Kathakusumasaurabham

Kathākusumasaurabham the ninth book by Nityānanda Miśra, a well-known Sanskrit scholar and author. The book teaches introductory Sanskrit the practical way: through short stories in Sanskrit with their Hindi and English word-for-word meanings and translations and a Sanskrit commentary. The stories chosen for the book are the 25 stories (most of them fables) in the work Kathākusumam (“the flower of stories”) of Pandit Ambikādatta Vyāsa (1858–1900). The Kathākusumasaurabham (“the fragrance of the flower of stories”) presents the 25 stories in the Kathākusumam with 9 fragrances. Āmodaḥ (“a very far-reaching fragrance”) offers word-for-word Hindi translation. Suvāsaḥ (“an agreeable fragrance”) presents Hindi prose translation. Gandhasāraḥ (“the essence of a perfume”, also a word for sandalwood) presents the essence of the story through a popular Hindi verse, aphorism or proverb. Samākarṣī (“a far-spreading fragrance”) offers word-for-word English translation. Nirhārī (“a diffusive fragrance”) has the English prose translation. Mahakkaḥ (“a wide spreading fragrance”) presents the essence of story as an English proverb or aphorism. Parimalaḥ (“an enchanting fragrance”) is the Sanskrit commentary on the story. Adhivāsaḥ (“a superior fragrance”, also a word for application of perfumes) presents the essence of the story using a Sanskrit quote or subhāṣita. Ghrāṇatarpaṇaḥ (“a nose-satisfying fragrance”) has versified summary of the story by Pandit Maheśa Jhā. In addition to the nine fragrances, each chapter has a Gandhasaṃskāraḥ (“education of fragrances”) section, which introduces the reader to inflections and conjugations of an example word and an example root from the story, and a Ghrāṇaparīkṣā (“the smelling test”) section, which has exercises that test the reader’s understanding. Each story has an illustration to pique the interest of young learners. Foreword by Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi (in Hindi), Prof. Madhav Deshpande (in English), Prof. Balram Shukla(in Sanskrit).