The Concise Sanskrit English Dictionary (An Old and Rare Book)

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During the pretty long period that I was doing the work of a teacher in one of the largest high schools in the Bombay Presidency, I observed no need more keenly felt by High School and College students than that of a Sanskrit-English dictionary, which met all their requirements and was at once concise, cheap and handy. There are no doubt excellent lexicons in existence compiled by eminent scholars like the late Principal V.S. Apte and L. R. Vaidya, but their bulkiness and cost prohibit a large number of students from enjoying an advantage so necessary in their study of Sanskrit. Besides the long explanations and exhaustive meanings of words intermixed with quotations from standard works in Sanskrit literature, which form the chief merit of the two scholarly and invaluable works above referred to, embarrass rather than help the students who have limited intelligence and time at their disposal. There is, therefore, a crying need of a dictionary which supplies everything required by an ordinary student of Sanskrit in his school and college career and which is at the same time characterised by brevity and cheapness. These considerations form my apology for ushering into existence the present complication, which, it is hoped, will serve the purpose for which it is intended.

Having the requirements of students constantly in view I have endeavoured in the present work to keep out all those Sanskrit words, which are hardly, if ever, used in ordinary text-books used by students and in order to secure compactness I had often recourse to eschewing all technicalities as well as words which even an ordinary intelligence and common sense told every student to be simple derivatives of some given word. Thus I have endeavoured to reduce the bulk of the dictionary without com-promising its usefulness to students.

I can lay no pretensions to originality in the compilation of this work nor can I claim by any manner or means immunity from mistakes either of matter or of printing. I am indeed fully con-scious of the several errors that have surreptiously crept both in compilation and printing. Nonetheless I venture to give this book into the hands of my young friends with full confidence that in spite of all its shortcomings it will serve to some extent to lighten their labours and to guide them along the path of their Study of Sanskrit literature.

I cannot conclude this preface without acknowledging my indebtedness to the authors of works upon which I have freely drawn in the compilation of this dictionary. Lexicons compiled by eminent scholars like Monier Williams, H. H. Wilson, the late Principal V. S. Apte, the late Mr. L. R. Vaidya, Mr. MadhAve Chandrob (author of the Shabdaratnaar) and similar work of Bengali scholars, such as the Shabdakalpadruma and the Shab-darthamanjari have rendered me invaluable help for which I cannot be too thankful to their authors.

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