G. N. Devy is the chief editor of the PLSI series. He taught at the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, till 1996 before leaving to set up the Bhasha Research Centre in Baroda and the Adivasi Akademi at Tejgadh. There, he worked towards conserving and promoting the languages and culture of indigenous and nomadic communities. Apart from being awarded the Padma Shree, he has received many awards for his work in literature and language conservation.

Professor Avadhesh K. Singh, a Member of the National Collective of the People's Linguistic Survey of India and the editor of this volume, was an important bilingual scholar whose contribution to literary criticism and cultural studies has a place of significance in the history of Indian Literary Criticism. He was Professor of English and Head of the Department of English at the Rajkot University, and was later appointed Vice Chancellor of the Ambedkar Open University in Gujarat. Thereafter he joined the Indira Gandhi National Open University as Director of the School of Translation Studies. At the time of his untimely demise in 2019, he was Vice Chancellor of the Auro University at Surat.

The People’s Linguistic Survey of India
The National Editorial Collective
List of Volumes
Acknowledgements
Foreword
A Nation Proud of Its Language Diversity: Chief Editor’s Introduction
Introduction to the Volume
Contributors to the Volume

1. Sanskrit: An Introduction
Avadhesh K. Singh

2. Sanskrit: A Brief Overview
Shakuntala Gawde

3. Origin of the Sanskrit Language
Shakuntala Gawde

4. Sanskrit: Theories of its Evolution
Vivek M. Bhat

5. Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsha as Cornerstones of Sanskrit
Ajay Kumar Singh

6. Sanskrit as a Carrier of India’s Cultural Continuity
Shashiprabha Kumar

7. Sanskrit Knowledge Traditions
Kapil Kapoor

8. Sanskrit Linguistics
Kapil Kapoor

9. Sanskrit Aesthetics and Ethics
Kapil Kapoor

10. Sanskrit Poetics
Kapil Kapoor

11. History of Sanskrit Criticism
Avadhesh K. Singh

12. Myths Related to Writing in Sanskrit
Vijay Pandya

13. Early ‘Kavya’ in Sanskrit
Vijay Pandya

14. Epics (Mahakavyas) and Early Drama in Sanskrit
Vijay Pandya

15. Contribution of Women Writers to Sanskrit and its Affiliate Prakrit and Pali Literatures
Manibhai K. Prajapati

16. The Colonial Interest in Sanskrit and its Impact on Western Linguistics
Satyapal Singh
17. Sanskrit Studies and Indology
Vijay Pandya

18. Initiation into Sanskrit Learning: Ritual of Upanayana (Initiation)
Gauri Mahulikar

19. Svadhyaya as a Mode of Learning in Sanskrit
Vladimir Yatsenko

20. Sanskrit in the Middle of the Twentieth Century
K. K. Handiqui

21. Sanskrit Literature in the Twenty-first Century
Harshdev Madhav

22. Sanskrit in/and Digital Age
Jagdish Sharma

Appendices
1. Sanskrit Teaching Institutions in India
Shakuntala Gawde

2. Sanskrit Teaching Institutions outside India
Shakuntala Gawde

Bibliography
Index

LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES