संस्कृत Documents


Frequently Asked Questions for Sanskrit Documents site

Welcome! Thank you for visiting the FAQ section of the Sanskrit Documents site. We have tried to include answers to various questions asked in the email correspondence and the guestbook . These are compiled to provide quick help for visitors like you in order to reduce correspondence on the (sanskrit at cheerful dot c om) email service. There are many links provided here and in https://sanskritlinks.blogspot.com which will enhance your navigation in Sanskrit related activities and in lifetime learning.

We hope that you will participate and volunteer in this effort with long term involvement, and will keep your interest in Sanskrit alive, as a tool, to enhance your literary, philosophical, and spiritual undertakings. It is not enough just to wish to promote such activities, mention of past literary geniuses, sages, or talk about India's glorious past, but must be followed by involvement at many levels locally and make life more interesting.

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Frequently Asked Questions for Sanskrit Documents site

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Q: I had studied Sanskrit in school a long time ago and wish to brush up on it. Do you have any suggestions?
I want to study Sanskrit, but do not know where to start. Can you help?
I do not know any language from India but feel an affinity with philosophy and spiritual teachings originated in India.

We have attempted to compile documents in Sanskrit at https://sanskritdocuments.org/ and its mirror sites, along with links to various organizations affiliated with the Indian "thought." Due to different individual interests, it is difficult to point out where one should start. There are links to dictionaries, tutorials, processing tools, translations, and audio files which will aid in the learning process.

From the links in audio files you may want to choose one document to study as a beginning project rather than browsing through all documents at this site. Browsing the documents at this site gives a broad overview, but does not lead to a greater understanding of Indian languages. Keep working on it!

Mr. Bhagwan Singh expressed his opinion on influencing for the love of the language and literature : "People do not learn languages out of reverence. There are many attendant factors:

  1. The storage of information, which compels you to learn in order to be better informed.
  2. Monetary benefits and status up gradation, that is why people were eager to learn official languages even if they be foreign- Persian, English.
  3. Cultural identity, and religious conformity, Urdu, Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Prakrit in case of the Jains, Hebrew, reassertion of Gurumukhi script despite its shortcomings, etc.
  4. Secrecy, that leads to invention and retention of scripts and languages not understood by outsiders.
  5. Linguistic environment and accessibility to larger number of people, that is why, despite many reservation be some states [people are bound to learn Hindi in India and English when they move outside,
  6. Richness of literature, Brajbhasha was learnt throughout Hindi belt and beyond prior to acceptance of Hindi, and Awadhi was emulated by poets sitting in Brajabhasha area prior to that because of Tulsi and Jayasi.
  7. Cultural domination, that prompted Europeans, especially Germans, Britons, French and now Americans to learn as many languages as possible and to be able to penetrate the guarded circles of societies, to be able to dominate and reorient those societies at will besides cultural, political and economic domination.
If fact in the above order, the 5th (Linguistic environment and accessibility) out-stands other considerations and 3rd comes much lower."

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Q: Do you have any free fonts to generate Sanskrit text?

There are quite a few places one can get fonts. Some of them are:

Mail to (sanskrit at cheerful dot c om) to let us know if you find additional sites with fonts for Indian scripts.

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Q: Where may I find a history of the Sanskrit language?
Where is Sanskrit located in the world?

Sanskrit is certainly used mainly in India. It is considered the originator (mother) of most of the languages in India. As a high level Indo-European language, one time, it had widespread influence on the people in Asia and Northern regions (including part of Russia.) Unfortunately, over long time period, due to conquests and expansionist attitudes of certain beliefs and societies, it stayed concentrated mainly in India/Nepal region. For example, there is an original word "sthaana" in Sanskrit meaning place, which is now changed to stan (Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkministan, Afganistan, et cetera) indicating that the language was circulated in these regions. (India is called Hindusthan, as beliefs in the region are termed as Hindu, of people living beyond Sindhu river, which is now called Indus.) There are quite a few examples found by modern linguists confirming such understanding.

Sanskrit is not used in daily conversation (except in certain families) although sizable number of words in vernacular languages have originated from Sanskrit. Sanskrit has a very finely structured set of vowels and consonants based on pronunciation (see links below for alphabets). Many ancient texts, concerned with our personal life, surpassing the concept of organized religion, are written in Sanskrit and are still applicable to our lives.

Please see a set of articles on History of Sanskrit language. A brief presentation is available at wikipedia, The origin and evolution of Sanskrit on hinduwebsite.com, a collection of quotes and historical perspective at A Tribute to Hinduism site, Why study Sanskrit? on acharya site.

An article on Sanskrit by NASA scientist Rick Briggs in Artificial Intelligence magazine (Spring 1985) may interest you. The article is mirrored at http://www.gosai.com/science/ under Sanskrit and Artificial Intelligence. Additional research is underway at Carnegie Mellon University, for example, on the topic of Deciphering the Vedas by Prabhu Ram Raghunathan.

You may want to search the archives of discussion groups of Indology: http://listserv.liv.ac.uk/archives/indology.html and http://indology.info/, and the Sanskrit digest (subscription information is in https://sanskritdocuments.org/projects_digest.html. Additional information is available in the usergroups file. Yahoo groups that promote Sanskrit learning is given in sanskritlinks.blogspot.com, see the entry for Sunday, July 16, 2006 entry.

Also see the following URLs.

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Q: Where can I find the Sanskrit alphabets and their sounds?
I would like to teach the sounds to my five year old son. I heard that Sanskrit alphabets are scientifically grouped by the great sage Panini. Is there any software available for learning Sanskrit?

Here is a simple beginning: See the alphabet, and hear the associated sounds at
https://sanskritdocuments.org/marathi/alphabet.html or
http://members.tripod.com/sarasvati/alphabet.html.

Penn language center of University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, has alphabets in real video format.

There are quite a few sites providing alphabets and sounds of Devanagari characters using Flash. Please see them at
wikipedia,
http://www.avashy.com/hindiscripttutor.htm,
http://chl.anu.edu.au/languages/devanagari,
http://members.tripod.com/sarasvati/devanagari/alphabets.html by Hemanth Kumar,
http://www.bharatdarshan.co.nz/hinditeacher/,
and well studied http://acharya.iitm.ac.in site.
Some of these even show how the letters are written with a pen and a slate for you to practice.

Vyas Houston, director of the American Sanskrit Institute has published books and manuals depicting Sanskrit sound generation and physical locations of different sounds. For example, please see for alphabets and their position in the mouth. There are others intresting articles that will help grasp the importance of Studying Sanskrit, e.g. Language of Enlightenment, Sanskrit and teh Technological Age.

Syracuse University's Hindi division has developed scripts to show strokes on how Devanagari alphabets are written along with their audio sounds.

Some of the translated documents, tutorials, correspondence courses, and books linked from the FAQ will help you learn Sanskrit; however, there is no substitute to learning from knowledgeable individuals.

Although it is a little diversion to the answer, one should browse around Languages and Scripts of India site developed by Yashwant Malaiya. Another site built by Professor Kalyana Krishnan at IIT, Madras with same title Languages and Scripts of India as a part of the multilingual software. This is a unique software which delas with major languages of India. A rare collection of alphabets for Devanagari, languages from India, Tibetan, Brahmi, Persian, and other South east languages is built by Eden Golshani. A modi script site is developed by Rajiv Mhasawade.

Prof. Himanshu Pota has complied various links for learning Hindi which may be useful for learning Sanskrit as well. See http://www.ee.adfa.edu.au/staff/hrp/personal/Hindi/index.html . He also writes a blog for Learning Sanskrit at http://www.ee.adfa.edu.au/staff/hrp/personal/sanskrit/index.html.

Links to Sanskrit ebooks are compiled at sanskritebooks.org. Please make use of these books.

A few have asked us to show the "original" script instead of commonly used Devanagari. As we know, Devanagari is supposed to have originated from Brahmi script. Please see http://www.ancientscripts.com/sitemap.html and compare Brahmi and Devanagari. Also see the reference in http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/sanskrit.html

If you are involved in teaching, read an article Good teaching qualities: inducing interest and positive expectations by Premchand Palety with an example of a Sanskrit teacher.

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Q: I wish to have all the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata and Ramayana in print in Sanskrit and translated in English. Do you know where can I get them? Are they all available in audio format?

Yes, all are available in print. Please refer to publications by Motilal Banarasidas, Ramakrishna Mission, Chinmaya Mission, Gita Press, and other publishers in India. Please see links for books at https://sanskritdocuments.org/. A list of bookstores is available here.

Links to Sanskrit and Hindu scriptural ebooks are compiled at sanskritebooks.org. Please make use of these books.

See a Repository of paintings by HareKrishan

Audio cassettes of chanting of all the Vedas are available from http://www.ahista.com/dvt/vedchant.html. The cassettes come with printed books with English translations. See all other Veda related links in doc_veda.

Please refer to Ramayana, Mahabharat, Rigveda files for texts and some translations. The English meaning of Valmiki Ramayana in audio cassettes form is available at http://www.RamayanAudio.com/

There are some audio clips and excellent presentation of Sanskrit documents on Dale Steinhauser's Sanskrit document's site.

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Q: I need to translate some Sanskrit verses into English. Is there any software available which will translate them for me?
Can you translate English text into Sanskrit?

There is some attempt of a software for direct translation of Hindi/Sanskrit at pocket translator. There is professional help available at web-translator 1 or 2, and freelang.net. There is no easy software as avilable for Oriental and European languages.

Referring to the online Sanskrit dictionaries or installing Louis Bontes' dictionary utility for Monier William's digitized dictionary at Cologne available at http://members.ams.chello.nl/l.bontes/ will help. Klaus Glashoff's http://spokensanskrit.de is a new online hypertext dictionary.

A scholarly translational service is available as a part of http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/translation.html.

It is also a  good idea to subscribe to the following mailing lists with genuine interest. Subscribing just to get translations may not invoke a reply from those who visit frequently.sanskrit-digest, indology (see groups.yahoo.com for rejuvenated group), advaita-L, ambaa-L, dvaita, alt.hindu (newsgroup not active any more),  where many scholars and devotees interact.

Visit Kiran Paranjape's http://freetranslationblog.blogspot.com/ for free translation of words and sentences.

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Q: I want to encode Natyashastra of Bharatamuni and put it on the Sanskrit Documents site so that many can read it in the original. How can I do that?
I would like to volunteer for the minor list of the wish list. How do I go about volunteering?
I downloaded Itranslator99 and got familiar with encoding scheme. Can I encode Lalita Sahasranama?

You are welcome to enter any text which has not been already encoded. we normally maintain a wishlist or a list of pending items to guide volunteers decide the text. (We like to avoid duplication of efforts so please check with us  when you decide about a text. For example, Lalita Sahasranama is already encoded so there is no need to re-encode it unless one is doing it to develop devotion.)

If you have a PC, please download and install Itranslator99/2003 available at http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html. There is an Itrans encoding scheme table in the help menu. Please print it and use it to get familiar with the software. If the auto-convert option is on, you will be able to see the Devanagari display immediately as you type. Alternately, the scheme is given in a separate file.

For Mac and Unix/Linux users, there is web-interface available as mentioned elsewhere in this document.

Refer to the web-interface common errors and tips, which points to additional links.

It is best to develop a methodology for typing up the text so that it is not physically and mentally taxing. We also emphasize encoding the text for your own studies and enjoyment, providing it to other users as a side activity, after you become more comfortable with the encoding scheme.

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Q: I have a Macintosh. Most of the fonts available are for PCs or Windows. Where can I get fonts for the Macintosh?

