The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit

I've already own several Sanskrit books before I spotted this one. However, they are either too simple and lack of further explanation, or they have too much academic air in them and no answer keys. I am so glad I purchased this book and without knowing in advance that it would open a door of learning Sanskrit for me. As a self study student, I wrote to the author for the Key and I got something back more than the Key! Dr Ruppel was organizing an online course at that time and naturally she asked if I would be interested in joining the study group. I was thrilled and signed myself up right away. I have been following the course for six months now and let me tell you, this book is the gem in Sanskrit study and Dr Ruppel is a wonderful teacher with lots of compassion and she is a hard worker. This book is carefully designed/engineered in presenting and mapping out the materials--systematical and well organized as Dr Ruppel is an experienced and successful Sanskrit teacher .The more I study the book, the more I understand why and how the chapters are arranged in such order. In addition to many wonderful attributes people already mentioned in their comments above, I personally love the learning tips and technical comments she shares in the book which have helped me a lot. I also love the way she uses English as a comparative example to help us understand how Sanskrit works--same as English or different. Besides the exercises we get from the book, we also get a weekly email which has detailed instruction on how to approach this week's material and the links to her many online resources, such as videos and flash cards. And we also get a weekly test which I have tons of fun doing it. In a nutshell, from the most basic script learning to be able to read Bhagavad gita, this book will guide you step by step and lead you to reach that ultimate goal. I have no doubt about it.

हरिः ॐAs an autodidact, I've been studying Sanskrit for about 4.5 years now. I purchased this book because I want to start reviewing previous chapters with new vocabulary (in order to keep advancing), and because whenever I check for a grammar concept online (in order to expand it to fully internalize it), the excerpts that pop up contain very approachable explanations. I can only say that this course-book is the perfect compliment for my Sanskrit für Anfänger Course-book (by Heidelberg's Prof. Thomas Lehmann).As I've continued to study this wonderful language that is मम प्रियं संस्कृतम् through this marvelous book, I can only find its content very accessible and helpful. I've been looking for a book like this for four years now and I never found one. Other courses were simply not appealing: Many of the expensive course-books I checked back then only offered a few lessons per course-book with very limited/lacking explanations. Making money seemed more important than teaching. This course-book offers 40 chapters, which is around 3-4.5 years of study. It has a lot of exercises.If you're interested in India's ancient sacred teachings, and that's mainly why you're learning Sanskrit, you can read excerpts of the Bhagavad Gītā, the Mahābhārata, etc. right from the beginning (Chapter 2, page 23) which is an amazing treat for every Sanskrit student.A final note: You can't "learn Sanskrit fast". I know of Sanskrititians who have been learning Sanskrit for 15 years. Once you start learning Sanskrit, the more you learn, the more you'll realize how little you know. The more reverence and humility you will feel when approaching each lesson. Sanskrit's grammar is as vast as a shore; each grain of sand is a concept, an explanation, a declination. It takes time to pick them all. But the journey is totally worth it.Anyway. May Lord Gaṇeśa bestow one-pointed concentration on you. May Mātā Sarasvatī bless your studying endeavors. May you unite with The Absolute.ॐ नमः शिवाय ॐ

It's a wonderful first book. I've been using it all summer with a mix of teenagers and grownups. The best thing about this book is that it's easy to read. Most Sanskrit manuals written by westerners have a slightly academic/professorial air about them. My previous favorite in this genre, Coulson, is not entirely free of a donnish air. This one's, by and large, pleasantly free of it. So I think this book can also be used by people who learn Sanskrit for non-academic reasons. This book covers more or less the same ground as Coulson except it's newer, friendlier and has some more arrows in its quiver. Besides, it seems the author is experienced in teaching youngsters i.e., school kids, too.Some typical initial obstacles to learning Sanskrit i.e., sandhi (combination of sounds), nominal compounds, the noun and the verb systems are rather well presented. The author is committed to a policy of minimizing rote memorization so the chapters on sandhi appeal to reason and internal logic. But they are written well, going by my experience with some 12 year olds. The treatment of the noun system is exhaustive. As far as nominal compounds are concerned, the discussion includes several quick tips to recognize the type of compound. This is something which even many manuals written in Hindi lack.The verb system is well-written with full cognizance of the type of head scratching verb systems cause in people who know or speak only English or modern Indian languages. It's also written with a view to creating a path of least resistance. Here I think the author's teaching experience is in full view.The strongest parts of this book are the chapters on the verb system. It's systematically presented with a step-wise progression in terms of conjugation type, voice and tense. The review, conjugation and translation exercises at the end of each chapter are quite well selected. Somewhat more advanced topics like aorist, participles of various kinds and handling of numerals are also covered.For me the greatest value of this book is in the illustrations and tables (in grey) peppered throughout the book and occasional remarks on points which cause confusion in the mind of the student or aspects of the language which sound more complicated than they are. There are other useful bits of information like how to use a dictionary too. Readers interested in Sanskrit may be happy to know that this book uses plenty of examples from the first two chapters of Gita to illustrate usage and grammar. In summary, I think the book can be used by a teacher and a committed student alike.Also, the icing on the cake is the supplementary resources available on-line.If I have one regret about my purchase, it's that I didn't go for the hardcover edition.