Mission

Vidyākośa is a documentary encyclopedia of India's mystic, spiritual, and healing traditions. It documents, it does not endorse: entries record what a tradition teaches, what practitioners report, and what independent sources confirm — and keep those three things visibly separate.

How claims are handled

Entries record what a tradition teaches, what practitioners report, and what independent sources confirm — and keep those three things visibly separate in the text itself. Where a claim belongs to a tradition's own account, the entry says so; where scholarship confirms it, the entry notes that too.

Health-adjacent content (yoga therapy, Ayurveda, energy healing) never uses curative language. Efficacy claims are attributed to the tradition or study that makes them, and Vidyākośa adds no endorsement.

Sourcing standards

1. Primary sources (texts, manuscripts, inscriptions) are cited by edition where possible.
2. Scholarly secondary literature is preferred over popular retellings.
3. Where tradition and scholarship disagree, both are stated with attribution.
4. We never fabricate a citation. An unverifiable claim is labelled, not dressed up.

Living persons

Entries on living persons are written from published, verifiable sources with extra care. Corrections are welcome via the suggest channel.

Read-only, for now

The site is read-only for visitors during launch. Editing happens in our repository; community participation begins with the suggestion form.