There is a list of Devanagari fonts available for all the platforms from Yashwant Malaiya's site. There are also various web interfaces mentioned in this document that are platform-independent.

Also see Sparshabhumi site for Devanagari & other language scripts from India, compiled by Christian Coseru.

Since the introduction of Mac System 8.5, there has been built-in support for Mac's worldscript and languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Gujarati, Nepali, Punjabi, Marathi, etc. One has to install the appropriate support from the installation CD. It continues through to OS X as well. It is supposed to be very easy to use. The keyboard can be configured for Inscript or QWERTY for native English speakers. Since it works at the system level all programs that are worldscript aware support it. It can be used in Microsoft Word. Contact Rothrock for additional information.

The Macintosh became a Unix-based system as of version 10.1 of Mac OS X. (Apple claims to be the world's largest manufacturer of Unix-based computers, a distinction previously enjoyed by Sun Microsystems, HP, DEC, etc.) This means that a large amount of open-source Unix software that runs on Linux, FreeBSD, etc., is also available for Mac OS X. The best-known open-source distro is Fink (http://fink.sourceforge.net), and can be used to install teTeX (the most common distribution of LaTeX and associated tools). It needs XCode Tools 1.1/1.5 (which comes with Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther") to be installed. (Mac OS X 10.2 "Jaguar" users need to install the December 2002 version of the Apple Developer Tools.)

Installing ITRANS can be done after installing teTeX (through Fink or otherwise) is completed. It should not be too difficult for someone familiar with Unix to accomplish this, but as the Itrans deeveloper Avinash Chopde cautions, it can be a daunting task for one new to it. Please visit http://www.dvaita.info/shrao/itrans/ for additional information.

Richmond Mathewson (richmondmathewson at gmail.com) has developed Macintosh and Windows based Sanskrit Typewriter, which is a clickable keyboard based (letter by letter) entry system for Devanagari and Roman output. A short program needs to be downloaded and installed.

Lalitalaalitah has developed Medha keyboard and font structure for Macintosh as well as Windows (XP to Windows 10) Files and instructions are available at http://eng.lalitaalaalitah.com/medha/.

With the availability of Unicode fonts, one can also generate Devanagari textonline, suitable for all computer platforms, using Itrans On-line Web Interface and HiTrans with Itrans transliteration scheme.

Ajit Krishnan has experimented with Devanagari IME for Mac users. Visit video instructions on "How to type devanagari script on OSX." The associated installation instructions and details are given at http://www.aupasana.com/software (scroll down to "lipika ime").

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Q: What does "raso vai saH, rasaM hy evAyaM labdhvAnandI bhavati" mean in Sanskrit?
How can I generate "symbols" for words such as Namaste, OM?
I want to know the meaning of Gayatri mantra.
Where can I find meaning of names in Surya Namaskar?
How does one write OM maNi padme huM in Sanskrit?
Can you translate "God Bless You" in Sanskrit?
Can you translate following words in Sanskrit?
Can you translate some blessings "live life to the full" and "follow your heart?"

"raso vai saH, rasaM hy evAyaM labdhvAnandI bhavati" translates as "He is the essence, by obtaining That all this also

Perhaps, the pronouns need to be explained. The "saH" refers to the "brahma". He (or it) is indeed (vai) the essence. Only (eva) having obtained (labdhvaa) it (rasaM) he (ayaM - probably a jiiva in this context) becomes (bhavati) happy (aanandii).

For meanings of Namaste, OM, Gayatri mantra please see general documents list. You can find suitable mantra for yourself based on the birth particulars.

For Surya Namaskar, Sun salutations, suryanamaskar, please refer to the sites 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 as a few examples.

Kiran Paranjape has newly started a service to translate names/texts at http://freetranslationblog.blogspot.com/.

Here are simple meanings of common English words.

Air	     	vaayuH (more as a wind as this word indicates motion)
Awakening       jaagaraNa, prabodhana(spiritual level)
Balance 	sa.ntulana
Calm    	shaanta, prashaanta
Cleansing       shodhana, paavanam (purification), marjanam
Death           mR^ityu
Elements        bhUtAni, dhaatavaH
Enthusiasm      utsaaha
Fate            bhAgya, daivagati, karma
Freedom         svaatantrya, svatantrataa
Global 		saarva-bhauma
Happiness       aana.nda
Harmony 	sa.nj~naati, sa.nj~naana
Health  	aarogya
Heart   	hR^idaya
Innovation 	nuutana
Life            jiivanaM, jIvitaM, praaNadhaaraNaM
Love            prema, anuraaga
Ocean           saagaraH, samudraH
Pain            duHkha
Peace   	shaamya, shaanti
Power   	shakti
Pure    	shuddha
Quality 	uttamatvam
Solutions 	kShipti
Respect		aadara
Sea             saagaraH, samudraH
Serenity        prasannataa
Smart 		medhaa, paTu
Spirit  	aatmaa
Star            nakShatraM, taara
Strength        bala
Tranquility     shaantataa
Trust		vishvaasa
Truth   	satya
Vitality        viirya
There are of course different shades to each word so we request you to see Sanskrit dictionaries and links available on this site.

Louis Bontes' dictionary utility for Monier William's digitized dictionary at Cologne is available at http://members.ams.chello.nl/l.bontes/.

Instead of directly translating the phrase "God Bless You" word by word, this is how it is conveyed.
shubhaM bhuuyaat.h | ma~NgalaM bhuuyaat.h | svasti |
bhuuyaat is let there be, shubhaM or ma.ngalaM is for auspiciousness or wellbeing. Basically the message projected is that "let good things come to you." About the good things, here is a prayer from Yajurveda

[tachchakShurdevahitaM purastaachChukramuchcharat]
pashyema sharadashshataM
jiivema sharadashshataM
nandAma sharadashshataM
modAma sharadashshataM
bhavAma sharadashshataM
shR^iNavAma sharadashshataM
prabravAma sharadashshatamajiitaassyAma sharadashshataM
jyokcha sUryaM dR^ishe
[That celestial eye of the gods, the sun, is rising up brightly before us.]
May we behold him (the sun) for a hundred autumns.
May we live for a hundred autumns.
May we make merry for a hundred autumns.
May we rejoice for a hundred autumns.
May we become (better and better) for a hundred autumns.
May we listen (to godly discourse) for a hundred autumns.
May we speak well for a hundred autumns.
May we never feel wretched and helpless during hundred autumns.
May we be able to behold the sun for a long, long time.

From Krishna Yajurveda : Taittiriya Aranyaka IV-42:5:93

"Live Strong" phrase indicating mental strength can be paraphrased as "dhairyeNa jijiiviShet.h |" To translate, "have a desire to live with courage." jijIviSha is transalted (MW) as desire to live. dhairya as firmness, constancy, calmness, patience, gravity , fortitude, courage.

"Mother, you are forever missed and never to be forgotten!"
utkaNThitaH anantakaalam he maataH
na kadaapi vismaraNiiyaa tvam cha || for "you are forever missed (actually, I miss you forever), Mother, and never to be forgotten!" As an alternative:
virahavyaakulo maatar vismR^itirna kadaapi te ||
virahavyaakulaa maatar vismR^itirna kadaapi te ||
The first is for a man, second for a woman.

Here are translations of two blessings:
paripuurNatayaa jiivet.h . ##live life to the full##
or
hR^idyam anugachchhet.h .
hR^idaya~Ngama anugachchhet.h . ##follow your heart##

Here is another phrase:
naahaM nidhanabhayavyaakulaH |
naahaM vyathaaghaatavichchhedyaH |
jiivitametanmama prekShaNiiyam ||
"Death cannot shake me, pain will not break me,
this life is mine to behold."

With sandhi-vigraha it is
na aham nidhana\-bhaya\-vyaakulaH |
na aham vyathaa\-aaghaata\-vichchhedyaH |
jiivitam etad mama prekShaNiiyam ||

Another translation for the same phrase is
mR^ityurna shaknoti kShobhayituM maaM
na cha vyathaa maaM vibhagnaM karoti .
samiikShituM jiivamidaM cha lokaM
arhamyahaM na tu vR^ithaa matirme ..

Use webinterface to see the Sanskrit portion (of phrases above or below) in Devanagari script. Itranslator99 or newer Itranslator2003 will be even better. Also consult Sanskrit dictionary at Cologne linked from https://sanskritdocuments.org/dict/ for word meaning details.

Look at another one:

mama dehaH khalu ma.ndiraM |

mama ##= mine;## dehaH ##= body##
khalu ##= truly, certainly, surely##
ma.ndiraM ##= temple##

deho me ma.ndiraM saaxaat.h hR^inme devashcha tatsthitaH |

##Body is verily a temple. In its heart the God resides.##

saaxaat.h ##= personified, verily;## hR^idaya ##= heart
hR^inme # = in the heart;## devaH ##= God##
cha ##= also (for emphasis);## tat.h ##= that ##
sthitaH ## = resides##

Another one:
na ki~nchidapi ashakyam.h | ##= nothing is impossible##
ashakyam tan na ki~nchit.h | ##= impossible is nothing.##

Another one from the Beatles' song "Within you, without you" by George Harrison. :
##When you have seen beyond yourself,##
yadaa pashyasi svaatmaanaM vihaaya |
##then you may find peace of mind is waiting there...##
tadaa saMpratiikShyasi manaHprasaadaH ||
##And the time will come when you see we are all one##
drakShyasyekabhaavena sarvaan.h kaalenaatmani |
##and life flows on within you and without you."##
saMkSharati jiivitvam antarbaahyashcha svaatmani ||

Another question was translation of
"Live your life with no regrets" or "Life, no regrets" or "No regrets".
jiivaH maa shuchaH |
Or the famous lines in the Gita: na anushochitum arhasi | or maa shuchaH |

##Ishvara eva me parIkShakaH |## only god can judge me

The OM maNi padme huM is a famous Buddhist mantra commmonly found written in Tibetan script. A simple search on internet will return many sites with meaning, sound clip, and interpretation. For example, see Dharma Heaven site.

We are also faced with difficulty with some requests where a reverse translation is sought. The request for translation is easy to make but one has to understand the context and the origin of thoughts. For example, a translation of words related to Buddha's eightfold path was requested to which a quick response based on just the words alone would be,
Vision ## dR^iShTii
## Emotion ## bhaavanaa
## Speech ## vaachaa
## Action ## karman
## Awareness ## avadhaana
## Effort ## prayatna
## Livelihood ## upajiivana
## Concentration ## ekaagrataa
The reverse translation is not unique, given the richness of the language. It will turn out to be inadequate when Buddha's teaching is studied. In comparison, refer to the article in Wikipedia on Buddhism. See also reference in a dictionary.

Someone wanted the etymological root of the name of the mountain "Kailas" (kailAsha in Hindi).

From Amarakosha commentary
1. kelaasa=sphaTika (crystal) - derivation: ke = jale laasaH = lasanaM asya -> kelaasaH (one that shines in water = crystal) made of/formed with kelaasa is kailaasa
2. keliinaaM samuuhaH = kailaM tena aasyate atra aasa upaveshane - a place where you play around (could be a great name for an amusement park !!!)
The place is reported as belonging to kubera, even though Shiva lives there.

