Any PhD student who has completed, with honor grades, two years of full-time study (16 applicable half-courses) will qualify for the degree of AM in the appropriate area as a record of attainment, which the department will recommend upon application by the student. Exceptionally students who specifically wish to acquire language skills may be admitted to an AM program for a terminal AM degree in Sanskrit or Tibetan.

        **To Apply For Admission**

The Sanskrit and Indian Studies Department does not mail out admission, financial aid or application materials. These mailings are handled directly by the GSAS Admissions Office. You may request an application from them by clicking on the link below or by calling them at (617) 495-5315. If you prefer, you may click here to apply on-line.

Course requirements.

General requirements: For the PhD: Sixteen half-courses and a minimum of two years in residence. Students are expected to continue with advanced language coursework in each semester of residence. For the AM: Eight half-courses and at least one year in residence, although two years are usually needed to complete the necessary requirements.

Core requirements/AM: Two half-courses of seminars, two half-courses in classi­cal Sanskrit or Tibetan literature at the advanced level, and four half-courses in the student's special field, including related courses in other departments. An AM thesis is also required.

Core requirements/PhD: Two half-courses of seminars, a minimum of four half-courses in Classical Sanskrit or Tibetan at the advanced level, two half-courses in a second South Asian language, and eight other half-courses in the student's special fields, including related courses in other departments.

Language requirements: AM: Reading knowledge of either French or German must be documented before the student is admitted to the AM examination, and no later than the end of the first year of study. PhD : Written examinations in two modern research languages, generally French and German, must be passed with an honors grade by the end of the second year of residence. Another modern language relevant to the student's special field, but not the student's native language, may be substituted for one, but not both of the required languages.

Not all fields and subfields of Sanskrit and South Asian/Tibetan and Himalayan civilization are taught in the department, so to fulfill the requirements students can expand their studies into other, related, fields of special interest, whenever courses in these fields can be taken at Harvard, or occasionally outside Harvard. A complete listing is found in the Courses of Instruction and the Guide to South Asian Studies.

The students are encouraged to spend a year in South Asia, Tibet, or Inner Asia.

General Examinations.

AM Examinations. Two written translations (not to exceed three hours) of texts chosen from a specified reading list and an oral exam in the student's special field. A dictionary is not permitted for the translation exams.

PhD Examinations. Students are expected to take their general examinations no later than the middle of their third year in the program. There are four written examinations, each up to three hours. 1) Translation, without dictionary, from a Sanskrit or Tibetan text of average difficulty. 2) Translation, with dictionary, of texts in the student's special field, with a discus­sion of textual problems, thematic issues, etc. 3) A general exam in South Asian studies based on reading lists put together by the student in consultation with the director of graduate studies. 4) An examination in the student's special field, in which students must show familiarity with both primary texts and secondary scholarship. 5) An optional fifth exam in a secondary field or discipline, often involving a faculty member from another department. Upon passing the qualifying exams students will be expected to complete a dissertation prospectus no later than the fall term of their fourth year, and will be expected to complete two chapters of their dissertation no later than the fall term of their sixth year. Many students apply for travel fellowships in their fourth year and spend a part of their fifth year in the field.

Prospectus and Thesis.

After passing general exams, and no later than the end of the fall semester of the fourth year, doctoral students must submit a prospectus of their dissertation. Once the prospectus has been approved, a public defense of the prospectus will take place with the prospectus committee, other interested faculty, students, etc. It is recommended that the prospectus be in the range of fifteen to twenty pages and include: 1) a clear statement of the dissertation project, its central problems and methodology; 2) its place in the context of related scholarship; 3) its importance to the field. The prospectus should also include a chapter outline and extensive bibliography.

Thesis
AM Thesis: The AM thesis will be a substantial paper demonstrating the student's knowledge of primary texts, and the scholarly literature and methodologies appropriate to the topic of the student's choice. The topic will be determined by the student in consultation with his or her advisor. A typ­ical AM thesis is expected to be approximately 75 pages in length.

PhD Dissertation: The dissertation should not exceed 75,000 words or 300 pages in length. It must be a substantial and original piece of work that demonstrates mastery of the field and the student's chosen topic. The dissertation committee normally consists of three members, including the dissertation advisor. Two members of the committee must be members of the Faculty of Arts and Sci­ences. Frequently, the committee will include at least one member from outside the department, and occasionally one from outside the University. The director of grad­uate studies must approve the proposed dissertation committee. By the beginning of the fall semester of their sixth year, students are expected to have completed two chapters of their dissertation. After this they are expected produce at least one acceptable chap­ter of the dissertation each semester. The dissertation must be an original work demon­strating the candidate's ability to do independent research in the special field. The format of the dissertation must conform to the requirements described in the Uni­versity publication The Form of the PhD Dissertation (www.gsas.harvard.edu/aca-demic/dissertation.html), and to any further requirements of style and form specified by the department. After it is completed, the dissertation must be submitted to the dissertation committee (at least 2 months before the official deadline) and be publicly defended in a round-table discussion that includes members of the dissertation committee and other interested parties.