Sourcing & editorial policy
A mantra, aarti, or chalisa carries weight for the person reciting it. Getting a line wrong isn't a typo the way it would be on an ordinary web page — it's a mistake in something someone is chanting with intention. This page explains how a text ends up in the Learn library, and how we check it before it does.
What "verified" means here
Before a text is published, we compare at least two sources that were genuinely transcribed independently of each other — not two pages that happen to display the same words. Two copies that share the same unusual typo, the same odd line break, or the same idiosyncratic spelling didn't arrive at that agreement by chance; they trace back to one original, mirrored. That counts as one source, not two, no matter how many sites carry it.
We look for real independence instead: a printed edition against a recorded recitation, an archival text against a temple's own printed sheet — sources that could only agree because the underlying verses actually match.
Medium over quantity
Ten lyrics sites copying the same upload are still one witness. A recording, a printed page, and an archived text are three — even if that's a shorter list. We weigh diversity of medium above the raw number of pages that repeat the same text.
When sourcing doesn't clear the bar
Some requested texts don't have two sources that check out independently — often because a regional or lesser-known text circulates as a single upload with no second witness. When that happens, we leave it unpublished rather than publish our best guess. A gap in the library is honest; a wrong verse presented as correct is not.
What we don't do
We don't blend verses from two different versions of a text into one "best of" recension — a text is published as one source actually recites it, not as a composite. We don't machine-translate devotional language for readability. And we don't credit a text to a deity, or link it from that deity's page, unless the verses themselves make that claim — a general association in tradition or folklore isn't enough on its own.
Corrections
If a specific line looks off, we want to know. Every page in the Learn library has a "Report an issue" link — tell us which line and what looks wrong, and we'll check it against our sources.
Sources on individual pages
Newer entries list the specific sources checked for that text at the bottom of the page, under "Sourcing." Older entries in the catalogue were verified against this same standard but predate that field being recorded in a structured way — we're not retrofitting citations we can't stand behind, so those pages link back here instead while we work through revisiting them over time.