One questioner asked to translate "Software Engineer" in Sanskrit. The words praNaalii\-praj~na may be suitable. This is in view of the fact that praNaalii is sometimes used as a synonym for a program - sequence of instructions. One possible objection is that the word might refer more to a software expert rather than an engineer, but an engineer better be an expert, shouldn't (s)he? If preferred, you may replace the praj~na by abhiyantaa - the official word for engineer, making a praNaalyabhiyantaa, but it does not sound so good (:-))

Also, for a "simulation," pratibhaasana as an equivalent to simulation. It is proposed that the root prati+bhaas be used for simulate. The word pratibhaasana does have a meaning of look, appearance, illusion. It might be appropriate to attach this additional meaning to it. Along the same lines, anu+bhaas can be used for modeling, if needed. Alternatively, chhadma = simulation. In some contexts vyapadesha may apply.

There are large books published by Government of India on the glossary of terms in Sanskrit translated from the newer English words. The Government of India has set-up a "Commission of Scientific and Technical Terminology" that publishes IT terminologies and technical and scientific terminologies in Hindi. Visit http://cstt.nic.in. Some of the files are not available but interested individual can purchase the books.

If you want to see Sanskrit words written in Devanagari (some call these "symbols") script (Sanskrit language), please use web-interface, or download freeware PC based program Itranslator99 or newer Itranslator2003 available at Omkarananda Ashram site http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html.

Many people ask us for suitable baby names. We do not have a database of names. We suggest you search the internet for such collection. Here are some sites with names and their meanings. We wish you good luck in selecting appropriate meanigful name.

India Parenting
Asian names. Check one page higher too.
India A2Z. Look for baby names tab on the right top.
Analysis of your name, what is in a name?, interesting information, try it out. Additional places are thinkbabynames.com, BabynamesGarden, babynamesworld.com, indiaexpress.com, sanskrit names ay babynames.net by BellyBallot and babyzone.com.

Here are a couple of Hindi translation services: BharatVani Translation Service at http://www.intelindia.com/hinditeacher/translation.html. Others are http://www.worldlingo.com/languages/hindi_translation.html, http://hindifast.websitelogic.com/wwwboard/messages/39.html, and http://www.hindifast.com/dictionary.html.

One individual asked if there are terminology available for words like breakfast, tea, snacks et cetera for use in the daily practice. Use Breakfast = prAtarAshaH . snacks = upAhAraH. There are conversational help files in learning_tools section on this site.

"""For New-Sanskrit, there are two books available
- N.D. Krishnamurthy et al., Conversational Sanskrit, Bangalore 1984
- S.S. Janaki, Spoken Sanskrit, Madras 1990, ISBN 81-85170-04-5

The book by Janaki is of higher quality than the one by Krishnamurthy. In the book of Janaki, you will find a lot of Sanskrit dialogues on modern topics such as movies, newpapers, office, politics etc. and you will even find a dialog about the tennis matches of J.Connors, B.Borg, J.McEnroe etc. etc. The interesting (and scholary) aspect of this book by Janaki is the fact that new vocabulary is divided into "derived" (from ancient texts) and "coined" (as Neo-Sanskrit), so that you can see what is attestable and what is an invention.

The most modern Neo-Sanskrit words are found in the comparatively new German-Sanskrit dictionary by Mylius, first published in 1988. Here you will find Sanskrit words for many things never used by the ancient people in India, e.g. Sanskrit words for "telephone" etc.""" Ulrich

One person asked for a message translation for his girlfriend who is supposed to be well versed in Sanskrit
To my dearest friend, You have touched my life in a way that I cannot express. You have touched my soul in a way that words cannot say. You will be with me always as I will be with you.
##he priyatama mitra, tvayaa mama jiivanaM spR^iShTam | tasya varNanaM shabdaiH na kartuM shaknomi | tvayaa mama jiivaH spR^iShTaH | tasya vachanaM shabdaiH na saMbhavaH | tvaM mayaa saha sadaiva bhaviShyasi yathaa ahaM tvayaa saha bhaviShyaami |##

Such questions and answers are very educational to volunteers who address replies on regular basis. However, it adds to the volume of messages-forwards-replies-clarification. Therefore we suggest that you first try to address them in different on-line and email forums: sanskrit-digest, subhaashhita egroup, indology (see groups.yahoo.com for rejuvenated group), advaita-L, mailgate, humanities.language.sanskrit, ambaa-L, dvaita, and alt.hindu (newsgroup not active any more).

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Q: I would like to send a monetary contribution to assist your efforts. Where can I send donations?

Thank you for considering us worthy of monetary help. There is a subhaashhita in Sanskrit

shateshhu jaayate shuuraH sahasreshhu cha pa.nDitaH |
vaktaa dashasahasreshhu daataa bhavati vaa na vaa ||

The hero is one in a hundred; the Pandit one in a thousand.
The orator is one in ten thousand, whilst the patron is rarer still.

You are certainly one of very few individuals interested in promoting Sanskrit related activities! :-)

There is a cost associated with any activity; the cost be it money, time, or physical-mental efforts, and it depends on what one values. It is not enough just to wish to promote such activities, or talk about India's glorious past, but must be followed by involvement at many levels.

For lack of time, some prefer to promote activities by contributing money. If you consider this option, please use support or write to sanskrit@cheerful.com for details about sending money with the amount you have in mind.

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Q: Can we copy contents of the sanskritdocuments site or any text?

It depends on how much, for what purpose, and also if you really care to know!
The intention of the site is to promote and to provide an avenue for you to learn Sanskrit and its literature for your own progress. There is no "per hit benefit" invoked. What we have on the site is miniscule compared with the available Sanskrit texts elsewhere and mentioned/linked in the scannedbooks page. We have only tried to place popular texts/stotras for everyone's user, searchable and printable. We try to avoid gathering texts only because they are available somewhere else or entering only because they have not been placed by someone online. There is unending treasure out there, and beneficial too, only if you maintain yourself to take reasonably that "Alibaba" in all of us allows!

Let us first know what you want and what you are using it for.

It is the contribution of volunteers that we value and would like to maintain that voluntary spirit. They have spent their time and energy mainly for the satisfaction of sharing. In our encoded document text files and unicode files, we try to give sources of the texts, whenver possible, (mainly old books, out of copyrights and/or sites with permission) and those who help in entering and proofreading with their permission. Your large-scale copying for your own promotion will be a disrespect to such volunteers.

There are some articles we came across that may help for proper understanding of the issue. 1) Web content plagiarism, 2) an appeal from Kamakotimandali, 3) copying illegal or unethical.

We have set up a page on the topic of Copying Problems faced by Sanskrit Documents announcing the misuse by certain sites.

We rely on the conscience of individuals who are using the contents of the site. We hope that you are going to use any text for your personal studies, to learn, and to teach. All texts are well archived and there is no need to fear of turning off access to the site or ask people to subscribe/register or to think of mirroring the site for preservation.

You cannot use any contents from sanskritdocuments.org if you intend

We know that the Wiki volunteers are building collection of Sanskrit documents on http://sa.wikisource.org which is useful for users interested in searching and copying from central place. These texts are in Devanagari unicode. Wiki group is also a non-profit undertaking and we expect many sites are going to make use of such freely available texts. For those people involved in , we urge that it will also be meritable to stay involved with the texts, own and study it, and take the responsibility in correcting texts to avoid incorrect text floating around.

When someone copies a text without acknowledging the source she/he is thereby putting an end to the proof-correction process, which is possible only if the readers would know whom to inform about the errors in the text.

We hope you do not turn out to be a "copy-paste Nobel laureate" for your "noble act" especially for your own non-educational benefits. We try to rely on karmic effects and influence and appeal to your conscience, understanding of netiquette, following of ethics, and sincerity in learning. We have a responsibility to protect morale of volunteers too!

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Q: Can we get Gurugita printed in Gujarati script?

Yes. There are a few avenues depending on the size of the text, output format, and your level of computer familiarity.

  1. web-interface allows text in different scripts of only one page display.
  2. You can install complete Itrans with tex LaTeX/MikTeX packages and stay independent in processing the documents in different scripts from the same input.

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Q: What does "siva" mean and how do you transcribe it in picture words into English?

This is a very "loaded" question. It was addressed elaborately using Monier William's dictionary explanation. Due to the length of the message it is kept in a separate file and is linked here.
Again, such questions sometimes require considerable searching, so we recommend that they be addressed to forums: sanskrit-digest, indology (see groups.yahoo.com for rejuvenated group), advaita-L, ambaa-L, dvaita, and alt.hindu (newsgroup not active any more).
hindumythology has an excellent explanation of such questions. It will be educational for you to spend time reading the question-answers at Why do we?

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Q: Do you know what the status is regarding OCR software for Devanagari script?

"Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is the machine recognition of characters in a document image, obtained by scanning printed text on paper. " There have been plenty of advancements as regards with OCR with high reliability for Devanagari, Tamil, Kannada, and other language scripts. Here ar some of the sites that are busy developing the required tools.

Goggle is spearheading project as Tesseract to provide OCR features in 200 languages! Get the details from Convert PDF and photo files to text and http://googleresearch.blogspot.com/2015/05/paper-to-digital-in-200-languages.html. See additional information, Google form posting mentions about a new OCR using tesseract-ocr-setup and gimagereader that is applicable for Hindi OCR. It will need modification to handle conjunts in Sanskrit. See also details of the tesseract-ocr project. Make use of the procedure given in ocr-using-tesseract-hindi-image-to-text-example on technovechno.com site. Specifically, login to your google drive, upload the pdf upto 20 pages and open it using Google docs. The recognized text will appear in the .doc file generated. ( One has to be watchful as at times the words are eaten away during the process.)

The Sanskrit Research Institute (SRI) at https://sri.auroville.org/about/ has a good interface for Online OCR. One just needs to upload or copy-paste an image in the slate provided. It handles only one image at a time.

There is a free online OCR (Optical Character Recognition) service at http://www.newocr.com/ that can "analyze the text in any image file that you upload, and then convert the text from the image into text that you can easily edit on your computer."

Professionally, there is the OCR for Indian Languages, including Sanskrit is developed by Oliver Hellwig, at http://www.indsenz.com with a link from http://www.sanskritreader.de/ . A demo version is given with limited features and full feature version can be purchased using Paypal. With generous donations by a few sponsors, the professional version has been handed over to many individuals across the globe.

  • VietOCR 5.0 alpha, Java and .NET GUI frontend for Tesseract 4.00alpha, is available for download at https://sourceforge.net/projects/vietocr/files/ Vietocr provides a user-friendly GUI interface to Tesseract OCR which has support for many Indian languages and scripts. Tesseract OCR 4.0alpha used by Vietocr5 uses LSTM neural networks technology and has much improved accuracy compared to previous version. Hindi OCR is very accurate and currently Hindi trained data gives better x results for Marathi and Sanskrit also. "Quan Nguyen" nguyenq87 at gmail.com is seeking feedback in order to improve it further for Indian languages.

    The Indian-Language Technologies has a major project for the Devanagari OCR (Optical Character Recognition) development. It is part of the Center of Excellence in Document Analysis and Recognition (CEDAR), at the State University of New York at Buffalo. The project is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF), US and the Indian Statistical Institute, Calcutta, India. A sample truthing tool is available for download with different samples of OCR. The output is generated in Itrans based text file. The effort is led by Dr. Venugopal Govindaraju.

    Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a versatile tool for a working model of OCR for Tamil , Kannada (monolingual) and bilingual (Tamil+Roman) script in the sfotware lab at Medical Intelligence and Language Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, IISC, Bangalore-560012 Ph: 080 22932556 / 080 22932935 Contact Pofessor A. G. Ramakrishnan for a copy of the software It is free use by any nonprofit organization for digitizing books for the visually challenged or any other social objectives, after a signed agreement. Please see details in the PDF paper.

    The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), India has also developed, among many excellent commercial products, an OCR called Chitrankan or at OCR research. The software is applicable currently to Devanagari with embedded English text and has potential for extension to other languages.

