South Asian Virtual Language Site
Courses:
- V77.0407 Elementary Hindi/Urdu
- V77.0408 Intermediate Hindi/Urdu
- V77.0410 Advanced Hindi/Urdu
- V77.0719 Introduction to Ancient Indian
- Syllabus
Gabriela Nik. Ilieva,
Literature Instructor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies
Office hours: Tu and Th 11:30-12:30 (#406 King Juan Carlos)
Telephone: (212) 992-9623; FAX: (212) 995-4689; E-Mail: gni1@nyu.edu
V77.0407 Elementary Hindi/Urdu
Course Objectives:
The overall goal of this course, as a part of the two-year-curriculum is to prepare the students to an intermediate proficiency level of Hindi/Urdu language. Through a variety of class, small-group and paired activities, as well as language and computer lab sessions, the students are expected to have equally developed reading, speaking, listening and writing skills at the end of the sequence. The students are approached individually, since the class typically consists of students in the various backgrounds and learning styles by teaching strategies to learn. The first and second year language sequence relies heavily on student interaction, partner activities and group work.
Course requirements:
Attendance: The students are required to attend all the class sessions, as well as to regularly prepare their assignments and use the Language and Computer Center as often as needed.
Readings: Teach Yourself Hindi by Snell, R., and S. Weightman. Additional readings may be individually assigned to address the students' needs and interests. Reference grammars and reading books will be made available by the instructor depending on the students' interests and needs. Internet resources are also used to improve knowledge of the culture, geography and history of India.
Journals and E-mail: Students are encouraged to keep an on-going personal journal throughout the course in the form of a note book or an audio tape. This journal should contain reactions to the material covered in class, questions, reflections, insights or suggestions on any kind of issue. Students are advised to keep the journal (when possible in Hindi or Urdu) on a daily basis. Students are not required to submit the journal as a whole; rather it is intended primarily as a personal type of learning activity. However, each student will be expected to e-mail the instructor a minimum of ten journal entries - one per week. The purpose is twofold: to serve as a way of interaction between student and instructor and to show the degree of progress after each semester.
Grading:
Grading Criteria |
Percentage |
Assignments |
25% |
Tests & Quizzes |
25% |
Participation in class work and discussions |
25% |
Final |
25% |
Exam format: draw the picture, describe the picture, fill in the blank, find the mistake, translation.
Websites for in- and out-of-class work:
Devanagari script: http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/indian_gallery/devanagari.htm
Urdu script: http://www.ukindia.com/zurdu1.htm
Hindi Web Exercises (for Macs): https://carla.umn.edu/lctl/VPA/India/exercises.html
Virtual Photo Album: https://carla.umn.edu/lctl/VPA/India/org_grid.html
The best collection of Hindi and Urdu related links (lessons, acad. programs, fonts, newspapers, etc.): http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/hindilinks.html
V77.0408 Intermediate Hindi/Urdu
Course Objectives:
The overall goal of this course is to prepare the students to a high proficiency level of Hindi/Urdu. This course is designed to further develop fluency in oral and written communication. In addition to the class, small-group activities, language and computer lab-sessions, the students are given individual assignment to work with native speakers from the community and report on their findings. The reading assignments are designed to teach extensive reading with broad understanding of the content to be used for oral presentations. The first and second year language sequence relies heavily on student interaction, partner activities and group work.
Course requirements:
Attendance: The students are required to attend all the class sessions, as well as to regularly prepare their assignments and use the Language and Computer Center as often as needed.
Readings: Gambhir, Surendra. Kuch kahiye na pliiz. South Asia Regional Studies, 820 Williams Hall CU, Univ. of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104. Phone 215-898-7475. The additional readings include short stories, current newspaper items, and/or academic texts.
Journals: Students are encouraged to keep an on-going personal journal throughout the course in the form of a note book or an audio tape. This journal should contain reactions to the material covered in class, questions, reflections, insights or suggestions on any kind of issue. Students are advised to keep the journal in Hindi (as much as possible, by using transcription) on a daily basis. Students are not required to submit the journal as a whole; rather it is intended primarily as a personal type of learning activity. However, each student will be expected to e-mail a minimum of ten journal entries - one per week. The purpose is twofold: to serve as a way of interaction between student and instructor and to show the degree of progress after each semester.
Grading:
Grading Criteria |
Percentage |
Special Projects |
40% |
Quizzes |
20% |
Class Participation |
20% |
Final |
20% |
Exam format: describe the picture, fill in the blank, find the mistake, paper-essay.
