How to use Amarahasa

Sanskrit is an ancient language, but we can learn it the same way we learn any other language: by massive exposure to content we like and understand. This kind of content is called input, and it's the critical ingredient for acquiring a new language at an explosive rate.

Our free Sanskrit library is specially designed to be a rich source of Sanskrit input. All you have to do is keep reading things you like – no homework, drills, or memorizing necessary.

How to read Sanskrit letters

Sanskrit can be written in many different scripts. At Amarahasa, we use romanized Sanskrit because English speakers can learn it in just a few minutes.

If you want to learn romanized Sanskrit, we recommend this resource from the University of British Columbia. Just click on a letter to hear how it sounds.

If you can already read another Indian script, you can use this menu to change the script that Amarahasa uses:

How to choose a book

The fewer unique words a book has, the easier it is. If you're reading Sanskrit for the first time, try choosing a book with 10 or fewer unique words. And whenever you're ready, work your way up to something more challenging.

Ultimately, you choose what you want to read. Choose whatever you think looks interesting. And if a book is boring, skip it and try something else. After all, there's plenty more to choose from!

How to get help

Each of our books has a secret feature: you can click on any word in the book to see what it means. Here's an example to show what we mean:

The more you click, the more help you get. For example, try clicking the word sundarī three times. Each time you click, we translate a little bit more of the sentence. (And if you like grammar, you can click the Grammar link to learn more about a given word.)