    Some work is also in progress at IIIT, Hyderabad. Currently these OCRs can handle texts available in computer-fonts only. So it can be useful for the old Sanskrit texts.

    Obviously there seem to be considerable difficulties.

    Marcis Gasunshas done a Sanskrit OCR Software Review which will help to get the details of existing OCR efforts (September 20, 2013).

    Many, like you, are eagerly waiting for the release of such technology. A reference. to Hindi OCR development
    http://www.computer.org/tpami/tp1999/i0179abs.htm
    http://www.mumbai-central.com/nukkad/archive1997/msg00277.html Prof. Srihari & colleagues have done a lot of research in this area.
    http://www.cedar.buffalo.edu/~taohong/WWW/PAPERS/ICCIMA97.pdf You may want to contact him for details.
    An attempt was made to develop Tibetan OCR at Bell laboratories. Please see Professor Kurt Keutzer's notes: Some Thoughts on Optical Character Recognition of Tibetan

    Consider finding more information in Language Technology Laboratory at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur site. There was a presentation on the topic of Devanagari OCR in Proceedings of Symposium on Translation Support Systems STRANS-2002.

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    Q: Why don't you use Unicode for display of Sanskrit documents?

    We have provided almost all the files in Unicode format. Please see the individual categories with UNIC selection for each text. Down side to the release is that certain sites that do not follow netiquette have started whole-sale copying and reposting of these files on their site to promote themselves.

    With so many "blog" sites available, one can generate a Unicode output using following writing pad sites. Almost all allow conversion or display in other Indian scripts. We prefer Aksharamukha site of Vinodh https://aksharamukha.appspot.com as that is well supported and Sanscript at http://www.learnsanskrit.org.

    There are others notable sites too.

    Use Google Translator for translation between various languages including Hindi. Try converting word Sanskrit.

    Unicode characters supporting Devanagari are available at
    http://czyborra.com/unicode/characters.html and a note at this site. A "FAQ of Indic Scripts and Languages" is available at http://www.unicode.org/faq/indic.html. See also http://www.unicode.org/~emuller/southasia/vedic. Several examples of Vedic symbols found in different manuscripts are compiled in vaidika-evidence.pdf
    A new mailing list has been formed on this subject. You can subscribe to it by writing to uniglyph-subscribe@egroups.com, and see their archive at http://www.egroups.com/group/uniglyph/.
    Also please contact Jost Gippert of Titus project and Dominik Wuzastyk of indology mailing list (see groups.yahoo.com for rejuvenated group) for more information.

    One useful link is http://www.tamil.net/people/sivaraj/unicode.html and the general newsgroups at mailgate, unicode.

    For Roman with diacritic marks, there is a table that shows how to map every CS/CSX+ character to Unicode (sometimes requires multiple Unicode characters). ftp://bombay.oriental.cam.ac.uk/pub/john/software/programs/ is the folder containing some utilities, ``csxp2ur.c'' is a C program that contains the table mapping. CSX+ itself is defined here: ftp://bombay.oriental.cam.ac.uk/pub/john/software/fonts/csx+/ in the CSX+.def file.

    The Unicode Standard 4.0 (2003) does not support accented Vedic texts. Only two Vedic accents were defined by the Unicode consortium, whereas approximate 50 Vedic accents/characters/svaras would be required for encoding the various Vedic texts. See Vedic Code Set (vedic.pdf) in http://tdil.mit.gov.in/pchangeuni.htm and 29 Samaveda accents listed in http://www.sanskritweb.de/sans99sv.pdf.

    The Unicode Standard 4.0, published in August 2003, page 219, stipulates: "The Unicode Standard remains a super-set of the ISCII-1991 repertoire except for a number of new Vedic extension characters defined in IS 13194:1991 Annex G.Extended Character Set for Vedic. Modern, non-Vedic texts encoded with ISCII-1991 may be automatically converted to Unicode code points."

    In October 2002, TDIL, India, submitted a draft concerning Vedic accents to the Unicode Consortion. This draft is documented in the file Vedic.pdf downloadable from the site http://tdil.mit.gov.in/pchangeuni.htm

    Yet the Unicode Consortium rejected completely this draft made by TDIL in 2003 for the new Unicode Standard 4.0 published in 2003. What is more: The Unicode Standard 4.0 expressly excludes Vedic characters as stated in above quotation.

    Question: If there are more than one Unicode fonts in your fonts system, is there any way to select one of your choice?

    Web browsers have a setting that says which font to use for which encoding. Firefox has ability to have different font for each language, in each encoding. Go to Tools -> Options -> Content, click on Advanced, and in there, for example, you can choose the encoding (Unicode in this case), and then the language ("Devanagari"), and select the correct Unicode font you want.

    In Internet Explorer, you can use Tools -> Internet Options, General tab, click on Font, and then select Language Script and font as needed.

    These techniques apply only when no font is defined in the web page - if the web page specifies "Arial Unicode MS", then that setting will always (most of the time!) be used...

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    Q: I would like to get a list of links of everything related to India?

    Emotions apart, this is a too general request and the best way is to use the many search-engines available on the Internet. http://education.vsnl.com/ has a fascinating index of links to organizations from India.

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    Q: I would like to attend camps to learn Sanskrit--where may I find information on these camps?

    Sanskrit Bharati organizes such camps, correspondence courses, intensive conversational courses and publishes related documents. Please write to the coordinators at distance learning with Samskrita Bharati.

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    Q: I have a blind friend interested in learning Sanskrit. Is there any material available in Braille?

    A: For those with visual deficiency, many efforts are being made in providing help in reading books in Indian languages using the Braille script.

    See some of the activities promoted for the blinds in videos prepared by Indian Association of Blind.

    There are many institutions supporting the cause of blind people, some among them can be found in google search with "institutes for blinds in India" and "National Association for the Blind, India," National Association of Blind, India, National Association for the Blind in Mumbai with Braille printing press, NAB in Himachal Pradesh, NAB, Karnataka, Netraheen_Vikas_Sansthan in Jodhpur, Rajasthan India, Rakum school for the bilnd in Bangalore, blind reief association, Delhi http://www.visuallychallenged.com/ and so on. The printing of Devanagari based books present problem of conjuncts and construction.

    Aadhyatmic Chetna Samiti has prepared several ancient spiritual books which are distributed freely among the blind personal institutions. So far, the following books are rendered in Braille script Sunder Kand (Ram Charit Manas Balmiki Ramayan), Hanuman Chalisa, Durga Chalisa, Stotra Piyusham, Prarthana and Arti Sudha, Vaidik Sandhya, Guru Geeta, Hari Geeta (2 volume), Lalit Sahasra Naam, Vishnu Sahastra Naam, Shiv Sahasranaam, Shree Krishna Chalisa, Adityahridayastotram, Astlaxmistotram, Sreemad Bhagvat Geeta (3 volume), (Sanskrit-Hindi, Sanskrit-English). The Samiti has established the Bank of Braille Books, CD and Audio Cassettes and thereby providing Braille Books CD and Audio Cassettes Free of cost. Samiti relies on the donation their established centers. The center is established by Swami Rambhadracharya who has also founded the Jagadguru_Rambhadracharya_Handicapped_University. The Samiti has outlined a systematic and reasonable requirements for their needs.

    Additionally, these are listed as "Braille" producers in India. The list was prepared a while ago so they need to be verified.

    Blind Relief Assoc.
    Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg (near Hotel Oboroi)
    110003 New Delhi
    India
    +91 11-436 1376 v
    
    S.S.S.B.PUBLICATIONS,    
    MR SUHAS LELE, C/O M/s 
    M-A/43,1ST FLOOR, 
    NR. ASHIANA TRADE CENTER,
    ADITYAPUR, JAMSHEDPUR:832109,(JHARKHAND STATE),
    INDIA   
    TEL. No. :91-657-3130388,91-657-3110814,91-712-3115508.    
    Email:  sss_bp2002@rediffmail.com 
    http://www.geocities.com/suhas_lele2002/orderform.html
    
    Rashtriya Drishtibaditarth Sansthan Bharat
    116 Rajpur Rd
    248 001 Dehradun
    India
    +91 135-24491 v
    +95 135-29944 f
    
    Blind Men's Association
    Dr Vikram Sarabhai Rd. Vastrapur
    380 015 Ahmedebad Gujarat
    India
    +91 79-440082 v
    +91 79-448106 f
    
    National Assoc for the Blind
    11 Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan Rd Worli Seaface
    400 025 Bombay
    India
    +91 22-493 5370 v
    +91 22-493 2539 f
    
    Society for the Visually Handicapped
    Apt 1B,12 Dover Rd.
    700 019 Calcutta W. Bengal
    India
    +91 33-475 9581 v
    +91 33-243 0787 f
    
    B.K. Rath; Braille Press Project
    City Hospital Road
    760001 Berhampier Orissa
    

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    Q: I would like to purchase the very best in Hindu Devotional, Meditation, Chants, etc. Would you please direct me to other sources where I may purchase these?
    I am looking for places where I can find English translation and meanings for the wonderful Rudram Mantram.

    We do not have a list of such sites as it is easier to do a search on the internet. Meanwhile you can browse some audios at:
    on-line Sanskrit audio links
    http://www.koelmusic.com/
    http://www.neelam.com/devotional.htm
    http://www.saigan.com/ under Heritage.
    On the lighter, lokasa.ngraha side, the greetings sending feature at http://www.123greetings.com/, dgreetings.com, hindunet.org, ganeshchatrurthi.net, happydurgapuja.com, rakshabandhan.net, rakhi-greetings.com, ganeshchaturthi.net/, 101holidays.com, and dharmachintan (by Shri Stephen Knapp) may interest you in addition to the audio. Some of these greetings are sorted by religion, festivals, and deities.

    A set of interesting screensavers and wallpapers are available at 1, 3, 4.

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    Q: Would it be possible to identify 2001 Sanskrit/Vedic words which can be popularized and inserted into English vocabulary?

    Although one can easily come up with such a list, we have to find a purpose for doing it. It is easy to get carried away in the talk of "glorious vedic past" than implement the ideas in present conditions. There is a danger in "promoting" superficial understanding of our ancestors, how they lived, and the thoughts they carried out through verbal and written exchanges. Words convey ideas so if the ideas, which are written in Sanskrit, are conveyed, the words would come automatically, or need not be followed. If it promotes healthy transformation then it is acceptable and nurturing to individuals, but most of the time the zeal degenerates into mere outwardly "conversion" process.

    The vocabulary has its own dynamism and has to follow its own course of assimilation into languages. So if the 2001 words are followed or portrayed with 2001 ideas with extended meanings, it will be a revolutionary undertaking. It will then be easier to circulate for others to judge.

    As a reference, let us begin with a list with existing English words which can be identified to originate from Sanskrit. We will polish the list later with your input:

    karma; guruu; pundita; yoga; raajaa; aarya; svastika; raaj (from raajya but raaj in hindi); dharma; jungle (from ja.ngala); buddha (although many mistakenly pronounce it as buDDhaa which in Hindi is a very old person!); nirvaaNa; juggernaut (jagganath).

    Refer to two 1, 2) articles titled "Guru in English" by Saurin Desai on the influence of Sanskrit on English. He elaborates on the Sanskrit words which are commonly used in English: Mandala, Svastika, Guru, Yoga, Dharma, Arya, Ashram, Pundit, Kamasutra, Nirvana, Avatar, Mantra, Chakras, Singapore, Mandarin, Musk, Juggernaut, Cheetah, Bandana, Chintz, Loot et cetera.

