Sanskrit Reader

The Sanskrit Reader is a widely used work by Charles Rockwell Lanman, an American scholar of Sanskrit. Published in 1884, it served as a standard introduction to the Sanskrit language for English-speaking students and remained in print for many decades. Lanman also played a key role in editing the "Harvard Oriental Series," which provided scholarly English translations of ancient Hindu Vedic texts.1

Sanskrit literature itself is the body of writings produced by Aryan peoples who entered the Indian subcontinent around 1500 BC. It developed as the primary cultural expression for Brahmanical society and spans two main periods: the Vedic period (approximately 1500–200 BC) and the classical period (approximately 500 BC–AD 1000).2