hindustani and Sanskrit as that between Classical Chinese and Mandarin. But Sanskrit can probably be studied more independently.

[Anonymous No.21337628]

>>21336933
Sanskrit seems like an impressive and beautiful language but modern India and the idea of regularly interacting or living with Indian people sounds quite off putting to me because of everything I have seen online about and by Indians…
I don‘t think that I would be comfortable with living there at all so Tibetan would be my preferred choice, I‘ll see…

[Anonymous No.21337711]

>>21337628
Tibetan has yet another layer of difficulty in that the written language diverges considerably from the spoken form. Couple that with the cultural replacement being exerted on them by the Chinese state.

[Anonymous No.21337874]

>>21337711
That is absolutely true, of course, but most people in this thread that I think would consider learning Tibetan would be doing so for the sake of reading literature written when the orthography was more in line with the language.

And thank you to the anon who recommended the French Assimil

[Anonymous No.21338456]

[Anonymous No.21339699]

>>21333378
how hard is it to learn tamil? i dont care about writing it, just speaking and reading.

[Anonymous No.21339722]

>>21334279
Damn that's a quality site. I shouldn't have bought the textbook posted in the OP image.

[Anonymous No.21339742]

>>21337628
Yeah, like I said, it's all about what your priorities are and why you're actually learning the language. For me, I preferred a living and modern language which was more related to Hinduism rather than Buddhism, so Hindi was a logical preference. In fact, I got into Indology for Hindi, and Sanskrit followed. Just make sure your decision is well-informed and that your goal and reason for studying is well-defined because Indology is a pretty difficult major while simultaneously being very underrated so it can be easy to lose the motivation to keep studying. Look more into Tibetan and the culture, immerse yourself, understand the terminology and the context of the language, and once you're sure you're into it, lock it in as a choice.

[Anonymous No.21339759]

Picked a good day to come back to /lit/. Today (or maybe yesterday, in india) is the Gita Jayanti, Bhagavad Gita's birthday. I memba i used to brag about studying sanskrit here like five or four years ago.... anyway, this channel helped me a lot in my quest. Specifically this series of videos
https://youtu.be/NQ6CLekQJO0
Some anon here shared some pdfs but one was max muller's work. Totally not for a beginner. Then i was pointed to Thomas Egenes and his books were much more agreeable.

[Anonymous No.21339767]

>>21339742
Not the guy you're replying to but, sanskrit aint no dead language wtf
There are still people in india who speak it natively, even if a tiny minority of a hundred thousand in a country of millions. Besides natively the brahmins still learn it to study their shastras

[Anonymous No.21339805]

>>21339767
Oh yeah, I probably should've said something like "a language with more modern input material" or just "a language with more speakers". But also the point I was making was that there isn't a lot of modern media which is in Sanskrit or Sanskrit oriented (eg. its tougher to find a podcast to listen to in Sanskrit than in Hindi), nor is there an easy way for a foreigner to speak Sanskrit with anyone. In any case, good catch and I stand corrected.

[Anonymous No.21340069]

>>21339699
Tamil is diglossia. Learning to speak will be the easiest. And we ppl - everybody in Tamilnadu speak in Tamil. Some ppl in Malaysia, Singapore and srilanka (different dialect) speak in Tamil.

Learning the alphabets will be easy. Reading and learning to read modern texts will be easy.
Reading old text is impossible.
What actually happens in schools is,
The poems will have interpretation along with it. Usually every word in a poem will be something we would've never heard of and the meaning of every word in the poem will be given. So old Tamil will be translated to modern Tamil.

There are so many grammar rules. There is no end to it. Adhering to it is so hard. You have to first be clear abt what you have to convey and write it down. Now write down all the synonyms of all the word that will be used and make sure the syllable count fits the grammar rules.

The poems written this was will have musical sense. I think this is easy to memorize relatively?
Writing down Newton's laws of motion or laws of thermodynamics in the form of poems will be helpful for students.(?). So that can remember as songs and as they get mature they can learn it's meaning (?). It's easy to pass it down to next generation without writing it down and preserving it in textual format (?).

Sanskrit is very similar to Tamil I guess. Tamil Stories and philosophy has so much spiritual value. For them spirituality was not a part of life but way of life and everybody was conscious of that.

[Anonymous No.21340073]

>>21340069
based tamil

[Anonymous No.21340738]

>>21332334
maybe you can do Tamil or another Dravidian language at a different university? there's a lot of interesting classical Tamil literature

[Anonymous No.21340991]

I got lots of helpful replies. Thank you guys.

[Anonymous No.21341305]

>>21337628
Modern Indians for at least 2-3 generations have been growing up on Bollywood culture, not Indian culture. It's why there are so many degenerates online begging for bobs and vegane. Bollywood has been subverting Indians for the past 70 years. All the degeneracy you see in India comes from these retarded movies that have worse stories than Hollywood B-movies. Even the rapes and molestation in India are largely influenced by what is shown in these trashy movies.

https://youtu.be/ONsGAplC5XY

[Anonymous No.21341458]

>>21341305
>Bollywood has been subverting Indians for the past 70 years.
i obviously can't judge your statement much since i know nothing but this might be the case
sanskrit, its literary and past indian culture seem very interesting but everything i see concerning modern india is incredibly off putting
i also stumbled on indians talking about sanskrit while researching and they mostly just seem to see it as a tool for boring nationalist bs
then there is basically also every clip of india i have seen which seems overwhelming in a negative sense so if(!) i study something in that direct i'll probably try to combine sanskrit with tibetan and focus less on modern india

>>21340738
>maybe you can do Tamil or another Dravidian language at a different university?
i actually am not sure what other languages they offer but they should probably also have tamil

[Anonymous No.21341476]

>>21341458
>its literary
its literature
>in that direct
in that direction

[Anonymous No.21341960]

Was much Buddhist literature written in Sanskrit or was a majority written in Pali?

[Anonymous No.21342305]

>>21341960
There's a decent amount, Harsha, Asvaghosa, Dharmakirti, etc, the most famous anthology (Vidyakara's) was composed by a Buddhist

[Anonymous No.21342431]

>>21332334
If you haven’t studied the Bible yet make sure you start there.

[Anonymous No.21342443]

>>21342431
No, start with the Greeks.

[Anonymous No.21342457]

>>21342443
You don’t have to forget the Greeks to study the Bible. Many people seem to fear the Bible and will substitute various spirituality in its place as a coping mechanism. Like you with the Greeks

[Anonymous No.21342542]

>>21342457
If it's a translation then it ain't a bible.

[Anonymous No.21342592]

>>21342431
>If you haven’t studied the Bible yet make sure you start there.
I will read the Bible someday but I do not have any interest in becoming a Christian because neither do I believe in Jesus Christ nor would I like to supress my homosexuality.

[Anonymous No.21342600]

>>21332334
>Tibetan as a second language later on which made me wonder if these languages offer any interesting literature.

Bardo Thodol

[Anonymous No.21342616]

>>21342600
>>21333767

[Anonymous No.21342766]

>>21342592
>homosexuality
Buddha disliked people like you, did you know it?

[Anonymous No.21342828]

>>21342766
>Buddha disliked people like you, did you know it?
If you are right then this is unfortunate but I am not a Buddhist nor do I need to become one to engage with the religion just like Christians don't need to believe in polytheism to appreciate the Greeks and take something out of their writings.