LANGUAGES PROGRAM

The South Asia Council houses a growing program in South Asian languages for undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, we offer instruction in three languages – Hindi, Tamil, and Sanskrit. Students can satisfy their Language requirements at Yale by taking any of these languages.

If there are South Asian languages you want to learn, but don’t see offered at Yale, contact us! We can help you find a teacher through the Center for Language Studies, or a summer program where your needs will be met. We also maintain a database of intensive Summer Language programs for South Asian Languages in South Asia and the US.

We can offer some support for summer language programs. Please contact us for more information.

contact:
Ashwini Deo
South Asian Languages Program
203-432-8289

Language Lectors

TAMIL | Blake Wentworth: PhD. University of Chicago 2009. He will be joining us from Cornell University where he is Visiting Assistant Professor. His dissertation title is, “Yearning for a Dreamed Real: The procession of the Lord in Tamil Ulas.” Blake’s area of specialty is the history of religions in pre-modern India, concentrating on their Sanskrit and Tamil literary expressions. He looks at studies that range from Tamil court poetry of the Chola imperium to Ramanuja’s exposition of non-dualism, from the Buddhist epistemology of Dharmakirti to Bharavi’s Sanskrit masterpiece Kiratarjuniya. Blake Wentworth will be offering an L5 course on The Tamil Literary Tradition.

SANSKRIT | David Brick: PhD. Asian Cultures and Languages at University of Texas at Austin, 2009. His dissertation comprises a critical edition and translation of the Danakanda, a twelfth-century work by Laksmidhara, which constitutes the fifth section of his encyclopedic Krtyakalpataru. David Brick will offer an L5 course on Law and Religion in Ancient India.

HINDI | Swapna Sharma: PhD. University of Agra 1991. Her PhD dissertation is on Gadadhar Bhatt: Tradition and Literary work (Parampara aur Sahitya). Her dissertation does an analysis of the literary writings of Gadadhar Bhatt, a leading figure in Caitanyaite Vaisnavism of the resurgence of Krishna bhakti in the 16th century in Vrindaban, India. Swapna Sharma will offer an L5 course on Medieval Bhakti Literature.

HINDI | Seema Khurana: MA. Indira Gandhi National Open University. Seema Khurana is a Senior Hindi Lector at Yale University since 2001. She is constantly developing materials for teaching Hindi as well as introducing new courses to meet the demands of the students. Khurana started 'Sandeshi', a project of nostalgia and passion, giving voice to Hindi literature and bringing it to life. Seema has published and presented her short stories, poems and play in India and America.