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Series Introduction
Karen Thomson and Jonathan Slocum

By Ancient Sanskrit we mean the oldest known form of Sanskrit. The simple name 'Sanskrit' generally refers to Classical Sanskrit, which is a later, fixed form that follows rules laid down by a grammarian around 400 BC. Like Latin in the Middle Ages, Classical Sanskrit was a scholarly lingua franca which had to be studied and mastered. Ancient Sanskrit was very different. It was a natural, vernacular language, and has come down to us in a remarkable and extensive body of poetry. (We have intentionally avoided the use of the traditional word "Vedic" to describe the language of these poems for reasons which are described below; see Karen Thomson's other publications for the detailed arguments.)

Note: this page is for systems/browsers with Unicode® support and fonts spanning the Unicode 3 character set relevant to (Romanized) Sanskrit. Versions of this page rendered in alternate character sets are available via links (Romanized and Unicode 2) in the left margin, and at the bottom of this page.

Ancient Sanskrit Online: Series Introduction