Websites for in- and out-of-class work:
Hindi Web Exercises (for Macs): https://carla.umn.edu/lctl/VPA/India/exercises.html
Virtual Photo Album: https://carla.umn.edu/lctl/VPA/India/org_grid.html
The best collection of Hindi and Urdu related links (lessons, acad. programs, fonts, newspapers, etc.): http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/hindilinks.html
V77.0401 Indian through Indian Eyes: Advanced Hindi Readings
Course objectives:
This course offers an overview of Indian culture via authentic texts and is designed to improve students' advanced level reading as well as their written and oral discourse strategies in Hindi. Students will be guided through linguistically complex and demanding texts. Emphasis will be placed on the development of linguistic skills required for a close reading and in-depth analysis of the texts. Students will be asked to work on a project with native speakers from the community, to interview them on a given subject matter and report before the class. Instruction will be learner-centered and students will have a voice in the selection of the texts and topics for their presentations. Taught seminar-style, the course combines classroom discussions, oral reports and occasional background lectures.
Target audience: Students who have completed the two-year sequence of Hindi or who have equivalent background and are interested in India.
Course requirements:
Attendance: The students are required to attend all the class sessions, as well as to regularly prepare their assignments.
Readings: Shackle, C., and R. Snell. Hindi and Urdu since 1800: A Common Reader. (1990.) School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG. (An Indian hardback edition is also available through South Asia Books.) A selection of additional authentic texts will be made depending on the students' interests and needs. The texts will be literary, academic, journalistic, political, etc. from a variety of sources including the Internet. They will deal with Indian history, society, religions, literature, geography and politics.
Grading:
Grading Criteria |
Percentage |
Projects and Oral Presentations |
30% |
Class Participation |
30% |
Final |
40% |
Exam format: oral presentations, paper-essays.
Useful links:
Collection of Hindi and Urdu related links (lessons, acad. programs, fonts, newspapers, etc.)
Hindi Instruction through Internet (student work, activities, exercises, lesson plans, etc.)
V77.0719 Introduction to Ancient Indian Literature
Description Content: An introductory course designed to acquaint students with the great works of Ancient Indian literary tradition. A major part of this tradition was written in Sanskrit. The earliest form of that language was brought to India by the Aryans probably sometime in the middle of the second millennium BC and is called "Vedic" Sanskrit. It is the language of the Vedic hymns, especially those of the Rig Veda. This language developed over the course of time until around the 4th century BC, when it was fixed by the famous Sanskrit grammarian Panini. This form of Sanskrit, in which most of the later literature is written, is commonly referred to as "Classical Sanskrit." Thus, in one form or another, Sanskrit has had an unbroken literary tradition for over 3,000 years. It is this rich and vast literary, religious and philosophical, heritage which will be introduced in this course. In addition students will work with excerpts from the Jain and Buddhist Canons written in Prakrits and examples of Tamil poetry. Selections from the Vedic literature, classical drama, epics, story literature and lyric poetry will be studied in English translation.
Structure: Discussion format will be supplemented by lectures on social, historical and culture contexts. Rigorous emphasis will be placed on reading, thinking, and speaking. Students will be expected to come to each class with the assigned readings thoughtfully prepared. They are advised to write down notes as they read regarding significant ideas, the overall key point of the passage, and their own reactions and criticisms. This organizes thinking and will allow them to participate readily in class discussion. No prior knowledge of South Asian language, history or culture is expected or required.
Grading Policy: Both written and oral assignments will be evaluated using a plus/minus letter grade system, where a B- is an 82, a B is an 85, and a B+ is an 88. Grading will be done on the scale of 100, where 90-100 is an A, 80-89 is a B, and so on. Extra credit assignments will also be available. The distribution is as follows:
Grading Criteria |
Percentage |
Essay |
25% |
Oral Reports |
15% |
Class Participation |
15% |
Exam(Presentaion of Final Paper and Final Paper) |
30% |
Level and Format: This is an introductory level course, which will be taught as much as possible in the form of a working seminar.
Readings - Required: Basham, A.L. 1967. The Wonder That Was India. New Delhi: Rupa and Co., and a course packet. (also available to purchase: MacDonell, A.A. 1990 A History of Sanskrit Literature. Motilal Banarsidas )
Books on Library reserve: Below is a list of books that will be put on reserve at the Bobst Library for this course. All are pertinent to this course and provide further specific information and analysis on the topics, which will be covered. They are optional and are to be used for the oral presentations and the final papers. The majority of the readings for the course packet are selected from these books.
Bisgaard, D.J. 1994. Social Conscience in Sanskrit Literature. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
van Buitenen, J. A. B. 1973-78, 3 vols. Mahabharata, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
De Bary, W.T. (ed.) 1967. Sources of Indian Tradition.. New Yoork: Columbia University Press.
