This document presents guidelines for the creation of digital texts in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and other Indian languages.

These guidelines are maintained by SARIT (http://sarit.indology.info). SARIT maintains a collection of digital texts that conform to the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI) and provides tools for browsing and seaching these texts. These guidelines have two main purposes:

• to document the standards that the SARIT project has followed in the creation of its own digital texts;
• to provide guidance for how to apply the TEI standards to texts in Sanskrit and other Indian languages;
• to promote the production of TEI-conformant digital texts in the community of Indian studies.

The guidelines come in two varieties: simple and full.

• The simple guidelines (this document) document the minimal level of encoding that SARIT requires of texts in its collections. These guidelines provide a straightforward path “from printed edition to digital text,” and should suffice for the purposes of most projects.
• The full guidelines supplement the simple guidelines. The TEI standards that SARIT follows allow for encoding features of a text that aren’t typically included in “plain” digital texts. The full guidelines provide guidance for these advanced features. If you want your digital text to reflect textual variation (in the form of a critical apparatus or otherwise), cross-references within the text or references to other texts, or any kind of controlled vocabulary (persons, works, places, etc.), then the full guidelines are for you.

Texts that are encoded according to the simple guidelines can always be “enhanced” at a later stage with the markup described in the full guidelines.

Digital texts come in a variety of formats, but the texts distributed by SARIT are XML files that conform to standards of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI).

Elements can be nested within each other:

Elements can also be given attributes:

In a well-formed XML document, every starting tag corresponds to an ending tag, and vice versa, and all of the elements are arranged hierarchically and without overlapping. But in order to be useful, the document must use elements in a well-defined and standardized way. A document that formally defines what elements may be used in an XML document, and how they may be used, is called a schema.

Once you have well-formed and valid XML, what can you do with it? There are many computer programs that can read an XML text and do all sorts of interesting things. One of the first things you may want to do is to check that the file you have painstakingly prepared really is well-formed. That is the work of a so-called "XML Parser." It can check your text and flag up inconsistencies in the markup, making sure that it validates against a schema. But that is only the beginning.

Since XML provides a structure that computers can easily navigate, it is easy to find any part of a document. You can index these parts in a database for searching, or you can transform them into a format that human beings can read: HTML, RTF, or PDF. XML texts can be converted into almost any other format, or processed in many complicated ways using a super-strength version of search-and-replace called XSLT.

One of the advantages of using TEI is the ability to include all kinds of structured metadata. When we create a SARIT document, we are not just transcribing the text, but also providing the following:

• cataloguing information, for example the title and author of the text;
• information about the document’s source, such as the edition that the

digital text is based upon;

• legal information, such as the license and authority under which the text

is made available;

• information about the encoding of the document; and
• information about the revisions that have been made to the document over

the course of its history.

All of this information is provided in a section of the document called the header, which is contained in the element <teiHeader>. <teiHeader> is a direct child of the top-level element <TEI>. And since the metadata will typically be in English, we typically specify the language of the <teiHeader> element with xml:lang set to en. The TEI Header has three obligatory sections: one for the description of the file (<fileDesc>), one for the description of the file’s encoding (<encodingDesc>), and one to record the file’s history (<revisionDesc>). We’ll talk about these three sections in order. But SARIT also provides a template document that shows how the header should be structured (https://github.com/sarit/SARIT-corpus/blob/master/00-sarit-tei-header-template.xml).

It is important to distinguish between the work and a specific representation of that work. A work is an abstract object, such as Hamlet or Abhijñānaśakuntalā considered as ideas in the mind. A printed edition of a work and a digital edition of a work are both representations. In most cases a specific printed edition will be the source of the digital edition and must be acknowledged as such. Since printed editions are protected by copyright laws—although not to the same degree in all jurisdictions—you must ensure that you are legally entitled to use the printed edition as the source of the digital edition.

The rest of these guidelines will concern the text’s data rather than its metadata. All of this data is contained in the element <text> that immediately follows the TEI Header. The <text> element must contain a <body> element which represents the body of the text; it might also contain <front> and <back> elements, representing any front matter or back matter, respectively. The <text> element must also have an xml:lang attribute that tells us what language and what script the text contained therein is written in. Here is an example for a text encoded in Roman transliteration:

And an example for a text encoded in Devanāgarī:

The <text> element is the last child element of <TEI>.

A single document might contain more than one text. In particular, a single document will very often contain a commentary together with the text that it is a commentary on, hence known as the “base text.” You may only be interested in the base text, or only in the commentary. But you may also want to encode both texts, and in that case you will also want to make the relationship between the texts explicit. There are, in general, two options for encoding a base text with its commentary:

• Together. The base text and the commentary are encoded in a single

document.

