本书是法光法师介绍梵文学习的经典之作，也是普通读者入门与研习梵文的佳品。全书由英文写成，但其中参考了诸多中文佛典和梵文经典佛典，篇章分布得当，内容由浅入深，每篇章还会配有相应试题练习。作者在书中对梵文经典的结构，梵文单词词性及各种常见的梵文表达方式进行了细致入微的分析。

Preface
Abbreviations
Lesson 1
1.1 The Sanskrit Alphabet
1.2 Three genders of nouns: masculine (m), neutral (n) and feminine (f)
1.3 Three numbers: singular (sg), dual (du) and plural (pl)
1.4 Case (vibhakti)
1.5 Masculine nouns ending with -a
1.6 Adjectives
1.7 Omission of the verb "to be" in a sentence
1.8 Indeclinable particles ca, va, api, na and the affix -vat
Lesson 2
2.1 The accusative case (acc)
2.2 The ablative case (abl)
2.3 Accusative and ablative case of m nouns ending in -a:buddha
2.4 Neutral nouns ending in -a: phala
2.5 Sanskrit verbs
2.6 Verbal prefixes
2.7 Three grades of strengthening of vowels
2.8 Verbs of classes I, IV, VI, X
2.9 Particle iti
2.10 The emphatic particle eva
Lesson 3
3.1 The dative case
3.2 Genitive used in the dative sense
3.3 Expression of "have"
3.4 The vocative case
3.5 The declensions learned so far
3.6 Declension of f a-ending noun: prajna
3.7 Suffixes -ta, -tva, -tas
3.8 Class VI verbs
3.9 Class IV verbs
3.10 Class X verbs
3.11 Summary of differences between verbs of class I, IV, VI and X
3.12 Personal pronouns: 1st person stem: mad,2nd person stem: tvad
Lesson 4
4.1 Declension of m nouns ending in -u
4.2 Declension of n nouns ending in -u
4.3 Declension of pronoun sah. (m) 'he'/'that' and es.a.h (m) 'this'
4.4 Declension of pronoun tat (n) 'it'/'that' and etat 'this'
4.5 The enclitic pronoun enam
4.6 The causative verbs
4.7 The denominatives
4.8 The instrumental case
4.9 Past Passive Participles (PPP)
Lesson 5
5.1 Declension of m nouns ending in -i : agni
5.2 Declension of n nouns ending in -i : vari
5.3 Declension of f nouns ending in -i : jati
5.4 Declension of f nouns ending in -i : nadi
5.5 Declension of pronoun sa (f)
5.6 Declension of demonstratives: ayam (m),idam (n), iyam (f)
5.7 Declension of interrogative pronouns: kah. (m),kim (n), ka (f)
5.8 The interrogative particles, api and kim (question markers)
5.9 Parasmaipada and atmanepada verbs
5.10 Paradigm for the conjugation of atmanepada verbs
5.11 Gerunds
5.12 Hard and soft consonants
5.13 Introduction to sandhi rules
5.14 Primary and secondary suffixes
Lesson 6
6.1 Possessive suffix -in
6.2 "Subjective genitive" and "objective genitive"
6.3 Future passive participles (FPP. Also known as gerundive)
6.4 Relatives
6.5 Numerals (cardinals)
Lesson 7
7.1 Declension of bhagavant (m)
7.2 Possessive suffixes '-mant' and '-vant'
7.3 The Future Tense
7.4 Compounds -- dvandva and tatpurus.a
7.5 Infinitive
7.6 Verbs formed from noun/adjective + √bhu and + √kr
7.7 Declension of the demonstrative asau (m)
7.8 Declension of the demonstrative adah (n)
7.9 Declension of the demonstrative asau (f)
Lesson 8
8.1 Declension of noun ending in -an: atman, rajan,karrnan, naman
8.2 Class II verbs
8.3 Verb standing at the beginning of a sentence
8.4 The Passive Voice
8.5 Present participles (PrP)
8.6 Karmadharaya compound
8.7 Avyayibhava compound
Lesson 9
9.1 Declension of manas (n) and sumanas (m,f)
9.2 Declension of ayus (n)
9.3 Declension of sampad (f), vac (vak) (f)
9.4 Some irregular declensions: gramanih (m),pathin (m)
9.5 Class IX verbs
9.6 The imperative mood (ipv)
9.7 Numbers (ordinal)
Lesson 10
10.1 Declension of agent nouns
10.2 Periphrastic Future
10.3 Conjugation of Class V Verbs
10.4 Conjugation of Class VIII Verbs
10.5 The optative mode
10.6 Bahuvrihi compounds
Lesson 11
11.1 Past Participle Active (PPA)
11.2 Conjugation of Class HI verbs
11.3 The imperfect tense
11.4 Conjugation of the present and imperfect of √budh, √jna and √da
11.5 Locative Absolute and Genitive Absolute
Lesson 12
12.1 Class VII verbs
12.2 Conditional tense (condl)
12.3 The