Hart, George L. 1979. Poets of the Tamil Anthologies: Ancient Poems of Love and War. Princeton: Princeton University Press
Hopkins.E.W. 1993. The Great Epic of India: Mahabharata. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
Kane. P.V. History of Sanskrit Poetics. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
Keith, A.B. 1998. The Sanskrit Drama. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
O'Flaherty, W.D. 1994. The Rig Veda. New Delhi: Penguin Classics.
R. Robinson & W. Johnson. 1982. The Buddhist Religion: A Historical Introduction.Belmont: Wadsworth publishing Company.
Sudhakar Pandey and V. N. Jha (ed.) Glimpses of Ancient Indian Poetics from Bharata to JagannAtha,
Thapar R. 1989. History of India vol. 1 Delhi: Oxford University Press.
- 1990. From Lineage to State. Delhi: Oxford University Press
- 1993. Interpreting Early India. Delhi: Oxford University Press
Winternitz, M. 1993. History of Indian Literature. vols.1, 2 and 3. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas (highly recommended)
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sudheer_history/
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/india/indiasbook.html
Assignments: In the course of the semester, students will be required to make two oral reports, one essay and one final paper.
Each oral report is on one of the assigned readings from the course packet and/or the readings on reserve, and/or a website. Volunteers will be accepted on a first-come first-served basis. For these reports, students will present a one-page written summary of the reading to be distributed to the class, followed by a brief oral report on the significance of the readings and 2-3 questions/topics suggested for class discussions.
Another assignment for this course will be one short essay-paper of 4-6 pages of written text. The instructor will distribute a handout for the paper assignment two class days before the paper is due. The paper assignment will deal with material previously read and discussed in class. Students will be asked to respond to a specific question.
The final paper will be on a topic related to Ancient Sanskrit literature. More information will be forthcoming. Generally, however, the students are advised to take a particular text that interests them and expound on how this text illustrates a particular aspect of Ancient Indian society and culture. There will be one, final exam for this course held during the scheduled period. Each student will present a brief synopsis of his/her final paper. The floor will then be open for questions and discussion from the fellow-students and the instructor.
Syllabus
Week 1: INTRODUCTION
Discussion topics:
Terminology: culture, civilization, gender, society, literature, genre, folklore and relationship: literature-language, language-society, literature-society, literature-culture.
Pre-Vedic India. Discovery. Importance. The Dravidians.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp.1-28.
Course packet:
R. Thappar: Ideology and the Interpretation of Early Vedic History.
WWW: http://www.harappa.com (images, archeological information, history)
http://www.san.beck.org/EC7-Vedas.html#1
Week 2: SANSKRIT: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
Discussion topics:
Proto Indo-European. Indo-European. Indo-Aryan. Origin and Development
Sanskrit language. Brahmi script. Origin and Development.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 28-43, 386-399.
Course packet:
C. Watkins: Indo-European and Indo-Europeans.
C. Masica: The Origin of Brahmi, The Historical Context and Development of Indo-Aryans;
Recommended:
M. Gimbutas: Proto-Indo-European Culture.
R. Thappar, R.: Early India: An Overview.
J.P.Mallory: Proto Indo-European Culture, Indo-European Religion.
WWW: http://link.lanic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html(article languages in about preIslamic India)
http://www.geoworld.com/Athens/Parthenon/1996/ (IE languages: chronology, maps, scripts)
http://cofah.utsa.edu/drinka/pie/pie.html (about Proto-Indo-European)
http://link.lanic.utexas.edu/asnic/subject/peoplesandlanguages.html
Week 3: VEDIC LITERATURE. THE RIGVEDIC HYMNS
Discussion topics:
The problem of identifying Ancient Indian literature. The Commentary literature.
The four Vedas. Origin.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 399-407.
Recommended:
Caldwell R.: Behavior of Literary Dialects
Weber A.: The Name 'Indian Literature'
M. Winternitz, vol.1: pp. 47-67
M. Winternitz: History of Indian Literature.
WWW: http://www.san.beck.org/EC7-Vedas.html
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~pehook/250w97.veda.html
Week 4: VEDIC SOCIETY AND RELIGION
Discussion topics:
Vedic society and religion. Vedic pantheon and structure. The meaning of the sacrifice.
Oral composition. The issue of authorship - the seers of the Rigveda. Vedic poetry - language, form and structure.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 232-256.
Course packet:
M. Winternitz., vol.1: pp. 67-71, 71-108.
R. Thapar: Lineage Society.
T. de Bary: The Cosmic Order in the Vedic Hymns.
WWW: http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sudheer_history/landvedic.html
Week 5: RIGVEDIC HYMNS
Discussion topics:
Themes. Classes of hymns.
Stylistic features.
Course packet:
Winternitz M., vol. 1 pp. 174-209, 209-248
Week 6: GENDER ISSUES
Women and Men. Traditional Indian views.