• Separate. The base text and the commentary are encoded in separate

documents. They are linked to each other (i.e., the commentary includes references to the base text) through the procedures described in the full version of the guidelines.

For example, SARIT includes a text of the Daśarūpaka of Dhanañjaya, together with the Avaloka commentary by Dhanañjaya’s brother Dhanika. These two texts are encoded in a single document. A further commentary on the two texts, the Laghuṭīkā of Bhaṭṭa Nṛsiṃha, is encoded in a separate document that refers back to the original document.

Generally speaking, if the base text and commentary are printed in the same register on the page (the base text being in a larger font or in bold, see below example 1), it makes sense to encode them together; if the base text and commentary are printed in separate registers (see below example 2), it is easier to encode them separately.

These guidelines will tell you how to encode the base text and the commentary together. Please consult the full version for guidance on how to encode them separately.

5.2. Enclose the base text and commentary in a division

In almost every case, the structure of the base text and commentary will be the same. This means that a given reference, such as 1.4.5, should be able to identify both the base text and the corresponding section of commentary. The easiest way to accomplish this is to put the base text and the corresponding section of commentary within a single structural division. This enclosing division is meant to gather the two texts together for the purposes of display and reference.

The “section of a commentary” that corresponds to a section of the base text will often take the form of an optional avataraṇikā, the base text, and then a more extensive commentary. This should all be enclosed within a <div> element, as follows:

<div n="249">  <p>स्वसम्वेदनमाख्यातुमाह (।)</p>  <quote type="base-text">   <lg n="249">    <l>अशक्यसमयो ह्यात्मा रागादीनामनन्यभाक् ।</l>    <l>तेषामतः स्वसंवित्तिर्न्नाभिजल्पानुषङ्गिणी ॥ २४९ ॥</l>   </lg>  </quote>  <p>रागद्वेषसुखदुःखादीनां सर्व्वचित्तचैत्तानामात्मसंवेदनं प्रत्यक्षमविकल्पत्वात् ।</p>  <p>तथा हि । ... न शब्दसंगतः । (२४९)</p> </div>

Note that an n attribute is assigned to the enclosing division. This is optional, but it helps to identify the section of the commentary with the verse-number of the base text that it comments upon (which is identical with the n attribute of the quoted <lg> element). The enclosing division may also have a type attribute, such as type="sūtra", which tells us that it gathers the portion of the commentary that concerns a given sūtra. This attribute, too, is optional.

Here is an example without an avataraṇikā:

<div n="7">  <quote type="base-text">   <lg n="7">    <l>अशेषशक्तिप्रचितात्प्रधानादेव केवलात् ।</l>    <l>कार्यभेदाः प्रवर्त्तन्ते तद्रूपा एव भावतः ॥ ७ ॥</l>   </lg>  </quote>  <p>यदशेषाभिर्महदादिकार्यग्रामजनिकाभिरात्मभूताभिः शक्तिभिः, प्रचितम्—युक्तं सत्वरजस्तमसां साम्यावस्थालक्षणं प्रधानम्, तत एवैते महदादयः कार्यभेदाः प्रवर्त्तन्ते इति कापिलाः । ...</p> </div>

5.3. Several sections of the base text corresponding to one section of commentary

It may be the case that a commentary will skip one section of the base text, or comment on several sections of the base text at the same time. In such cases, the enclosing division will simply include more than one section of the base text. The label (n) for this division will include all of the sections of the base text that are comprised in the division. For example, a section of commentary that comments upon two sūtras of the base text:

<div n="10 11" type="sūtra">  <quote type="base-text">   <ab n="10" type="sūtra">प्रकृतिविकृत्योश्च ॥</ab>   <ab n="11" type="sūtra">वृद्धिश्च कर्तृभूम्नास्य ॥</ab>  </quote>  <p>प्रकृतिविकारभावञ्च शब्दज्ञाः स्मरन्ति ; न चायं नित्यस्योपपद्यते ; तस्मात् स्मृतिरपि पूर्वोक्तहेत्वनुगुणैव । सादृश्यमप्यनुगुणमुपलभामह इत्युपपन्नं कार्यत्वम् ॥</p> </div>

There are many Sanskrit words for sections of a text: sarga, adhyāya, aṅka, pariccheda, ucchvāsa, etc. The encoding of these sections should meet several requirements:

• the XML document itself should be valid;
• the structure of the XML document reflects the logical structure of the text;
• a standard reference system should be able to use the structure of the XML document as a proxy for the structure of the text;
• texts in the corpus are broadly consistent in the encoding strategy used for these sections.

