University Sanskrit for Yoga Teachers and Practitioners 2

View program website

Center for the Study of Jain Yoga

Program Instances

Hybrid

Dates: TBD

100 hours • TBD

Led by

Christopher Jain Miller, PhD

CYT-L3

Inquire

See up-front pricing

Purpose

Through sustained memorization, recitation, and guided translation practice, students will learn to recognize, recall, and apply all major paradigms of inflection, including nominal declensions, verbal conjugations, participial formations, compounds, indeclinable suffixes, and key syntactic constructions. Students will further develop essential research skills in Sanskrit philology, including attention to grammatical form, syntactical analysis, and disciplined translation practice, by translating modified excerpts from Sanskrit literature.

What to expect

Competency in Sanskrit translation is a central research skill for scholars in South Asian Studies, providing direct access to primary sources and supporting credibility in academic writing. At the same time, Sanskrit study can also deepen engagement with lived religious traditions. For many dharma traditions—particularly Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism—Sanskrit functions as a primary medium of liturgy, doctrine, and philosophical reflection. As such, this course supports both academic research preparation and informed engagement with the cultural, intellectual, and spiritual landscapes shaped by Sanskrit texts.

By the end of this course, students will have completed the Devavāṇīpraveśikā primer in full and will be prepared to advance to more independent translation and textual study at the upper-division undergraduate or graduate level.

Learning Objectives1. Learn to read Sanskrit in Devanagari font.2. Acquire basic Sanskrit vocabulary.3. Learn to identify and understand the basic grammatical forms covered in class.4. Learn to understand key differences between Sanskrit and English syntaxes and to be able to convert Sanskrit syntax into English syntax.5. Learn basic skills for translation of Sanskrit primary sources for research6. Become familiarized with other cultural and intellectual elements of the broader Sanskrit tradition.

Presented by theCenter for South Asian Languages (CSAL)at Arihanta Institute.

Style/Lineage

Course 8002

This course is Part 2 of 2 in the University Sanskrit sequence. Building on the language foundations established inUniversity Sanskrit 1, students will complete the remaining portion of theDevavāṇīpraveśikāSanskrit primer (Goldman and Goldman, 1980) and consolidate their command of the core grammatical systems required for reading and translating Sanskrit texts.

Core competencies

By the end of this program, graduates will be able to…

Yoga History & Theory

Explain the function of Sanskrit kṛt and taddhita suffixes in word formation by identifying their grammatical markers and roles, and describe how these suffixes modify the meaning, category, or function of words within Sanskrit vocabulary.
Explain the structure and function of Sanskrit compounds by identifying karmadhāraya and tatpuruṣa compounds based on the relationship between their constituent parts, and describe how the grammatical relationship between word elements distinguishes these two compound types.
Explain the structure and function of Sanskrit compounds by identifying bahuvrīhi and dvigu compounds based on their descriptive and numerical relationships, and describe how bahuvrīhi compounds express a quality or attribute while dvigu compounds indicate a counted group or quantity.
Explain the structure and function of Sanskrit compounds by identifying dvandva and avyayībhāva compounds based on the relationship between their constituent parts, and describe how dvandva compounds join equal elements while avyayībhāva compounds function as adverbial expressions.
Explain the function of the Sanskrit tumanta infinitive by identifying its characteristic ending and position within a sentence, and describe how its grammatical role contributes to the meaning and interpretation of Sanskrit passages.
Explain the function of Sanskrit liṅ (optative) verb forms by identifying their characteristic endings and helping constructions, and describe how these forms express possibility, potentiality, or intention within a sentence.
Explain the function of Sanskrit present participle (vartamāna kṛdanta) forms by identifying their grammatical markers and use within sentences, and describe how these participles express actions occurring simultaneously with the main verb.
Explain the function of Sanskrit future and conditional verb forms by identifying lṛṭ, lṛṅ, and luṭ forms and describing how each form expresses different types of future or conditional action within a sentence.
Explain the function of Sanskrit gerundive (kṛtya) and future participle forms by identifying their grammatical markers and uses, and describe how gerundives express necessity or obligation while future participles indicate future action.
Explain the function of Sanskrit liṭ (perfect) verb forms by identifying their simple, periphrastic, and participial constructions, and describe how each form is used to express completed action within Sanskrit sentences.
Explain the function of Sanskrit causative and desiderative verb forms by identifying their grammatical markers and uses, and describe how causative verbs express the causing of an action while desiderative verbs express the desire or intention to perform an action.
Explain the function of Sanskrit intensive and denominative verb forms by identifying their grammatical markers and uses, and describe how intensive verbs express repeated or intensified action while denominative verbs derive actions from nouns.
Explain the function of Sanskrit aorist verb forms by identifying their grammatical markers and uses, and describe how the aorist tense expresses completed past action and differs from the imperfect tense in conveying past events.
Explain the function of Sanskrit pronoun forms by identifying their grammatical categories, references, and roles within sentences, and describe how pronouns change form according to their syntactical function and meaning in context.
Explain the function of Sanskrit numeral forms by identifying their grammatical structure and agreement patterns, and describe how numeral forms influence agreement with nouns and other elements within a sentence.
Explain the function of Sanskrit cvi pratyaya forms by identifying their grammatical markers and uses, and describe how cvi factitive formations express a change of state or transformation.
Explain the structure of Sanskrit declension paradigms by identifying case and number patterns, and describe how these patterns organize noun forms according to their grammatical function within sentences.
Explain the function of Sanskrit case endings by identifying how each case is marked and used within sentences, and describe how case endings determine the grammatical role and relationship of words in Sanskrit syntax.
Explain the methodology of Sanskrit translation by identifying the steps involved in analyzing grammatical forms and sentence structures, and describe how attention to linguistic structure supports accurate interpretation and translation of Sanskrit texts.
Explain the role of Sanskrit within Dharma traditions by identifying the communities and traditions that use Sanskrit as part of their intellectual and spiritual heritage, and describe how Sanskrit functions as a medium for preserving, transmitting, and engaging with their philosophical and religious teachings.

AYC allows each school to state and evaluate the competencies each student acquires. Students rate how well the program delivered them.

Program Emphasis

Evaluation methods

Program evaluations

Written Exam
Written Submission

Program Faculty

Featured Faculty

Cogen Bohanec, MA, PhD

Professor and scholar of Hindu and Jain yoga traditions, specializing in Sanskrit and other South Asian languages, yoga philosophy, meditation, ethics, and classical South Asian texts. My teaching integrates traditional textual study with contemporary academic scholarship.

Eugene, OR, US

Policies

AYC Policies

Progam Code of Conduct

Refund Policy