Perso Indica

[Preliminary Entry] This text by Śukla Mathurānātha of Malava is a manual of Sanskrit grammar (vyākaraṇa) and syntax. The text is bilingual in Sanskrit and Persian. In the introduction the author details the reasons for taking up the task: the text was meant for the students who already knew Persian and intended to take up the study of Sanskrit. He also mentions the various subjects of the sources consulted while writing the manual, Purāṇa, Dharmaśāstra, Śikṣā, Jyotiṣā, Darśana, Vedānta, Mīmāṃsā, Sāṃkhya and Nyāya. The text explains the system of transliterating Sanskrit letters into Perso-Arabic script, the joining of letters, formation of words and their Persian and Sanskrit meanings. It includes a list of Sanskrit nouns, pronouns and varieties of euphonic combinations, translated and glossed in Persian. The last part of the text offers an introduction to Sanskrit composition.

K. G.