The strategy followed in the text can be, and should be, documented in the reference declaration (<refsDecl>), which is part of the encoding description (<encodingDesc>) in the TEI Header (see above).

6.2. Headings and trailers

Headings and trailers are short “paratexts” that announce the beginning or end of a section. These may be original to the text, or added by scribes or even the editor: the general rule, however, is that if it is included in the printed text, it should be included in the digital text; if you determine that the editor or a scribe was in fact responsible for adding some or all of these “paratexts,” TEI allows you to hold him responsible and ultimately filter out such interventions if desired. See “holding people responsible” in the SARIT Full guidelines.

6.2.1. Headings

Some sections of the text will begin with a heading, most often a short introductory phrase (e.g., अथ भावाधिकरणम्). We encode these heading with the TEI element <head>. There can be more than one <head> element at the beginning of a section:

<text xml:lang="sa-Deva">  <body>   <head>श्रीः</head>   <head>अभिनवभारती</head>    ...  </body> </text>

In addition to the headings printed in the text, the heading element is a convenient place to put chapter or section titles for a table of contents, especially if there are no printed headings, or if they would be unsuitable for a table of contents. This is also a way to use English or transliterated titles within a Sanskrit text (using, of course, the relevant xml:lang attribute). You are therefore encouraged to use the special element

<head type="toc"/>

, which will supply the title of the section in question to the table of contents, but which is itself suppressed in the browsing display on the SARIT website. For example:

<div n="1">  <head>अथ प्रथमपरिच्छेदः</head>  <head type="toc" xml:lang="en">First chapter</head> ... </div>

6.2.2. Trailers

SARIT uses the TEI element <trailer> for those short pieces of text (often called colophons) that come at the end of a section. <trailer> should typically be the final element in the element that it closes.

<trailer>॥ इति बृहत्यां प्रथमाध्यायस्य प्रथमः पादः समाप्तः ॥</trailer>

SARIT recommends encoding the page and, where possible, line numbers of the source edition for purposes of reference. (The digital text will have its own lineation and pagination depending on the media in which it is viewed.) These are encoded as “milestone” elements, that is, single elements that mark the transition from one unit to the text. Sometimes other kinds of milestones besides lines and pages are noted in source editions, for example manuscript folios. Specific guidelines for the use of these elements are provided below.

7.1. Lines

If you choose to encode line-breaks at all, every single line-break of the source edition must be explicitly represented in the digital texts. Whenever a new line begins in the source edition, the element <lb> must appear, whether it occurs within a prose paragraph, or at the end of a prose paragraph; within a metrical line of verse, or at the end of such a line. If line-breaks are encoded consistently, there is no need to assign them a numeric label, because the line-number can be automatically determined

The <lb> element is assumed to refer to line-breaks in the principal source of the digital text. (If you wish to encode line-breaks of another edition, use the ed attribute to refer to it, and see the section on internal references in the full version of the guidelines.)

SARIT distinguishes two types of line breaks:

• an <lb> between words: e.g.,
  उक्तं <lb/>च
• an <lb> in the middle of a word, and thus after an end-of-line hyphen. SARIT uses the break attribute to specify that the element "is considered not to mark the end of any adjacent orthographic token"; the hyphen itself is not encoded. For example:
  शं<lb break="no"/>करः

Prose paragraphs should be encoded using TEI’s <p> element.

SARIT uses the <lg> element, a “line group,” for metrical verses. A verse contains a number of metrical lines, which are encoded with the <l> element. You can think of a line in the context of verse as anything that ends in a daṇḍa or a double daṇḍa. The only elements permitted in the <lg> element are line elements (<l>) and labels (<label>), besides milestone elements (<pb> and <lb>). Verses that are numbered in the edition should also be given a label (n) by which they can be easily identified. Generally the verse numbers in the printed text, however, should also be represented as text. That is, the number of the verse is included both in the n attribute of the verse element <lg>, and at the end of the second line, as follows:

Metrical lines are not typographic lines. A typographic line break, encoded as <lb>, might occur in the middle of, or at the end of, a metrical line. A metrical line usually consists of two metrical quarters (pādas), and thus a verse usually consists of four quarters. The juncture between two quarters is a kind of break or pause, and therefore we encode it using the TEI element <caesura>.