    The words mentioned above are what are called "loaned" words. Some others are "obliquely" related and we will need help from etymologists: mind to mana, man to manu, father to pitR^i, mother to maatR^i, brother to bhraatR^i, riti to ritual, ambrosia to amR^ita, three to tri, sept in september to sapta, oct to octa or ashhTa, dec in december deca to dasha (some scholars relate the months starting from March as original first month related to Vernal Equinox or Jyotish calendar with first month chaitra being in March. With this start, the 7th month is September, eighth is October, tenth is December et cetera. The current popular calendar, termed as Christian, changed the sequence, however), sugar to sharkaraa, medium ro madhyam, and so on.

    Read articles on Sanskrit Puns by Richard Stoney (or here) of Orleans, CA. Some of the articles include "Sambacus, Etymology and Ethnobotany," "Gulliver's Travels and its Sanskrit Puns," "Sources of the Word Yahoo," "English Words derived from Sanskrit," "Hindu Linguistical Influence in Northern Europe: 1200-1600" and more. Also available is A theory that some English words are actually Sanskrit-like and English Words You Speak from Sanskrit.

    As Latin is closely related to Sanskrit, English words originated from Latin may find a "cousin" in Sanskrit.

    The following sites are useful:

    • http://www.angelfire.com/ma/vivekananda/sanscrit.html or its mirror http://sanskrit.onweb.cx/
    • http://www.consultsos.com/pandora/intro.htm
    • http://www.takeourword.com/. See Issue092.html for interesting article by Melanie and Mike.
    • Comparison made between Sanskrit and Latvian. Also read 1, 2, 3.

      Some additional words are

      Root Sanskrit Word
      Median Word in Latin(L) / Greek(G) / Arabic(A)
      Derived English Word
      Gau (meaning Cow) Bous (G) Cow
      Matr (meaning Mother) Mater (L) Mother
      Jan (meaning Generation) Genea (G) Gene
      Aksha (meaning Axis) Axon (G) Axis
      Navagatha (meaning Navigation) Navigationem (L) Navigation
      Sarpa (meaning Snake) Serpentem (L) Serpent
      Naas (means Nose) Nasus (L) Nose
      Anamika (means Anonymous) Anonymos (G) Anonymous
      Naama (means Name) Nomen (L) Name
      Manu (means First Human) ?? Man/Men/Human
      Ashta (meaning Eight) Octo (L) Eight
      Barbara (meaning Foreign) Barbaria (L) Barbarian
      Dhama (meaning House) Domus (L) Domicile
      Danta (meaning Teeth) Dentis (L) Dental
      Dwar (meaning Door) Doru Door
      Dasha (meaning Ten) Deca (G) Deca
      Madhyam (meaning Medium) Medium (L) Medium
      Kaal (meaning Time) Kalendae (L) Calendar
      Kri (meaning To Do) Creatus (L) Create
      Mishra (meaning Mix) Mixtus (L) Mix
      Ma (meaning Me/My) Me (L) Me
      Pithr (meaning Father) Pater (L) Father
      Bhrathr (meaning Brother) Phrater (G) Brother
      Loka (meaning Place) Locus (L) Locale
      Maha (meaning Great) Magnus (L) Mega
      Mala (meaning Dirt/Bad) Malus (L) Mal as in Malicious, Malnutrition, Malformed etc
      Makshikaa (meaning Bee) Musca (L) (Meaning Fly) Mosquito
      Mrta (meaning Dead) Mortis (L) Murder
      Na (meaning No) Ne No
      Nakta (meaning Night) Nocturnalis (L) Nocturnal
      Paad (meaning Foot) Pedis (L) Ped as in Pedestrial, Pedal etc
      Pancha (meaning Five) Pente (G) Penta, Five
      Parah (meaning Remote) Pera (G) Far
      Patha (meaning Path) Pathes (G) Path
      Raja / Raya (meaning King) Regalis (L) Royal
      Sama (meaning Similar) Similis (L) Similar
      Sapta (meaning Seven) Septum (L) Seven
      Sharkara (meaning Sugar) Succarum Sugar / Sucrose
      Smi (meaning Smile) Smilen (L) Smile
      SthaH (meaning Situated) Stare (L) (meaning To Stand) Stay
      Svaad (meaning Tasty) Suavis (L) Sweet
      Tha (meaning That) Talis (L) That
      Tva (meaning Thee) Dih Thee
      Vachas (meaning Speech) Vocem (L) Voice
      Vahaami (meaning Carry) Vehere (meaning to Carry) (L) Vehicle
      Vama / Vamati (meaning Vomit) Vomere (L) Vomit
      Vastr (meaning Cloth) Vestire (L) Vest
      Yauvana (meaning Youth) Juvenilis (L) Juvenile
      Narangi (meaning Orange) Naranj Orange
      Pippali (meaning Pepper) Piperi (G) Pepper
      Chandana (meaning Sandalwood) Santalon (G) Sandalwood
      Chandra (meaning Moon) Candela (L) (meaning light / torch) Candle
      Chatur (meaning Four) Quartus (L) Quarter
      Shunya (meaning Zero) Cipher (A) Zero
      a (prefix meaning .not. ex: gochara . agochara) a (L)(G) (prefix meaning .not.) a (prefix meaning .not. ex: theiest-atheist
      an (prefix meaning .not. ex: avashya . anavashya) un (L)(G) (prefix meaning .not.) un (prefix meaning .not. ex: do-undo
      Arjuna (meaning Charm of Silver) Argentinum (L) Argentinum . Scientific Name of Silver
      Nava (meaning New) Novus (L) Nova . New
      Kafa (meaning Mucus) Coughen Cough
      Mithya (meaning Lie) Mythos (G) Myth
      Thri (meaning Three) Treis (G) Three
      Mush (meaning Mouse) Mus (L) Mouse
      Maragadum (meaning Emerald) Smaragdus (L) Emerald
      Ghritam (meaning Ghee) ?? Ghee
      Srgalah (meaning Jackal) Shagal (Persian) Jackal
      Nila (meaning Dark Blue) Nilak (Persian) Lilac
      Srgalah Shagal (Persian) Jackal
      Man (Ma as in Malaysia) (meaning Mind) Mens (L) Mind
      Upalah (meaning Precious Stone) Opalus (L) Opal
      Vrihis (meaning Rice) Oriza (L) Rice
      Upalah (meaning Precious Stone) Opalus (L) Opal 
      

    Please send your input/words to sanskrit@cheerful.com.

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    Q: Do you have any info on the development of a parser for Sanskrit?

    Dr. Vineet Chaitanya [ vc@iiit.net ] is leading a group of developers. Some of his work is reflected at URL:
    http://anu.tdil.gov.in/introduction.sureKa/anu_flyer.txt.html The most recently updated web material on anusaaraka at
    http://tdil.mit.gov.in/download/desika/desika.htm and
    http://tdil.mit.gov.in/download/shabdhabodha/shabdhabodha.html and to his earlier book on NLP for languages in India which he co-authored with Akshar Bharati and Rajeev Sangal (i.e. Natural Language Processing: A Paninian Perspective, Prentice-Hall of India, 1995) The tdil.gov.in site may be slow or down as it may not support 24 hours access.

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    Q: Is there a program on Unix to obtain Devanagari output in WYSIWIG manner?

    Emacs supports the Devanagari script and other languages from India. See www.gnu.org for the details. Otherwise the Itrans processor with LaTeX is portable to Unix/Linux and one can generate displays in postscript/PDF formats.

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    Q: Why don't you provide English translations of the Sanskrit Documents?

    Some of the documents carry translations in English. Most of these are provided by volunteers. We have also provided links to different sites where such translations are available, keeping us away from copyright issues. We do not encourage encoding "copyrighted" translations from printed books published by various religious organizations and publishing houses. They have done commendable work and our intention is only to provide the texts in Devanagari format with provision to do word searches from the encoded material.

    For your information, there is an excellent discussion available on the Indology site about "myths of copyright".

    Please see the following sites for translations of some of the documents. Investindia.com appears to be discontinued.

    Mantras are not to be translated but should be "earned" from a qualified teacher, and by sincerity and practice. If you are interested in any, please search and find that suits you. For example, see http://www.shivashakti.com/, http://www.vatikashaktipeeth.com/, Mantras and meanings, Syllables and their mystical meanings, http://www.sanatansociety.org/ Mantras and Mystery of Initiation and so on.

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    Q: When I opened a file everything is coming in different script, though i have many Devanagari fonts on my computer.
    How can I install a True Type font for viewing language scripts from India?

    Every font has a different keyboard mapping so it does not matter what fonts you have. If you viewed or copied/pasted the XDVNG display output in Word, you need the XDVNG font, which is available in https://sanskritdocuments.org/processing_tools/. Download the xdvng.ttf font file and save it in your c:\windows\fonts\ or such folder and restart the browser. The instructions are elaborated below.

    Different formats of the files and their viewers are listed in https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_9_formats.html, ,for example, the .pdf file needs Acrobat reader, .ps file needs Ghostview/Ghostscript combination.

    You may like Itranslator which has nicecr fonts and better control for your Word output. You will need to use the encoded portion of ITX/TXT file and treat it as in input in Itranslator. Try it out. The software is available at http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html.

    There are installation instructions for the XDVNG fonts in the procecssing_tools folder.

    In general, to install a true type font on Windows95/98

    • Start by downloading the .ttf font file to a convenient folder (e.g. download)
    • Next, select [Start]--[Settings]--[Control Panels] and open the [Fonts] folder by double-clicking it. When the [C:\Windows \Fonts] window comes up, click on [File], and click on [Install New Font...]
    • In the [Add Fonts] dialog box that will appear, select the drive letter and folder where you placed the truetype font file (.ttf). After a moment the font will appear in the [List of Fonts] window. 
    • Click on it to select it, then Click the [OK] button to install the font. After a moment, the font will be installed in Windows and will be available to any Windows program under the font name.

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    Q: Where can I find complete Mahabharata text/verse?

    There are two versions of Mahabharata online. There is one Kumbhagonam edition and another a critical edition of Mahabharatar. The critical edition was originally published by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) and was encoded by Professor Tokunaga of Japan. It was further edited and processed by Prof. John Smith of UK and Shree Devi Kumar. BORI holds copyright on the text. Both the versions are available in Devanagari as well as other language scripts' display
    https://sanskritdocuments.org/mirrors/mahabharata/ . Also explore other links from https://sanskritdocuments.org/sites/, especially giirvaani.

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    Q: How can I write my name in Sanskrit?
    I want to tattoo my daughter's name on my arm, can you write her name in Sanskrit?
    I want to use Sanskrit letters in an art form. I need large size Sanskrit letters.

    You can use following interfaces to generate Devanagari script of your name: web-interface, Vinay Jain's HiTrans on giitaayan.com, Sanscript, aksharamukha online tools or install an excellent PC-Windows freeware available at Omkarananda Ashram sites at http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html or Baraha is another non-Itrans based software tool. See others listed on this page. These software allow to write Devanagari letters with control over the letter size and have well devloped publishing quality fonts. It is also very easy to install them. Many fine artists and tattoo artists have used these, although for a Sanskrit student this practice appears odd.

