SUMMER SANSKRIT '95

[WITZEL at HUSC3.HARVARD.EDU]

 Ref.:  Madhav Deshpande's query about an 
 ** Intensive Sanskrit ** Summer Course in 1995. --- 
 I reply on the Indology net, as this may be of interest to
 others as well. 

I have been giving such a course at Harvard since 1990, and
 on trial basis before in 1988, 1989. We had, *without*
 country-wide propaganda, an average of 10 students, and not
 only from the North-East but also from California and the
 Mid West. One problem, I think, is the fairly large fee
 Harvard charges, by now $2,500 for 7-8 weeks of classes (4-
 5 times per week, 2.5 hours per day). This excludes housing
 and other living expenses.

 Even in 7-8 weeeks we could generally cover all of the
 important features of Epic/Classical grammar (depending a
 bit on the level of each Summer's class and the speed
 possible) so that students could read the beginning of the
 Gita or something like Nala on their own. In fact several
 of them each year have succeeded to get into one Skt./
 South Asian graduate program or the other.  
 
 I will probably not teach this course next Summer (rather
 work on my own things) but that does not exclude our 
 offering it here. Even two courses, one at Ann Arbor, and
 one here, would not be impossible. There always are
 interested students. I have had some inquiries already. In
 fact, I think we should also have a course on the West 
 Coast. 

 Or we could rotate each year, from West Coast to Mid West
 to East Coast, in order to serve local students, just as it
 is being done for some other (SEA) languages. Any
 suggestions on this point? Please, do contact me so that we
 can start a country-wide planning group. 

 Michael Witzel,

 Chair, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies,
 Harvard University
 53 Church Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA
 phones 617 - 495 3295 (also voice mail), 496 8570, 
 fax 617 - 496 8571
 email: Witzel at husc3.harvard.edu