Why do we use both <caesura> and <lb>? The <caesura> element encodes an element of metrical structure that often motivates or explains the way the verse has been set on the page in the source edition. The <lb> element may thus coincide with a <caesura> element, but its primary purpose is to count the number of line breaks on a page. For example, a digital text that does not render line-breaks at all might encode the following verse:

The lineation of the source edition does not always reflect this structure. Here is one possible representation:

When the line is broken in the middle of a word, use the break attribute with a value of no rather than hard-coding a hyphen into the text, as noted in the section on milestones above:

The common āryā meter and its relatives call for some comment: they are sometimes thought of as having four quarters, and sometimes not. SARIT recommends the use of the <caesura> element to represent the yati between the first and second half of the line, when it is present; when the yati is absent, the <caesura> element may be omitted. For example:

9.2. Fragments of verses

Sometimes the parts of a verse are broken up within a text, for example when a commentator breaks up a verse to discuss its components separately. In these cases, every verse-fragment should be contained in an <lg> element with the attributes next, prev, or both.

All of the verse-fragments should have an identifying label (a, b, c, etc.), e.g.

<lg n="27c"/>

. The value of next and prev should refer to these identifying labels, e.g.,

<lg n="27c" next="27d"/>

.

The labelling convention will allow applications to identify “verse 27” as the sum of its parts in case there is no element

<lg n="27"/>

to be found. However, it will not join fragmentary <l> elements into a single element. Therefore it is recommended to use the part attribute on any fragmentary <l> elements: I for an initial fragment (e.g., pādas a or c) and F for a final fragment (e.g., pādas b or d), or M for a medial fragment if such a case occurs.

<div>  <div type="section" n="27c">   <p>    <hi>परिन्यास</hi>माह—</p>   <quote type="base-text">    <lg n="27c" prev="27b" next="27d">     <l part="I">तन्निष्पत्तिः परिन्यासोn</l>    </lg>   </quote>   <p>यथा तत्रैव <note>(रत्ना॰ १।८)</note>—<lg>     <l>प्रारम्भेऽस्मिन् स्वामिनो वृद्धिहेतौ दैवे चेत्थं दत्तहस्तावलम्बने ।</l>     <l>सिद्धेर्भ्रान्तिर्नास्ति सत्यं तथापि स्वेच्छाकारी भीत एवास्मि भर्तुः ॥</l>    </lg>      इत्यनेन यौगन्धरायणः स्वव्यापारस्य दैवयोगात् निष्पत्तिमुक्तवानिति परिन्यासः ।</p>  </div>  <div type="section" n="27d">   <p>    <term>विलोभन</term>माह—</p>   <quote type="base-text">    <lg n="27d" prev="27c">     <l part="F">गुणाख्यानाद् विलोभनम् ॥ २७ ॥</l>    </lg>   </quote>  </div> </div>

<div n="210">  <quote type="base-text">   <lg n="210a" next="210b">    <l>किं स्यात् सा चित्रतैकस्यां;</l>   </lg>  </quote>  <p>ननु यदि सा चित्रता बुद्धावेकस्यां स्यात् तया च चित्रमेकं द्रव्यं व्यवस्थाप्येत (।) तदा कि दूषणं स्यात् ।</p>  <p>आह (।)</p>  <quote type="base-text">   <lg n="210b" prev="210a" next="210c">    <l>न स्यात्तस्यां मतावपि ।</l>   </lg>  </quote>  <p>न केवलं द्रव्ये तस्यां मतावप्येकस्यां न स्या च्चित्रता । आकारनानात्वलक्षणत्वाद् भेदस्य । नानात्वेपि चित्रता कथम् (।) अनेकपुरुषप्रतीतिवत् ।</p>  <p>कथन्तर्हि प्रतीतिरित्याह (।)</p>  <quote type="base-text">   <lg n="210c" prev="210b">    <l>यदीदं स्वयमर्थानां रोचते तत्र के वयम् ॥ २१० ॥</l>   </lg>  </quote>  <p>   <q>यदीद</q>मताद्रूप्येपि ताद्रूप्यप्रथनमर्थानां भासमानानां नीलादीनां स्वयमपरप्रेरणया रोचते । तत्र तथाप्रतिभासे के वयमसहमानाऽ(? अ) पि निषेद्धुं । अवस्तु च प्रतिभासते चेति व्यक्तमालीक्यं । (२१०)</p> </div>

Sūtras are like paragraphs, but they are often formatted differently (without indentation, for example) and they do not have the “semantic baggage” of a prose paragraph. SARIT recommends the use of the <ab> element (“anonymous block”) with the attribute type set to sutra.