    For offline use to generate Devanagari text (Marathi Hindi Sanskrit), try https://nityin.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/google-offline-typing-tool-for-indian-languages/ http://www.vishalon.net/Download.aspx http://innolea.com/transliteration-typing-tools-for-hindi-regional-indian-languages/6766

    Ubuntu-Linux has IBUS suitable to edit texts offline in various Indic fonts. Here are instructions to install and use it

    1. Install ibus-m17n from the Software Center.
    2. Add language(s) from the Settings - eg Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi (and 50+) - + choice of devanagari, itrans, IAST, HK, phonetic
    3. Log out, and Re-log in.
    4. Open any editor - eg gedit, Libre Office Writer.
    5. Choose Input from the drop-down language icon in Menu bar
    6. Press Control+Space, and type after choosing font, etc.

      Google Input Tools for Windows is currently available for 22 different languages: Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Persian, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Sinhala, Tamil, Telugu, Tigrinya and Urdu. (June 2015) More than one language of input tools can be installed on the same client machine.

      There are commercial sites performing tattoo design with Sanskrit Devanagari script for a fee, such as Scott Jones' Tattoo by design in UK or Jaydeep's onlinetattootranslations in Chennai, India, or Vince Hemingson's vanishingtattoo, Vivek Kumar's 2indya.com et cetera. Kiran's freetranslationblog is also available for free translation of words/sentences and follows a voluntary spirit. All consider different languages and art forms. http://www.sanskrittattoo.info/ is very informative site and has many examples listed. There are other sites to mention : authenticsanskrittattoos.com, Sanskrit Tattoos at at pinterest, 1, 2, 3, 4, Saad's gallery, Spiritual and Sanskrit Tattoos, spiritual-tattoos, et cetera.

      There are various opinions about tattooing. The discussion about tattooing with Devanagari script came in sharp focus due to the tattoo of David Beckham's wife's name Victoria. Phonetically, the tattoo is correct, unless Britishers pronounce Vi as in "we". The distinction in the sound "we" (wicket, wicked, wish) should be made with "v" (vindicate, vital, viscous, similar to wheat, white). (In contrast, "ve" in Veda is pronounced and written as "way" and not "ve" as in vendetta.) Listen to an audio of the name Victoria and see the pronunciation guide. The discussion about its incorrectness at different sites such as beckham-magazine or audarya is out of ignorance and mainly because many Hindi speakers refuse to accept the conjunct w+h as v in their pronunciation. It is true that there is no word in Hindi staring with the conjunct, but Devanagari script, with its phonetic base, is much more powerful and allows pronunciations more than that of a Hindi speaker.

      The discussion apart, we would like you to be more aware of the art form, and to express yourself and your image through a tattoo. See the sites for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, et cetera. The question as why Devanagari tattoo (which is mostly meant as tattooed text in Devanagari script not Sanskrit, as Sanskrit or Hindi is a language and not a script)

      1. Please consider the pros and cons of your choice for a tattoo as it is hard to erase. See a site. Read 5 things to check. There is a Sanskrit tattoo artist reference with name, site, and contact information. Here is a list of Common Errors.
      2. One infamous example of how a less knowledgeable person can cause problem can be seen at Wrong Sanskrit Tattoos. Marcos Carvalho, who knows little Sanskrit, in fact almost does not know it but sells Sanskrit translations. A friend, also from Brazil, commented, "He is not exactly a good guy... Thanks to him there are lots of people here showing mispelled sanskrit phrases or names on their bodies."
      3. The Sanskrit word meanings are not unique and it depends on the context, e.g. love, peace may mean different to different people. The translator may have his flaws in providing the translation. World peace is also a fiction or a belief.
      4. Understanding the real purpose of what you want to do will help.
      5. We hope that the tattoo in Devanagari will lead you to learn Sanskrit and study its literature as well.

      Please let us know links, information, and details of additional tools you have come across by writing to (sanskrit at cheerful dot c om).

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      Q: Are there Android and Apple iSO applications (Apps) for learning Sanskrit?

      There are plenty of well prepared applications for learning Sanskrit. Many of the links are given in the learning tools section and not given here to avoid duplication. Please check up on this link searching for "Android and iPhone Applications (Apps) for learning Sanskrit" in the end.

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      Q: I am looking for place, within a reasonable distance from my hometown, that offers an introductory course in Sanskrit. Do you have any suggestions?
      Can you send a list of organizations that offer correspondence courses?

      For serious studies, please consult Gudrun Bhnemann's Sanskrit studies list for Worldwide Universities and institutions offering Sanskrit courses and another at Sanskrit and Indological research institutes in India.

      There are other places where correspondence courses are offered. Some of them are

      The Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, National Sanskrit Establishment, Department of Education, Government of India's site has many links to the organizations and individuals who are instrumental in promoting Sanskrit in India.

      In addition, the following information will be useful:

      Download/or-read-online Charles Wikner's tutorial available at
      https://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/index.html This brings you upto the level of being able to read Monier Williams' dictionary.

      Master Sanskrit Easily written and presented by Dr. Narayan Kansara of Ahmedabad. This is an extensive 301 page tutorial and is well formatted for two sided booklet printing. The entire text is in Roman with Diacritics. Its details are summarized in the Preface text file. Get the PDF files as Title, Parts 1, 2, and 3.

      aravindAshrame sa.nskR^itam at http://sanskrit.sriaurobindoashram.org.in/ is a site for various online display and audio of Sanskrit tutorials, magazine from Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry. The publications can be ordered from SABDA, Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry - 605 002, India. For Ordering Information http://www.sabda.in.

      Other tutorials are at

      You may also want to take a Sanskrit text and study it word by word.

      Many useful self-study tutorials are linked from learning tools of this site.

      Following links cover distance learning / correspondence courses / personal coaching / colleges and universities for Sanskrit studies

    7. Following are useful books for self study It is important for you to commit for the life long studies rather than just taking a course or reading tutorials, here and there.

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      Q: When I see an html format file with XDVNG fonts I see garbled text although I do have XDVNG installed on my Windows system. Why is that?

      Q: Why do I see the xdvng html page with spaces between the text?

      In your web browser, check if the [User Defined] category in [Menu]/[View]/[Encoding] on Internet Explorer browser, and [Menu]/[View]/[Character Set] on Netscape browser, is selected. If it is not, select it. You may have to check it each time that the characters get displayed wrongly!

      Some of the .html files are coded with .pfr portion which does not require such menu selection, but we have found that on some computers it does not work. The menu selection is hence reliable method.

      Many ask us about the keyboard map of the XDVNG font. We do not have keyboard layout for XDVNG since the text is not directly entered using the fonts. Search the elemental typefaces which resembles the character map of the font. Character map is Windows feature and is often executed with [Start]/[Run] and type charmap. If this does not activate it, you will need to install it from Windows installation CD.

      For those keen on using Internet explorer, may find that the html/XDVNG text displays improperly. The displayed texts show blank spaces arbitrarily and gets harder to read. Ulrich Stiehl has modified the original Xdvng.ttf font to take care of font display bugs of Microsoft's faulty Internet Explorer 5.5, 6.0 inserting "random spaces" into html files. The modified fonts are available in ht processing_tools_fonts section. The changes are not uniformly applied to all the files and reader is requested to download and edit the html file with XDVNG letters changed to XDVNGmod and redisplay. The new Xdvng font versions are not needed for other browsers, as the "random spaces" bug is specific to Internet Explorer, but it does not harm to use the new Xdvng fonts with other browsers.

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      Q: Why don't you include Kannada Tamil, Telugu documents on your site in the other languages category? How can one enter texts in different language scripts?

      We already have Sanskrit documents displayed in many language scripts. Select language of your choice by the right most item in the drop down menu at https://sanskritdocuments.org/.

      Google Input Tools and Google Indic Keyboard App are popular ways to enter indic texts. They allow audio to text conversion with good accuracy.

      Good tools are available at https://aksharamukha.appspot.com and http://learnsanskrit.org/tools/sanscript which allow to generate or convert texts in your favorite language script.

      This site transliterates from one Indian Unicode Script to another and English. One can transliterate Sanskrit documents to English, Gujarati, Punjabi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada etc. If a Stotra is typed into one of the Unicode languages, it can be easily converted into another as above.

      https://rajbhasha.net allows online Hindi Unicode typing with voice. There is an App that can be downloaded and installed for offline use.

      In addition, you may want to explore the following links:
      http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~kulki/kannada/kanindex.html There is an excellent package to generate Kannada and Devanagari texts at http://www.baraha.com/ For Tamil, use Tamil1, Tamil2.

      For Telugu, use Telugu1. Telugu stotras are available at http://www.stotralahari.com.

      Also, get the scanned books from the older Digital Library of India sites linked from with hundreds of scanned books.

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      Q: The site seems to be directed to those who already know something about Sanskrit and are pursuing the serious study of it. However, I find no introduction to the language, no history, no discussion of the grammar and syntax nor any discussion of its relation to other Indo-European (or other) languages.

      To remove the misconception, please see the following tutorial by Charles Wikner and links to other tutorials given above which are useful entries for a beginner.

      Charles Wikner's tutorial
      https://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/index.html

      Other Sanskrit tutorials are listed above.

      There are some excellent articles available at American Sanskrit Institute along with study guides and audio/graphic courses.

      Please see a short List of Words Common to Indo European languages. A collection of articles related to Antecedents of Sanskrit Language is available at Hinduwebsite.com. It includes relation of Greek, English, Latin and other European languages with Sanskrit. There is also a www.Hindu-Forum.org that can give additional links.

      We have not been able to get enough information about the language history, grammar et cetera. We have made a list of projects at https://sanskritdocuments.org/ but have only had occasional response from the contributors. Some of the information might be covered on other sites. Thanks for your note so as we can think of how we can add or link the material you have mentioned.

      It may also be useful to look at the dictionaries at most visited page https://sanskritdocuments.org/dict/.

      There is a list of Sanskrit Bloggers prepared in General Sanskrit links page which cover subjects related to current events and are simpler than scholarly articles. Some special links are included in a separate blog https://sanskritlinks.blogspot.com.

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      Q: Can you pursue a separate project on "Sanskrit & computer science"?

      We have very limited information on this topic. We would certainly like to have the details as a subgroup on the topic of Sanskrit and computer science. Dr. Vinoy is going to provide some additional information.

      Dr. Vineet Chaitanya is active in Hyderabad, IIIT (information technology). Prof. R. Kalyanakrishnan is at (rkk@acharya.iitm.ac.in) IITMadras who has developed multilingual software at
      http://acharya.iitm.ac.in/ They have a page on Linguistics and Computation

      We found couple of useful articles at Bharat Bhasha homepage related to Computer and languages from India. Another mentionable work in computational linguistics is of Dr. Girish Nath Jha and his students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi, India.

      Here is an addition from Dr. Vineet Chaitanya of IIIT, Hyderabad: As far as our group is concerned, we have been emphasizing role of Sanskrrit Shastras and not of the Sanskrit language as such. We have presented some information in a book "Natural Language Processing: A Paninian Perspective," Akshar Bharati, Vineet Chaitanya, Rajeev Sangal, Prentice-Hall of India, 1995.

      Dr. Rajeev Sangal is coordinating the project. He is the Director of Language Technologies Research Center (L.T.R.C) at I.I.I.T Hyderabad. His E-mail address is sangal@iiit.net

      There has not been any M.Tech project on much desired `sandhi viccheda'. Mrs. Amba Kulkarni has done her M.Tech project on building a bridge on Navya-Nyaaya and FirstOorder Predicate calculus under Prof. Sangal's supervision at I.I.T. Kanpur.

      No significant work has been done on `samaasa vigraha' either, in our group except some observations and notes by Prof. K.V. Ramkrishnamachayulu.

      At I.I.T. Kanpur Dr. D.K.Jha was the only one Sanskrit scholar in the project staff. There was a joint project with Central University of Hyderabad and I.I.T. Kanpur on anusaaraka (an approach for a kind of Machine Translation among languages from India, the inspiration for which was derived from Paninian insight).

