Editorial Notes

The following conventions have been observed in entering information into the database.

Data-Entry and Database-Editing

1. The data-entry process has two stages: entering and editing. The editors of the database alone can delete taxonomic categories and are responsible for checking consistency of data entries contributed by different collaborators.
2. Relationships concerning dates, school or sect affiliation etc. that are inferred from the sources by analysts are attributed as independent scientific achievements, like all other entries.

Selecting Relevant Information

3. Only historical data are included (effectively post-Mahāvīra), no obviously mythological information. In case of doubt: include.
4. Contradictory information is always noted, with independent source references. Clearly wrong information is not recorded (e.g. a person is surely not the disciple, but the teacher of a certain monk).
5. The database requires selection of relevant information in the sources, based on careful analysis. Imprecise and vague information is not recorded.
6. Information on kings, ministers etc. is only recorded in the database if a specific link to the Jaina tradition is recorded in the sources. Mention in a Jaina text alone is not sufficient. Information on a non-Jain individual is only included if it is significant for the dating of an individual Jain or if the individual is a named patron or recorded as standing in another specified relationship to an individual Jain.

Entering and Deleting Information

7. Before entering a new person check via the search field in the top left (or via the search field on “person list") whether the name already exists in the database - and whether it is likely to be the same person you want to add. If it clearly is the same person, then add new, even contradictory information, and enter the source of the information for each specific new item. If it is uncertain whether the new person is the same as a person already recorded, then enter the new person of the same name.
8. Deleting and making additions or corrections to a “Role" (or “Event" etc.) related to a specific person is best done through the "Show" List.
9. Always be careful with entries to avoid lengthy data cleaning work: check the dropdown menus where many items are already listed.
10. Deletions in the taxonomy can only be made in consultation with the editors.
11. The only way to clean up duplicates or wrong entries in the taxonomy is the following: where, for instance, a duplicate place name has been linked to a record, go to the record and “unlink" it (delete it), then link the record to the desired place name.

Transliteration

12. Contents of the database can be read (and double-checked) in Roman and Devanāgarī script.
13. However, data-entry can only be made in Roman script. For this, standard transliteration schemes Hindi-English are used. See the transliteration scheme of McGregor’s Hindi-English Dictionary. Sanskrit-English transliteration conventions are not employed as standard to make sure that the entries are consistent. A mix up of the following characters can thus be avoided: ड = ḍa and ढ = ḍha; ड़ = ṛa and ढ़ = ṛha (e.g. the city मेड़ता is written “Meṛatā" not “Meḍatā"). Hindi uses for the Persian, Arabic and English sounds also क़ qa /q/, ख़ xa /x/, ग़ ġa /ɣ/, ज़ za /z/, झ़ zha /ʒ/, and फ़ fa /f/. For Gujarati and Dravidian languages see the standard current transliteration schemes.
14. Names and terms in Hindi, Gujarati, etc., especially family names, titles of works, etc. are written in transliterated roman script with inherent -a-, etc.
15. Transliterated compound words are not hyphenated to enable automatic transliteration into Nāgarī and vice versa (e.g. guru-śiṣya > guruśiṣya).
16. Amendments by the editors to bio-bibliographical data etc. are indicated by using square brackets: […]

Standardization of Personal Names

17. Standardized “generic" names of persons (generally only names of mendicants) are often artificially created by the editors (generally in Sanskrit) to permit linking variant formation pertaining to a single individual under one name only. Variant names in the sources (when Prakrit, Middle Indo-Aryan, Hindi, Gujarati, etc.) are additionally diplomatically recorded as “variants" (e.g. standardized or “generic" name Rohagupta, “variant" name Rohagutta). If no Sanskrit equivalent offers itself, the original name found in the sources is used as standardized name.
18. Names invariably written in one way rather than another in accurate Sanskrit are maintained as standardized names (e.g. °canda, °candra, °candramas, etc. That is, °canda is not changed into °candra).
19. If name changes are evident in the sources, often after status changes, generally the last (married or monastic) name is used as the point of reference for the standardized or “generic" name. E.g.Ānandavijaya becomes Vijayānanda after status change.
20. Though strictly speaking they are epithets, we exceptionally retain suffixes (such as °vijaya or °sāgara or prefixes such as vijaya° and sāgara°) as part of standardized names as a rule if they have been recognised as part of the personal name itself. Alternative names, for instance Vijayānanda (Ānandavijaya, Ātmānanda, Ātmārāma), are recorded as "variants".
21. “Variant" names are recorded (See for example in Klatt: “Siddhasādhu"; standardized name: Siddha, variants: Siddhasādhu, Siddharṣi).
22. Problems encountered with regard to “standardized name" are recorded under “notes".

Uses of “Unknown"

23. If no name of a person is mentioned in relationship to relevant historical data, “unknown" will be used under standardized name (e.g. unknown patron of dated temple in named place, or unknown scribes of dated manuscripts).
24. “Unknown" is also used under “Family Occupation / Lineage / Clan / Caste / Class" when a “Family name" is not recorded in the sources, because the database requires an entry in that field.
25. Scribes whose names are not mentioned are only included under the designation “unknown" if besides the title of the work a connection with a named author or intended user or sponsor is known. That is, if only the date of copying and the title of the work are mentioned, at least one other reason is needed for incorporating the “unknown" person.
26. Only those literary works that are related to a personal name (author, scribe, patron, historical individual mentioned in the text, etc.) are included. Not included is information such as: “Antakṛtadaśāḥ … manuscript of Monier Williams, Ms. VS 1632", since no related person is mentioned.