In the following example, the <ab> element includes, in addition to the text of the sūtra, two typed labels that provide, respectively, the serial number of the adhikaraṇa in which the sutra occurs, and the position (pūrvapakṣa, uttarapakṣa, or siddhānta) that the sūtra represents.

SARIT uses the core elements of the TEI’s drama module for Sanskrit plays. Plays usually consist of divisions, such as an aṅka, in which various characters speak lines in prose or verse. The standard element for a “line” in this sense is <sp>: this contains the lines spoken by the character, either as prose (<p>) or verse (<lg>).

The <sp> element may also contain a label for the speaker and stage directions. The speaker is encoded in the element <speaker>, and stage directions in the element <stage>. You should omit any formatting the editor has used to distinguish these elements.

The source edition will sometimes have labels added by the editor, which help to identify sections (below the level of the sections explicitly encoded as <div> elements), positions in an argument (pūrvapakṣa, uttarapakṣa, siddhānta), or other features of the text. It will also sometimes have notes, whether those are represented as footnotes, endnotes, or otherwise. It is possible to represent both labels and notes using TEI’s <label> and <note> elements.

In the example below the labels might be encoded as follows:

Notes are often represented in printed editions with a note marker in the main text, and the note text either at the bottom of the page (as footnotes) or at the end of the chapter or text (as endnotes). SARIT embeds notes into the text in their proper place. That is, wherever you see a note marker in the text, that is where you should place the <note> element.

The content of the <note> element depends on the type of note that it represents. Typically, however, notes will contain a <p> element. For text-critical notes, the simple version of the guidelines recommends the use of prose paragraphs; more sophisticated methods are available in the full version of the guidelines.

Attention must also be paid to the language of the note, since in many cases it will differ from the language of the surrounding text. It is good practice to use the xml:lang attribute to identify the language of any element that differs from its parent element. This also includes sections of Sanskrit text quoted in notes, for which you may use the <foreign> element. For example:

Note, finally, that editors will often insert references into the text itself, and you are encouraged to use the <note> element for these additions, as in the following example. (See the full version of the guidelines for instructions regarding pointing references and canonical reference schemes.)

For the simple level of text encoding, we recommend encoding quotations “as-is.” That is, if the editor has used quotation marks or double quotation marks, put them into the digital text; if the editor has used bold-face text to represent quotations, use the <hi> tag (for “highlighted”). The reason for encoding quotations “as-is” is the possibility that identifying the beginning and end of quotations may require extensive checking by skilled readers, and the frequency with which quotations are represented inconsistently in printed editions. Of course, if project resources allow, quotations can be encoded by following the suggestions in the full version of the guidelines.

13.1. Where do I put इति?

The particle इति, which marks quotations in Sanskrit, can be tricky: it often combines with the previous or following word, which can often mean that there is no typographic separation between a “verse” and the prose it’s embedded in. While there are ways of marking the beginning and ending of quotations, discussed more extensively in the SARIT Full guidelines, we don’t worry about quotations in SARIT Simple, and we are free to adopt the following straightforward principle: follow the typography of the printed edition.

If the edition prints इति on the same line as the verse, include it there, within the <l> element; if it prints इति on a following line, then put it outside of the <lg> element.

<lg>  <l>"वस्तूपलक्षणं यत्र सर्वाम् प्रसज्यते ।</l>  <l>द्रव्यमित्युच्यते सोऽर्थो भेद्यत्वेन विवक्षितः ॥" इति ।</l> </lg>

<lg>  <l>एकप्रत्यवमर्षस्य हेतुत्वाद्धीरभेदिनी</l>  <l>एकधा हेतुभावेन व्यक्तीनामप्यभिन्नतेति ॥ (२५)</l> </lg>

<p>तदयुक्तं । <lg>   <l>"तद्गतावेव शब्देभ्यो गम्यतेऽन्यनिवर्त्तनं ।</l>   <l>न तत्र गम्यते कश्चिद्विशिष्टः केनचित्पर" ॥</l>  </lg> (प्र. वा. १ । १२८) इति ग्रन्थविरोधात् । नीरूपस्य चास्तित्वविरोधाच्छशविषाणवत् । नीरूपत्वा- देव च न तस्याः प्रत्यक्षं ग्राहकं नाप्यनुमानं । सम्बन्धाभावात् ।</p>

• base text: The text on which the current text is a commentary.

Since a base text only makes sense in relation to a commentary on it, this term is only used within a commentary. Sections of the base text that are quoted in the commentary (the current text) are enclosed in <quote> elements with the @type="base-text".

• mūla: see base text.
• root text: see base text.