An Introduction to the Grammar of the Tibetan Language

by Sarat Chandra Das

The present work is designed not only to help the general reader to grasp the grammatical structure of the Tibetan language in his endeavour to study the general literature of Tibet, but also the Buddhist scholar who is particularly interested in the vast Tibetan literature, which includes almost all the Buddhist works of India. It will prove equally useful for a Sanskrit student who will discover herein a key to unlock the immense volumes-faithful translations of the Sanskrit texts-which exist in Tibetan language on the manners, customs, opinions, knowledge, ignorance, superstitions, hopes and fears of the great part of Asia, especially, India in former days.

The work contains all the requisites of an elementary grammar. It undertakes to analyze and classify the grammatical forms of the Tibetan language. It recounts all the parts of Speech, the Declension and Conjugation systems, Pronunciation, Syntax and Prosody. As exercises in grammatical rules it contains specimens of composition from the standards works, particularly the extracts from the text of Situ Sum-Tag, the exhaustive Commentary on Thonmi Sam Bhota's Sum-Chu-pa, Tag-jug-pa, Dag-je-Salwai Melong and others. In this work the author has followed the monumental work of Alexander Csoma de Koros, supplementing it here and there with materials drawn from Situ-Sum-Tag, the exhaustive commentary on Thonmi Sam Bhota's Sum-Chu-pa and Tag-jug-pa.