Women's voices: Domains and roles.
Course packet:
P.L. Bhargava: Position and Status of Women in India in the Early Vedic Period.
Week 7: BRAHMANAS AND UPANISHADAS
Discussion topics:
Commentary literature as a phenomenon .
Language and structure. Basic doctrines.
Reading:
The Wonder That was India, pp. 242-256
Recommended:
Upanishads in English translation.
T. de Bary (ed.): The Ritual Order in the Brahmanas,
The Ultimate Reality of the Upanishads.
WWW: http://www.san.beck.org/Upan1-Kena.html
Assignment: essay due next week.
Week 8: JAIN AND BUDDHIST LITERATURES
Discussion topics:
Nature of the new movements. Origin and development.
Apabhramsa, Pali and Ardhamagadhi. New languages and new literatures.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 273-283; 453-487
Course packet:
Winternitz M., vol.2: pp. 33-160, pp. 412-456
Recommended:
T. de Bary (ed.): The Background of Buddhism and Jainism ,The Basic Doctrines of Jainism, Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism.
http://www.san.beck.org/EC9-Buddha.html (ethics and tect from the cannon)
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/sudheer_history/buddhism.html and
http://www.edepot.com/buddha.html (virtual Buddha temple)
Week 9: THE EPICS (RAMAYANA AND MAHABHARATA) AND THE PURANAS
Discussion topics: Textual transmission. Orality. Composition. Origin
Classical Indian society. Women in the Epics. The Puranas - myths and gods.
Reading:
Basham, The Wonder That Was India, pp. 297-323; 407-415.
Course packet:
Winternitz M. , vol. 1: pp. 291-306, 436-454 (Mahabharata); pp. 454-458, 475-495 (Ramayana); pp. 495-507 (Puranas)
Recommended:
J. A. B. van Buiten: Mahabharata
D. Bisgaard: The Origins of a Secular Literature in Sanskrit
The Mahabharata of Vyasa.
The Ramayana of Tulsidas.
W. Hopkins, chapters: Interralation of the Two Epics; Epic Versifications: Epic Sloka, Prose. Poetry Tales; Origin and Development of the Epic.
http://www.san.beck.org/EC12-Literature.html
Week 10: INDIAN THEATER
Discussion topics:
Origin of drama. Natya Shastra. Form and structure, subject matter and characters. Stage performance and techniques. Brecht's theory of alienation effect.
Aesthetics - Rasa theory. Beginning of literary theory. Language.
Course packet:
M. Winternitz, vol. 3: pp.5-11, 178-197
Recommended:
A. Keith: The Theory of the Dramatic Art, The Indian Theatre.
The Natyashastra of Bharatamuni.
Week 11: CLASSICAL SANSKRIT DRAMA
Discussion topics:
Sudraka's real life comedy. Characters and society.
Vishakhadata's political drama. Historical reality.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 441-442
Course Packet:
M. Wintenitz, vol. 3: pp.201-236
Recommended:
A. Keith: The Precursors of Shudraka, Vishakhadata.
Two Plays of Ancient India: Little Clay Cart and Minister's Seal.
Week 12: CLASSICAL SANSKRIT DRAMA. KALIDASA
Discussion Topics:
Kalidasa's style. The Language and the Metres. His Dramatic Art.
Vikramurvashya and Abhijnana-Shakuntalam
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 435-441
Course packet:
M. Wintenitz, vol. 3: pp. 237-250
Recommended:
A. Keith: Kalidasa
Vikramurvashya. Abhijnana-Shakuntalam.
WWW: http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/kalidas.html (biography, link for text of act 1)
Assignment: second outline of final paper due next week.
Week 13: LITERARY THEORIES. SANSKRIT POETRY
Discussion topics:
Rasa. Alankara. Dhvani. Riti. Vakrokti. Auchitya.. Parallels with Ancient European Rhetorics and Contemporary Literary Theories. Form and structure. Topic, motif and figures of speech. Schools.
Kalidasa's Meghaduta and Ritusamhara.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 415-431.
handout
Course Packet:
M. Winternitz, vol. 3: pp. 11-41, 57-69, 117-125
Recommended:
T. de Bary: Aesthetic Speculations.
P. Kane: AlankarashastraMeghaduta, Ritusamhara
Week 14: DIDACTIC LITERATURE
Discussion topics: Development and dispersal. Language, structure and form.
Classical Indian Society. Education and Morale.
Reading:
The Wonder That Was India, pp. 450-452.
Course Packet:
M. Winternitz, vol. 3: pp.329-346
WWW: http://www.san.beck.org/EC12-Literature.html#4
Week 15: ANCIENT INDIAN LITERATURE IN REVIEW
ORAL PRESENTATIONS OF RESEARCH