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The first of a three-part overview exploring Sanskrit participles and how they bring clarity, nuance, and flow to reading classical texts.

Participles are one of the most powerful and beautiful features of Sanskrit. They appear everywhere—in verses, sūtras, epic poetry, and everyday conversational Sanskrit—often carrying rich meaning in just a single word. Learning to recognize and use participles is one of the biggest steps you can take toward reading Sanskrit with confidence and ease.

In this course, we will explore participles in a clear, structured, and highly practical way. Through guided explanation and plenty of real textual examples, students will gain a deep understanding of how participles are formed, declined, and used in Sanskrit literature.
Together we will study participles across major categories, including:

Active and Passive participles

Past, Present, and Potential forms

Vowel-ending and consonant-ending declensions

Practice in all three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter)

Whether you are beginning to work with Sanskrit texts or looking to strengthen your grammatical foundation, this course will give you the tools to meet participles with confidence and enjoyment.

-- The ISEWU (Intl. Schools of East-West Unity) admits students of any race, color and national or ethnic origin. --

Indira (Ann) Bulkin met Shri Brahmananda Sarasvati in the summer of 1971 at Ananda Ashram in Monroe, New York. The following spring, she became a full-time resident student at the newly established Yoga Society of San Francisco, where she lived for several years. During that time, Shri Brahmananda, then known as Dr. Mishra, held Sanskrit classes for many hours a day, seven days a week, and Indira fully participated in this program. In the summer of 1973, Dr. Mishra asked Indira to start teaching Sanskrit. In the early 1980s, he named her the head of the Sanskrit Department at the Yoga Society of San Francisco, a position she held until 2010.

Indira was privileged to study Sanskrit with Professor Robert Goldman at UC Berkeley, and in 1993, she graduated with a B.A. in the Sanskrit language, before going on to earn her Master's degree in physical therapy. She opened her own clinic, Balance in Motion Physical Therapy, in 2009. She was blessed to be able to continue her Sanskrit studies with Dr. Ram Karan Sharma for more than 17 years. She and her husband, Shanta, co-founder of the East-West Sanskrit Institute, have been married for many years and have two grown sons and four beautiful grandchildren. For more info, see http://www.eastwestsanskritinstitute.com.