6.3. Sanskrit Self Study in Sanskrit medium

Some purely Sanskrit texts are also available in the fields of informal education that enable the learners to study songs, stories, conversations and acquire special skills in Sanskrit language. Sisusamskrtam, Pancatantra katha, Sandesasamskrtam, Kausalabodhini and Prabandhamalika etc are published by Viswasamskrta pratisthanam. Sisusamskrtam is a collection of Sanskrit songs for children. Pancatantra katha is another book which contain twenty six tales of Pancathantra narrated in simple Sanskrit. The objectives of these type of books are to enable children and beginners to pronounce Sanskrit words correctly and also to read and present the stories to the audience. It also encourage students to learn by heart interesting verse and prose passages. The text sandesasamskrtam contains three types of communicative method, writing of letters, invitations and greetings. The uses Sanskrit in these areas are rare and those who wish to do so are benefited by this book.

280 A book written for teaching various skills in Sanskrit language namely Kausalabodhini is written by H.R Viswas and published by Samskrtabharati, New Delhi. It continues the explanations and directions for developing the learning, speaking, reading and writing skills in Sanskrit. This text is intended as a hand book for those working in the field of spoken language teaching school teachers who wish to develop their students skill and others who want acquire knowledge in Sanskrit language using the modern methods. In the introduction the writer observes that a child learns language by imitating the sounds uttered by other people and gradually the child understands the meaning of sounds and words, utters small sentences, understands to read the letters and later learns the art of writing. Therefore these basic skills of speaking, reading and writing of language may be given importance in Sanskrit education. For the development of skills in the speech he suggests the following tools-conversation, story telling, performance of dramas and various plays with language like completing the story, quiz program etc. similar technique are given in the mattes of other skills also. Prabandhamalika, as the name indicates is a collection of short essays written in simple Sanskrit on various topics. About twenty nine essays are given and also an appendix containing Subhashitas related to various subjects. Among the essays the life-history of the king Swatitirunal,

281 Gandhiji etc are included. This types of works are useful for Sanskrit learners who have acquired some basic knowledge in Sanskrit.