      Now at L.T.R.C./I.I.I.T. we do have a number of Sanskrit post graduates working with us as a part of two year training program in which we try to identify the concepts from Sanskrit Shastras which may be relevant for current research and developement work in Natural Language Processing. Rashtriya Sanskrita Vidyapeetha, Tirupati has deputed Prof. K.V. Ramkrishnamachayulu for this activity. Dr. G. Umamaheshvar Rao of Central University Hyderabad is also participating in this work.

      From Vineet Chaitanya.

      IIT Kanpur organizes Symposium on Translation Support Systems (STRANS 2002) which may add to this information Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur India Feb 24-26, 2002 http://www.cse.iitk.ac.in/strans.html

      Some of the broad level topics
      of interest to the symposium are listed below:
      
      * Translation Strategies
      - Rule based/Knowledge based
      - Example/Corpus based
      - Hybrid
      - English to Indian-languages
      - Indian-Languages to English
      - MAT, MAHT, HAMT
      - Pre and Post-editing needs and techniques
      * Word-net
      * Lexical Data-base Creation and Management
      * Morphological Analyzers
      * Cross-Lingual Information Retrieval
      * NLP Grammar
      * Correction of Ill-formed Sentences
      * Corpus Analysis, Tagging
      * Parallel Corpus Analysis, Statistical Dictionary
      * Front-end Systems
      - OCR
      - Speech
      - Coding schemes (ISCII, Unicode)
      - Other Interfaces
      
      * Back-end Systems
      - Speech
      - Display, Printing, Formatting
      - Fonts
      
      * Web Based Applications
      * Aids for Document Creation
      - Spell checkers
      - Thesaurus, Terminology aids
      - Grammatical aids
      - Editing software
      
      * Transliteration Among Indian-Scripts
      - Indian-Scripts to English
      - English to Indian-Scripts
      
      * Societal Aspects
      * Ergonomic Aspects
      
      
      General Chairs
      
      S.G. Dhande,Director IIT Kanpur
      Om Vikas, MIT, Delhi
      
      Program Committee  Chair
      R.M.K.Sinha, IIT Kanpur (E-mail: rmk@iitk.ac.in)
      
      STRANS 2002
      Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering
      IIT Kanpur-208016 (INDIA)
      Fax: (+91-512)-590725
      Phone: (+91-512)- 597174 / 597642
      

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      Q: I would like to undertake a Sanskrit related project. Could you provide a list?

      Please see a comprehensive list of projects. We also have made a list of pending items to help volunteers choose from our immediate needs. Please email us at sanskrit@cheerful.com to ask for the status of these projects if you are willing to pursue one. We have been successful in finding only handful of volunteers who have committed to a project on long term basis. We hope that you will have time and interest to look into this list carefully and will consider participating. If you are serious about volunteering, we recommend that you copy the form and send us the information over email. Additional help is available here.

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      Q: Why are there so many types of display formats?
      What do the ITX, PS, PDF acronyms mean?
      How should I view the Sanskrit documents?

      The purpose of various formats is to allow viewers from different computer platforms and browsers to see Devanagari text. A list of formats, their explanation, and links to viewers is give here. To have complete capability to view documents in any format, we suggest that you install

      • Itranslator99 or newer Itranslator2003. This is to view encoded text files, marked ITX or TXT. ITX files are used as input to Itrans processor to generate Devanagari documents.
      • Ghostscript and Ghostview postscript viewer from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/index.html. Download and install gs601w32.exe and gsv31w32.exe from http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/aladdin/get601.html Depending on the version, please modify the numbers 601 and 31 in these links. These will allow you to get a good display as well as a sharp printout. Get XDVNG fonts to view HTML display documents.
      • Acrobat Reader to view documents in PDF format.

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      Q: What is the Itrans scheme and how is it different than Itrans or Itranslator software?
      How do you get files in different formats once the text is encoded in Itrans scheme?

      Itrans or ITRANS is a freeware program developed by Avinash Chopde, initially to fulfill wishes of Hindi songs enthusiasts to exchange Hindi songs over email (ASCII) and have them processed to display in Devanagari script on any browser. It subsequently encompassed other language scripts as suitable fonts were freely available. It is mainly a processor which takes help of TeX/LaTeX capabilities to generate postscript files as display.

      The scheme used to enter the Devanagari or other scripts is known as Itrans scheme. A sample table is given here. Please see a concise table showing ITRANS encoding for all supported languages and fonts or documents with detailed transliteration map for each language separately from Avinash Chopde's ITRANS site.

      Avinash has also built a PC based commercial software in collaboration with Shreekrishna Patil. Mr. Patil, a wirey-firey 80+  aged youth, has prepared fonts for almost all language scripts from India.

      Recently, two devoted Swami-s (monks) of Omkarananda Ashram of Rishikesh, India, developed a PC based freeware to generate WYSIWYG text in Devanagari using the same input scheme. The software is known as Itranslator99 or newer Itranslator2003 and is available at Omkarananda Ashram sites http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html, http://www.geocities.com/omkarananda/ or http://www.omkarananda-ashram.org/Sanskrit/Itranslt.html and is an excellent addition if you have a PC with Windows.

      Coming to the question of preparing documents from ASCII text, A file with extension .txt, having the encoded text, is prepared with first two lines for English and Devanagari titles, and ## to complete Devanagari mode. The text is subsequently passed through the following process.

      .txt -----> .itx -----> .tex -----> .dvi -----> .ps -----> .gif
            |            ^           ^           ^        |----> .pdf
      .inf -+            |           |           |        PSTOGIF
      .hdr -+            |           |           |        PSTOPDF
                         |           |           |
                      ITRANS       LATEX       DVIPS
      
      Volunteers who enter the text in .txt file either using any editor or Itranslator editor are requested to proofread the document using postscript file.

      Although the above process generates displayable documents for on-line purpose, the output is not useful for Windows/MS Word based programs. The output from Itranslator however can be cut and pasted in MSWord or so to reformat the display.

      Couple of popular online conversion tools for many Indian language scripts are http://learnsanskrit.org/tools/sanscript/ Sanscript and https://aksharamukha.appspot.com/ Aksharamukha.

      For offline use to generate Devanagari text (Marathi Hindi Sanskrit), try https://nityin.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/google-offline-typing-tool-for-indian-languages/ http://www.vishalon.net/Download.aspx http://innolea.com/transliteration-typing-tools-for-hindi-regional-indian-languages/6766

      There are other options available at Sparshabhumi site under the category Devanagari & other languages scripts.

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      Q. Where can I purchase audio-video CD/DVD/cassettes for learning Sanskrit?

      Following are some of the resources regarding audio-visual presentation for Sanskrit learning. This is given only as a reference and does not indicate endorsement of any sort. However, we like to promote them by presenting here as it makes the learning experience modern and possibly easier based on previous background. There is no subsitute for hard work when learning and understanding Sanskrit is concerned.

      1) Samskrita Bharati has released a set of two CDs useful for the continued learning of Sanskrit by both beginner and advanced students. Please see http://www.samskrita-bharati.org/. To buy this multimedia learning tool, send a check for $40 along with your name, address, phone number and email ID to

            Learn Samskritam CDs
            Samskrita Bharati
            4204 Latimer Avenue
            San Jose, CA 95130 
      Contact Govinda Rao for additional information.

      2) Another CD is available from Manikarnika Srinivasan at a nominal cost about $20. The CD comes with a Sanskrit font called "MUDRIKA" and has about 5000 sound clips for the words and alphabet pronounciation. It has alphabet animation , topics on grammar - Sandhi, Samaasa. Shabhas, Verb, a small dictionary etc. His contact information is

            M.Srinivasan
            16 WestWood Ave
            Stony Brook, NY 11790.
            Tel - 631-233-6760

      3) A substantial amount of information about learning Sanskrit including audio cassettes and manuals are available from Vyas Houston, director of American Sanskrit Institute.

    8. Radio for learning Sanskrit via Hindi is available on internet at http://shoutcast.com/radio/sanskrit.

      Sanskrit learning at Matchless-Gifts.com includes Learn Sanskrit for Beginners (CD-Rom), Bhashika: The Complete Course for Spoken Sanskrit (2 CDs), Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary on CD-Rom, and The Wonder that is Sanskrit (2 CD-Roms) at reasonable cost including shipping. (It also has Hindi Guru and Learn Spoken Hindi).

      If you have additional information about such sources please let us know so that we can distribute to interested individuals.

      A self-learning CD SanskritashikShikA, http://www.rsvidyapeetha.ac.in/t/advsse.htm produced by Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. Rs 260 or 12USD+shipping.

      There are many interesting video clips available at YouTube.com and elsewhere. For example, see

      Additionally, there are newspapers and magazines in Sanskrit published daily/fortnightly/monthly/quarterly or less frequent. See a well documented list prepared by Venetia Ansell. If you have any contact details on these, please send a note to venetia.ansell at gmail dot com . There was a list of Sanskrit periodicals which was printed in the sragdharA November 2011 issue (from Bhuwaneshwar, Orissa, India) one which can be considered a list of periodicals in Sanskrit which appeared in 1981 publication of Gandivam, a journal published by Sampurnananda Sanskrit University.

      There are some which have online contacts.

      • News in Samskritam - Hindusthan Samachar, prepared by Dr.Jayaram from Chennai office. Contact hs.sampadak@gmail.com.

      • Vaak a weekly published by Shri Buddha Dev Sharma from Haridwar. (fortnightly, Rs 100 per year, 2010).

      • Sudharma, daily Sanskrit newspaper, all in Sanskrit. Available in twitter at http://twitter.com/sanskritnews.

      • Sambhashan Sandeshaha, Sanskrit Bharati Bangalore. http://samskritam.in/ for older issues are avaialble in DjVu format. Subscribe. A link is in https://sanskritlinks.blogspot.com on May 1, 2010.

      • Jahnavi, a Sanskrit e- journal, published by Bipin Kumar Jha, Cell for Indian Science and technology in Sanskrit, IIT, Powai/Mumbai/Bombay.

      • Chandamama, monthly. chandamama.in.

      • Panchamritam, fortnightly, panchaamritam-owner@yahoogroups.com

      • vishvavANI, a Sanskrit webzine which has been brought out by students from various US universities.

      • sa.nskR^itavartamaanapatram at http://www.sasnkritnewspaper.com, (yes notice the typo sasn instead of sans! They are paying for it too!) a Sanskrit newspaper published daily since July 25, 2010. The daily is edited by Shri Prafulla Purohit, and Dr. J. K. Bhatt, Dr. M. L Vadekar. Contact : Chirag Hospital, Second floor, Mahajan Galli, Ravpura, Vadodara, 390001, Phone 9376217477, 9998571963. The previous newspaper copies are avaialble in archives. Please subscribe and support. Shri Prafulla Purohit is also busy with devsAyujjam (notice no a after v), a Sanskrit monthly, for almost over there years. Download March 2010, April 2010 as sample issues. Others can be requested by subscribing. Let us know if you find more information.

      • There is another daily published from Surat, called vishvasya vR^ittAntam, edited by D. C. Bhatt, 55, Swami Narayan Society, Vibhag 1, Sheri 2, Puna Gam Road, Surat (mobile 9898478454). Contact D. C. Bhatt sanskritdailynewspaper@gmail.com. Here are some samples of the paper http://www.slideshare.net/PracticalSanskrit/documents, also linked from Practical Sanskrit blog.

      • sArasvatI suShamA, a quarterly Sanskrit Research Journal from Sampurnanand Sanskrit University. Not sure if this is still pubilshed.

      • Samvid, a Sanskrit Quarterly published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. Contact : Samvid, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati K.M.Munshi Marg, Chowpatty, Mumbai 400 007, Phones: 23631261 / 23634462. Fax : 022 2363 0058 email: bhavan@bhavans.info . Read the latest issue of Bhavans Journal .

      • Lokabhasha Prachara Samitih at http://samskrita.co.in publishes a monthly magazine lokabhASha sushrIH from Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India. A sample scanned copy is available here (4Mb). Contact Subhendu Rath for additional information: LOKABHASA Prachar Samithi, Sarasvati Vihar, Barapada, Bhadrak, Odisha, India- 756113 E-mail: lokabhasha@samskrita.co.in

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      Q. Do you have Sanskrit learning support for those who speak Spanish, French, Latvian, German, Portuguese, or Russian?

      Please see The Sanskrit Website-El Sitio Snscrito en la Web Spanish-Sanskrit-Portuguese learning site maintained and regularly updated by pradIpaka (Gabriel X) and Andrs Muni.

      Alejandro Gutman from Buenos Aires, Argentina has developed El Portal de la India Antigua, dedicated to diffuse the achievements of the ancient Indian civilization in the Spanish speaking world. (English translation using Babelfish.yahoo.com.) The site provides many links to books (about 300) and articles (150, and more coming) related to ancient India and those freely available on the web, commented briefly in order to orient people in an increasingly confusing forest of publications. Alejandro has written a few articles on the topics such as cosmogony and eschatology in the Rigveda and translation of several complete hymns. One section intends to be a step by step Sanskrit course based on his own experiences and difficulties with the language. An extensive number of lessons, downloadable in pdf format, are planned.

      Martí nCesar Rolando presents a word by word Spanish translation of verses at http://ksetre.blogspot.com/ for the convenience of Spanish speaking student. He is studying with Alejandro and wishes to show "a process to achieve greater understanding and better translations" of Sanskrit works in Spanish.

      Hugo Labate has translated various upanishads and other Vedic texts in Spanish in a double column format.

      For French, please see Gerard Huet's dictionary, on-line grammar, and links and Andre Signoret's interactive dictionary and grammar sites. Yann Leglise, Yann.Leglise@wanadoo.fr has translated Charles Wikner's Sanskrit introductory into French. It is available in postscript and pdf formats.
      See Tantrisme et cultes de Ganesh dans l'hindouisme for Diverses invocations on http://ganapati.club.fr/.

      For German, see Sanskrit Deklinationstrainer and Ulrich Stiehl's site in reference to the excellent book Sanskrit-Kompendium and sample pages.

      The translation of yogasutras of Patanjali, its commentaries, and links are available in various languages such as Arabic, Armenian, Assamese, Bengali, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czechian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Korean, Lithuanian, Malyalam, Oriya, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Sanskrit, Serbian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tamil, Telugu, Thai, Turkish et cetera at the Hrih Yogasutras of Patanjali Archive site http://www.hrih.net. There is another in Hindi by Surinder Shanker Anand at http://sites.google.com/site/shankyandy/Patanjal-Yog that is well documented. Also see various texts and useful information in download section. Subhash Mittal has recorded entire Yogasutra in audio format at Yoga Sutra Study Group site.

    9. http://www.geetarahasya.com/ hosts Bhagvadgita text and translation in various languages such as Sanskrit, Assamee, Bangali, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Malyalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Chinese, Persian, Norweigan, Dutch, German, Russian, Nepali, French. Additional sections include Books on Gita, related articles, audio section et cetera.

      The translation of Bhagvadgita in French, Dutch, English, and Sanskrit may help to learn Sanskrit. The original English translation is given by Ramanand Prasad of Gita Society.

      There is one interesting comparison made between Sanskrit and Latvian at http://www.lexiline.com/lexiline/lexi51.htm along with other ancient langauges such as Akkadian, Sumerian et cetera. A comment on Lithuanian and Sanskrit is available here. Also read 1, 2, 3.

      Only God knows how our humanity has moved and survived!

      There are two articles providing link of Finnish Romanian with Sanskrit at http://www.oph.fi/english/pageLast.asp?path=447;490;15850;15996;15999 and http://www.oph.fi/english/page.asp?path=447;490;15850;15856.

      The connection between Serbian and Sanskrit is presented by Zeta, and same with nice music with discussion, and Slavic Thracian Sanskrit : Languages similar.

      The Deutsche Welle presents an audio news program in Sanskrit which is updated every fortnight.

      Prof. Ferit Arav is translating some Sanskrit texts in Dutch. For example, Yoga Vasishtha Sara, Aravindopanishad, Advaita Bodha Dipika, Ramana maharshi vichAra sangraha, Shankaracharya's Tattvabodha (in preparation Sept. 2018) etc.

      For Russian-Sanskrit studies, please visit

      • Sanskrit bhaashhaa site developed by Konstantin Vohenets.
      • http://devii.narod.ru/sanskrit/ includes Devanagari alphabets and the texts of the "Sanskrit manual" by Vera Kochergina and "Sanskrit Grammar" by Zaliznyak using ITRANS encoding for Sanskrit words. It's easier to buy the manual of Kochergina in Moscow. Kochergina's Sanskrit-Russian dictionary has an addendum on the Grammar of Zaliznyak. These useful books may be pricy for a few.
      • The http://www.franklang.ru/sanskrit.html is very useful for Russian speakers learning Sanskrit. It opens up to various categories 1) DevavANI - Sanskrit Primer by Zufar Ahvadiyev and Rashida Zhangaliyeva in English and Russian (it requires special fonts), 2) Sanskrit Primer by Natalia Kochergina with 45 units in 9 zip files, 3) VedAyaNam - The Sanskrit Reader by Zufar Ahvadiyev, and 4) Sanskrit Texts with Translations by Natalia P. Likhushina. The files are available in djvu format. These publications were done with agreement of the authors.
      • The page http://www.multikulti.ru/Sanscrit/ is also interesting but it provides only links to other sites.
      • The site http://samskrtam.narod.ru/ By Artem Mischenko has fonts and texts of "Sanskrit manual" by Kochergina and "Sanskrit Grammar" by Zaliznyak. It includes pictures of ancient manuscripts.
      • http://gopal.ru/ is Madana Gopala Das's site. He has placed his Cyrillic-based transliteration fonts and a small program that helps to learn Sanskrit words. Also there are a few translations. He is the author of a book "Sanskrit for Vaishnav" (A manual for beginners.)
      • http://www.india.ru/ This is a very informative site of stuff about India, including some materials about Hindi and Sanskrit (only alphbet and few words) (Konstantin's http://biblio.india.ru/india/sanskrit/ is already mentioned above.) Also in this site there's a project of "An intensive course of Sanskrit for beginners". It is under construction. ( http://www.india.ru/sanskrit-study/)
      • The site http://indepigr.narod.ru/ of D. Lielukhine is dedicated to Indian Epigraphy. There are author's articles on Nepal, Kadamba, Vakataka, Ashokan etc. inscriptions. A lot of texts without pictures. A quite specific theme. In English and Russian. (English index: http://indepigr.narod.ru/index1.htm )
      • Vasyl Vernyhora has translated Sanskrit texts such as Tripura Rahasya, Avadhuta Gita, Yoga Rahasya, Yoga Shastra, Jivanmukta Gita, Dattatreya Upanishad & some other Datta related texts http://sss.vn.ua/.
      • For an archive of Sanskrit dictionaries, readers and grammars in German, English and Russian join the newsgroup http://groups.google.com/group/Nagari (circa 4000 Mb Book Scans, devanagari fonts) Also, download free devanagari fonts and transliteration convert macros, OCR. http://nagari.southindia.ru (history and hi-res scans of Indian typography). The group and sites are coordinated by Marcis Gasuns.
      • Asiatica/Indica http://www.philosophy.ru/library/asiatica/indica contains many books related to Sanskrit, Indology, religion et cetera. (According to Google's URL safety check, this site hosts malware, which is also possible due to the font structure. The contents are resourceful but as usual, just be careful to visit it unless precautions are taken.)
      • Borssoff's articles on Sanskrit, Russian, Lithuanian, and other languages at http://borissoff.wordpress.com.

      For Croatian, read an article Sanskrit in Croatia: From Sarasvati to Hrvati by James Cooper

      For Portugese, use http://www.geocities.com./baja/6463/inframe.html site built by Tarcisio da Frota. The Bhagvadgita translation is available in Portuguese at http://www.bhagavadgita.hpg.ig.com.br/index.htm . See the search engine for Bhagvadgita, and continue search for Sanskrit and yoga links. Rodrigo Gomes Ferreira, a student of Vedanta under the guidance of Gloria Arieira, who is Swami Dayananda Saraswati's disciple, has started a site www.vedanta.pro.br for Vedanta classes, where you can also find information related to learning Sanskrit through Portugese. Rodrigo is a member of Vedanta and Sanskrit school called Vidya Mandir in Rio de Janeiro. Marco Carvalho presents Yogashara Upanishad in Sanskrit with translation in English and Portugus.

      Flavia Bianchini and Roberto Martins maintain http://www.yogadevi.org/ that provides many translations of Indian traditional texts into Portuguese and Spanish (http://www.yogadevi.org/textos.html). They have also compiled various links related to Yoga, Ayurveda.

      Although not directly associated with Sanskrit studies, the Ensinamentos Sagrados da Vedanta, The holy teachings of vedanta site is presented by students of Vedanta and the teachings of Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda from Sao Paulo, Brazil. Many well formatted books in English, Spanish, and Portugese are available for download.

      http://aulasdesanscrito.com/ has articles with graphics. See Devanagari alphabets.

      A Norwegian translation of the Isha Upanishad is available at http://vindheim.net/poesi/isha.html.

      For Dutch, visit http://www.arsfloreat.nl/. It has downloadable files of Dutch translation of Srimad Bhagavatam, Maharamayana - Yoga Vasishtha, Isha Upanishad, and Kena Upanishad. A book on Vedanta by Swami Prabhavananda is among the Dutch translations of Bible and Koran.

      Watch video interview of Skarbimir Szczesny Rucinski, a Sanskrit Scholar from Poland where he speaks Sanskrit fluently. News item.

      Polish terms derived from Sanskrit

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      Q. Where can I find online studied articles regarding glory, usefulness and shortcomings of Sanskrit?

      The following articles are a very good reading regarding Sanskrit. These are linked mainly for information and do not indicate our recommendation of views. Some links also relate to organization involved in promotion of Sanskrit. We plan to add articles and songs written in Sanskrit. If you have such information please let us know.


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      Q. Can you please specify additional useful and interesting links ? The following links may be of general interest for your personal study and entertainment. No specific promotion is intended.
      • http://www.newsepapers.com/ : Online newspapers from different countries and languages (Indian) : Australia, Bangladesh, Bengali, Canada, China, English, France, Germany, Gujarati, hindi, Indian, Japan, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Myanmar, North, Korea, Pakistani, Punjabi, Russia, South, Korea, Sri, Lanka, Tamil, Telugu, Thailand, UK, Urdu, USA. The newspaper are embedded in frames without the associated advertisements.
      • Processing tools page has some software tools such as Mudgala Kosha, VLC Multi-Media player, ccleaner, snap2html, Folder Size, Duplicate file finder, YouTube video to audio converter et cetera, for general use.
      • samachar.com links various Indian newspapers and magazines with international and regional categories.

      For additional links to articles and activities online, visit https://sanskritlinks.blogspot.com.

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