Ancient Pedagogy for the Modern Classroom: The Case for Grammar Poetry

Aleksandar Uskokov

Yale University

This presentation looks at the pedagogical value of a genre of Sanskrit writing called śāstra-kāvya, “scientific poetry,” specifically at the poem Rāvaṇa-vadha by Bhaṭṭi (ca. 7th century AD), a retelling of the Rāmāyaṇa in highly ornate Sanskrit meant to teach the rules of Pāṇini’s grammar. I have used the Rāvaṇa-vadha throughout my teaching career as a “practice resource” for some less common features of the classical language, such as the aorist tense or the conditional mode, as well as the basics of Sanskrit prosody, and here I wish to share my experiences with it on the one hand and to advocate for the usefulness of traditional “pedagogical materials” on the other.

BIO: Aleksandar Uskokov is the Sanskrit lector at Yale University, where he teaches Sanskrit at all levels and courses in Hinduism and Indian philosophy. He holds a PhD from the University of Chicago and is currently working on a book on the philosophy of the Brahma-sūtra. Aleksandar has published Macedonian translations of select Upaniṣads, Kālidāsa’s Abhijñāna-Śākuntalam, the Nalopakhyāna, and the Hitopadeśa.