Books about Sanskrit from Amazon.com

Finally, a tool to help yoga teachers and students pronounce asana names and yoga terms correctly!. The Language of Yoga is the definitive A-Y of yoga specific words. (There is no Z in Sanskrit). Useful for yoga teachers and students.
Price: $14.91 [Notify me when price goes down.]

.
Price: $6.82 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A fundamental tool for recovering people for 40 years, this classic book began the tradition of using meditatins as a daily source of strength and renewal. The traditional values of Twelve Step recovery are highlighted with an inspirational thought, meditation, and prayer.
Price: $7.74 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Just reprinted, excellent ed. used widely as a text, useful for beginning students. We also carry pt. 2..
Price: $24.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The great Indian epic rendered in modern prose

India's most beloved and enduring legend, the Ramayana is widely acknowledged to be one of the world's great literary masterpieces. Still an integral part of India's cultural and religious expression, the Ramayana was originally composed by the Sanskrit poet Valmiki around 300 b.c. The epic of Prince Rama's betrayal, exile, and struggle to rescue his faithful wife, Sita, from the clutches of a demon and to reclaim his throne has profoundly affected the literature, art, and culture of South and Southeast Asia-an influence most likely unparalleled in the history of world literature, except, possibly, for the Bible. Throughout the centuries, countless versions of the epic have been produced in numerous formats and languages. But previous English versions have been either too short to capture the magnitude of the original; too secular in presenting what is, in effect, scripture; or dry, line-by-line translations. Now novelist Ramesh Menon has rendered the tale in lyrical prose that conveys all the beauty and excitement of the original, while making this spiritual and literary classic accessible to a new generation of readers.
.
Price: $10.63 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The books line up on my shelf like bright Bodhisattvas ready to take tough questions or keep quiet company They stake out a vast territory, with works from two millennia in multiple genres: aphorism, lyric, epic, theater, and romance
—Willis G. Regier, The Chronicle Review

No effort has been spared to make these little volumes as attractive as possible to readers: the paper is of high quality, the typesetting immaculate. The founders of the series are John and Jennifer Clay, and Sanskritists can only thank them for an initiative intended to make the classics of an ancient Indian language accessible to a modern international audience.
—The Times Higher Education Supplement

The Clay Sanskrit Library represents one of the most admirable publishing projects now afoot. . . . Anyone who loves the look and feel and heft of books will delight in these elegant little volumes.
—New Criterion

Published in the geek-chic format.
—BookForum

Very few collections of Sanskrit deep enough for research are housed anywhere in North America. Now, twenty-five hundred years after the death of Shakyamuni Buddha, the ambitious Clay Sanskrit Library may remedy this state of affairs.
—Tricycle

Now an ambitious new publishing project, the Clay Sanskrit Library brings together leading Sanskrit translators and scholars of Indology from around the world to celebrate in translating the beauty and range of classical Sanskrit literature. . . . Published as smart green hardbacks that are small enough to fit into a jeans pocket, the volumes are meant to satisfy both the scholar and the lay reader. Each volume has a transliteration of the original Sanskrit text on the left-hand page and an English translation on the right, as also a helpful introduction and notes. Alongside definitive translations of the great Indian epics — 30 or so volumes will be devoted to the Maha·bhárat itself — Clay Sanskrit Library makes available to the English-speaking reader many other delights: The earthy verse of Bhartri·hari, the pungent satire of Jayánta Bhatta and the roving narratives of Dandin, among others. All these writers belong properly not just to Indian literature, but to world literature.
—LiveMint

The Clay Sanskrit Library has recently set out to change the scene by making available well-translated dual-language (English and Sanskrit) editions of popular Sanskritic texts for the public.
—Namarupa

The Buddhist monk Ashva·ghosha composed Life of the Buddha in the first or second century CE probably in Ayódhya. This is the earliest surviving text of the Sanskrit literary genre called kavya and probably provided models for Kali·dasa's more famous works. The most poignant scenes on the path to his Awakening are when the young prince Siddhártha, the future Buddha, is confronted by the reality of sickness, old age, and death, while seduced by the charms of the women employed to keep him at home. A poet of the highest order, Ashva·ghosha's aim is not entertainment but instruction, presenting the Buddha's teaching as the culmination of the Brahmanical tradition. His wonderful descriptions of the bodies of courtesans are ultimately meant to show the transience of beauty.

Co-published by New York University Press and the JJC Foundation

For more on this title and other titles in the Clay Sanskrit series, please visit http://www.claysanskritlibrary.org

.
Price: $17.48 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A vivid new translation of the jewel of Hindu spirituality

ONE OF THE GLORIES of Sanskrit poetry, The Bhagavad Gita is the ancient spiritual text that forms a sublime synthesis of the many strands of Hindu belief. Taken from the Mahabharata epic, it details a dialogue between the divine Krishna and the human warrior Arjuna before a mighty battle in which Arjuna must decide whether to wage war against his own family. Krishna imparts spiritual enlightenment to Arjuna, teaching him the paths of knowledge, devotion, action, and meditation, and helping him to see beyond the temporal to the eternal. This new translation captures both the clarity of Hindu philosophy and the beauty of Sanskrit poetry..
Price: $6.33 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"A must-have for anyone who is new and serious about exporing the subject further. Also recommended for advanced practitioners who may want to 'brush-up' on their Sanskrit." -- Yoga Magazine UK

"This slim volume is a lot more than its title lets on." -- The Asian Reporter

"...A joy to read: it has accuracy in its translations, beauty in its presentation, and conveys the spiritual richness of the yogic tradition. It will definitely enrich the life of many yoga teachers and students." -- Ascent Magazine

Joseph Campbell called Sanskrit "the great spiritual language of the world." Designed by ancient Indian holy men to express the states of enlightened consciousness through syllabic sounds, Sanskrit is widely used in the West during yoga practice to channel spiritual pathways and to discuss important meditative and philosophical concepts. This book introduces 180 Sanskrit words (including chakra, karma, om, namaste, veda, nirvana) with Devanagari scripts, pronunciations, chants and brief cultural/historic explanations. A practical reference that makes an excellent gift book for any student of yoga, meditation or Eastern religion.

Leza Lowitz is a much-published writer and director of Sun and Moon Yoga Studio in Tokyo.

Reema Datta grew up in India and teaches Ashtanga yoga and Ayurvedic cooking in San Francisco.

.
Price: $8.72 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Fifth Gospel presents some compelling new evidence about the life of Jesus which has been derived from a variety of sources in the East which are unknown to most Western scholars. By chance, one of the authors found, in 1965, a reference in Ladakh to the discovery of Buddhist scrolls about Jesus. Since then, the authors have been examining evidence about the survival of Jesus Christ at the time of the crucifixion, and his subsequent travels to the East. The authors' main purpose in writing this book is to inform the West that "we in the East have some source material about the historical Jesus who lived on after the crucifixion.... This book was not written in one day, but is a result of many years' continued search for evidence," and provides research on some very compelling questions..
Price: $12.51 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Learn a language from the comfort of your own home

With Teach Yourself Sanskrit Complete Course, the series brings to life this ancient language, allowing you not only to learn the literary and classical tongue of India but also to be able to decipher Sanskrit text. It also presents numerous passages of original Sanskrit writing. Includes:

• Extensive exercises so readers can review what they have learned
• An overview of the culture surrounding the language, giving travelers and students an understanding of how it is used in context
• Expertise from authors with strong scholarship in each language

.
Price: $13.97 [Notify me when price goes down.]