Sanskrit
Sanskrit is an Indian classical language whose history stretches back over three thousand years.
For much of that time, Sanskrit has been the primary vehicle of intellectual, literary, and religious expression in India.
At Oxford, you may choose a course focusing on Sanskrit, or may study it as an additional language as part of other degrees within the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the wider University.
BA in Sanskrit (Q405)
The BA Sanskrit is a three-year degree. The course aims to give you a solid grounding in the Classical Sanskrit language, and to impart at the same time a general knowledge of the Indian cultural setting in which Sanskrit has had its life and meaning.
A substantial amount of the teaching proceeds through the close reading and understanding of texts. Emphasis is placed at the same time on developing:
- a broad understanding of the major literary and intellectual developments in Sanskrit
- developing a familiarity with what modern scholars have identified as key debates and topics
- and developing an understanding of the history of Western scholarship on India.
- Early Iranian (including Avestan, Old Persian, and/or Middle Persian)
- Hindi
- Pali
- Persian
- Prakrit
- Tibetan
This will lead to a degree combining the two, eg BA Sanskrit with Hindi.
Visit the Asian and Middle Eastern Studies course page for more information.
Sanskrit as a subsidiary language
Sanskrit may also be studied as a subsidiary language (ie as a second subject) alongside Chinese as a main subject within Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. This will lead to a BA in Chinese with Sanskrit.
BA in Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Sanskrit can also be studied as a main or second subject in the joint degree of Classics and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. This course allows you to combine the study of an Asian or Middle Eastern language and culture with Latin and/or Greek and the study of the ancient world.
BA in Religion and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
Religion and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is a three-year course that gives you the opportunity to combine the study of Sanskrit with a range of options offered as by the Faculty of Theology and Religion.
