I also recommend taking a look at Devavanipravesika, the text used by Berkeley for its Sanskrit course. It is very thorough and not as difficult as Coulson's.


For professors not for learners   March 3, 2002
 13 out of 15 found this review helpful

I can certainly recommend this book to all university professors teaching Sanskrit and to all those individuals who know everything about Sanskrit, and now want to see what the respectable author has to say and know about Sanskrit.

But if you do not know Sanskrit and want to learn it, do not spend your money and do not waste your time on this book. I love `Teach yourself ...' series, I used some of their books and this book was my first disappointment in that series.

On three occasions I started my study but I could not go past the first chapter. The author assumes not only that you know Greek and Latin but also that you know Sanskrit and then passing lightly over important grammatical points and rules, spends most of his and yours time to give you some subtle hints about some exotic uses of Sanskrit grammar.

So avoid this `Look what I know about Sanskrit, you will never be as clever as I am' book and try something else.


This book is great if you have a Phd in linguistics!   January 27, 2002
 5 out of 8 found this review helpful

This book is probably a great book if you a have a firm backround in lingustics, but it is hardly a "beginers book". Its introduction to the script is also very confusing. I am going to exchange this book for Thomas Egenes book, everyone seems to say that it is much more suited for the beginer.


A perverse production best avoided by beginners.   September 4, 2001
 46 out of 50 found this review helpful

Although Coulson's 'Teach Yourself Sanskrit' is, in many ways, an excellent and extremely thorough textbook, it is hardly suited to the average beginner. Most of us are drawn to Sanskrit because of a prior interest in The Bhagavad Gita, The Upanishads, The Mahabharata, The Ramayana, even The Hitopadesa. Coulson, however, has chosen - perversely it seems to me - to draw all of his examples from Sanskrit drama, a branch of Sanskrit literature which is of minimal interest to most readers. Even worse, he seems to have designed the book primarily for exceptionally gifted students, and for those who are already competent in an ancient inflected language such as Latin or Greek. His procedure, in other words, betrays an elitist attitude that has resulted in a book which, rather than teaching anyone Sanskrit, is far more likely to put them off for life. I gave up in despair about halfway through the book, and so have many others.

This is a pity, as Sanskrit is an exceptionally beautiful language, but there is a remedy at hand. Instead of wasting one's time with Coulson, the beginner would be far better off acquiring a copy of Thomas Egenes 'Introduction to Sanskrit' (2 volumes). Almost all introductory treatments of Sanskrit have been produced for linguists, but here finally is a truly practical and useful primer of Sanskrit for ordinary folks and human beings. After working one's way through it (and finding out why India really loves its sacred literature, epics, and wisdom stories), Coulson might be tackled with profit ... but not before.