Namaste,
On the holy occasion of the Ādi Śankarāchārya jayanti which comes on Vaiśākha Śukla Paṃcamī Tithi वैशाख शुक्ल पंचमी तिथि, Sanskrit Proofreading Suite v4.0.0 is released.
Please visit this link -
Other standalone tools are also released. Links after the article.
(Click on image for bigger picture)
The file is a single HTML file. It is embedded in the website. It is live tool that can be used.To download, visit website (the link given above). Click on download button on top and bottom of article on the website. It will take you to Google Drive Folder which has five HTML files.Simply download the file, double click it. It will open in the default browser. Start using it. Once loaded it works completely offline.
This tool is was created as a result of solving practical difficulty.
Many valuable Sanskrit commentaries (such as Yoga Sudhākara by Sadāśiva Brahmendra on Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras) exist only in old scanned books with imperfect OCR. This tool was made to quickly spot typos, spacing errors, and variant readings so scholars and students can focus on study rather than correction. By comparing 2 OCRs, one which is supposedly proofread is treated as source and another is the new copy of same commentary, same text scanned by another OCR or manually typed. This helps spot typing errors.
This suite brings together three practical tools in one place to help you proofread Sanskrit texts and work comfortably with both Devanāgarī and IAST Roman scripts:
It consists of top and bottom windows or sections.
Top Section
Top panel (two + two panes)
Pane 1 - Left pane - Source or reference text.
Pane 2 - Right pane - Target text to be compared for spell check
Output panes 1 and 2 - Output panes appear only when Compare button is clicked.
Displays text with differently spelled words highlighted. Source (left pane) highlights differently spelled letters in Turquoise with red font and target (right pane) highlights letters in Yellow with red font.
The tool compares two Sanskrit passages (source vs. target) and instantly highlights every spelling or spacing difference in akshara-level and not word level, meaning in case of भोगि and भोगो it highlights only the differently spelled letters in the word and not the complete word pairs भोगि and भोगो or अहङ्कार and अहंकार and not अहङ्कार and अहंकार
Bottom Section
Bottom panel (three panes):
Pane 1 – Devanāgarī (Dual use in v4.0.0)
Pane 2 – IAST Roman (Dual use in v4.0.0 - drives the spell checker)
Pane 3 – Live comparative spell checker, not a dictionary check (read-only)
In Devanāgarī tool (pane 1) of bottom section, differently spelled words are now copied retaining highlighted differently spelled letters on akshara-level than full highlighting.
In the spell check tool (pane 3), the spelling of IAST Roman is checked from pane 2.
Bottom panes can be used independently for transliteration or for spell check (comparative) of word pairs in IAST Roman.
Please find explanation in brief on how to use this suite.
1. Compare Sanskrit Text:
Use Load Sample button to understand the working.
Paste a reference text in left pane on top section, and target text to be proofread in right pane. Clicking Compare button will compare texts and display results in another window. The differently spelled words are highlighted on akshara-level and not word level, meaning that only the differently spelled letters in word are highlighted and not the entire word. The compare button will also trigger a function which copies differently spelled word pairs and pastes it in the bottom pane, the Devanāgarī pane 1. This is in-turn triggers a function to transliterate Devanāgarī to IAST Roman in pane 2. Third pane is auto triggered to check spelling of odd and even pairs. It is a read only pane.
After checking spelling of first pair i.e. first two lines, delete them and delete empty line and press "Devanāgarī to Roman" button to update pane 2 and pane 3.
Bottom panes can be used independently -
Panes 1 and 2 for transliteration from Devanāgarī to IAST Roman and vice versa. That it why it is bi-directional.
Panes - 2 and 3 for spell check in IAST Roman.
2. Devanāgarī to IAST Roman Transliteration and vice versa
Use Load Sample button of each pane 1 and 2 to understand the working.
Type or paste Sanskrit words in Devanāgarī pane 1 and click "Devanāgarī to Roman" button to transliterate in IAST Roman
Type or paste Sanskrit words in IAST Roman in pane 2 and click "Roman to Devanāgarī" button to transliterate in Devanāgarī.
3. Spell check IAST Roman words in pairs, one word in each line
Use Load Sample button to understand the working.
This READ ONLY pane is auto triggered upon any changes in pane 2.
It checks word pairs. One word per line should be typed or pasted.
One odd and even line make one pair. So line 1 and line 2 make on pair. Both are compared and differently spelled letters in the word are highlighted on akshara-level and not the whole word is highlighted. This is comparative spell check and not dictionary spell check.
For further details, please visit:
Other Standalone tools
Along with the suite which has three integrated tools, standalone tools are also released.
For details about how they work and to use and download them, please visit -
Third tool - Sanskrit Text comparison tool (difference checker) is not uploaded as there is no need for it. Suite can do it. Just ignore the bottom panes. However, for those who are interested in lighter version, it is available as a HTML file which can be downloaded. Please note that this tool is not updated to check on akshara-level checking and so highlights the whole word.
I hope these tools help you proofreading Sanskrit texts.
Hari OM