Sources

27. The database uses mainly secondary sources. Primary sources (manuscripts, articles etc.) which are cited in secondary sources are not additionally entered as “Source", only the secondary source. For example “Klatt: Jaina-Onomasticon", or “Epigraphia Indica".
28. A primary source is generally only entered if there is no related secondary source (catalogue, etc.).
29. If information has been entered, all relevant “source" fields need to be filled, even if this is repetitious.
30. A “New Source" is added when there is new, even contradictory, information.
31. The source for every piece of information must be made explicit. New information with regard to a person already created in the database requires added source references, wherever applicable (e.g. all information pertaining to life-dates, say for a different birth date, is entered under “other tables" -> "events"-> “add new" with reference to the person concerned).
32. Update the “label" pertaining to a “person" in view of information from new sources if required.

Labels

33. The field “Label" allows researchers to distinguish people with identical names. Labels can be formulated as a free text. They offer in compressed form essential information and first orientation for the user on the respective individual, and can be changed if additional, more reliable, information has been added under the name. They will be the first information related to a person seen on the webpage. The following format should be followed more or less:
    • generic Name (standardized name)
    • monastic position (if mendicant), śrāvaka or śrāvikā (if Jain householder), gṛhastha (if general householder)
    • life data (e.g."1500-1550 Vi.Saṃ." or “about 1533 ViSaṃ." if only one related lifedate is known) (if not known: date unknown)
    • religious affiliation (e.g. Kharataragaccha)
    • additional information which allows researchers to distinguish people with identical names (epithet etc.).

Relationships

34. In the templates of both “FamilyRelationship" and “MonasticRelationship" the “PersonLeft" is always the person of the main page, and does not need to be entered. (In contrast, under “Role", “PersonLeft" has to be entered through the dropdown menu).
35. The “RelationshipType" refers to the “PersonLeft." The related person, that is, “PersonRight", has to be entered through the dropdown menu.
36. The general form is: “‘PersonLeft’ is ‘RelationshipType’ of ‘PersonRight’." E.g. under “FamilyRelationship": X is wife / husband / son / daughter / etc. of Y. Under “Monastic Relationship": X is guru / śiṣya / dadaguru / praśiṣya / etc. of Y.

Roles

37. “Role": if you want to see or edit the entire “Role list" then modify the address https://www.dhi.ac.uk/jaina/admin/app/person/create to https://www.dhi.ac.uk/jaina/admin/app/role/create
38. Before you can add a “Role", you have to first “create" or “update" the person page. This holds good for each new “Role" you want to enter.
39. “RoleType" always refers to “Person Left", that is, the main person of the page. The “role" entered is always the role of the person left (e.g. PersonLeft: Gautama, RoleType: disciple; PersonRight: Mahāvīra; alternative entry: PersonLeft: Mahāvīra, RelationshipType: preceptor; PersonRight: Gautama: The result is identical and is indicated under both persons. One of the two possible modes of entering a RelationshipType is sufficient.
40. If you want to enter a “Role", note that to “donor" or “founder" etc. an “object" (e.g. a book, temple) has to be added, to “scribe" or “author" etc. a “work". (If the source gives the English term “temple", we click on “mandira, standardized" in the dropdown menu. In case the word for temple is given in its original, we enter that word, for example jinālaya, prāsāda, caitya, vihāra, jinagṛha, devakula.)
41. “Successor" / “Predecessor" are generally recorded under “Role". In addition, if date, place etc. of “padasthāpanā" or “dīkṣā" etc. are known, these are added under “Event". (Sometimes the legal act of succession and the confirmation are two events.)
42. If the source does not enable an unambiguous interpretation of the relationship between two mendicants as either successor / predecessor or preceptor / disciple, preceptor / disciple is entered (Example: Dhanasāgara, vācaka, of the Añcalagaccha, between Lakṣmīsāgara and Harṣasāgara).
43. Indic designations of “RoleTypes" are entered as given in the original sources (if known). One and the same English equivalent can be used for different Indic designations that are synonyms. E.g. male/female lay disciple (śrāvaka, śrāvikā), male/female lay disciple (upāsaka, upāsikā), lay disciple (guḍḍa), etc.
44. In Klatt’s Jaina-Onomasticon we read: “At his order was composed …" In this case we interpret the “Role Type" of the person as “Inspirer (preraka)".
45. In Klatt’s Jaina-Onomasticon expressions like “Under him was composed …" or “He lived under …" indicate the dates of the persons mentioned. Hence, we can add their “Related life data" under “Event". In addition, the respective person is given a “Role" as “contemporary".
46. To edit a specific “role" entry: click on the main page for editing a specific person on the top right side on “Action", then on “Show", and then click on the information highlighted in blue that is related to the respective role you wish to edit.

Elements of Composite Names

47. “Monastic position" - designation of the official role (ceremonially bestowed).
48. “Epithet / Honorific" - personal attribute (unceremonially & ceremonially bestowed).
49. “Title" - qualification, official honour, academic title (ceremonially bestowed).
50. “Byname / Nickname" - discriminative appellation (popular attribution).
51. Śreṣṭhin, śeṭha are not always clearly classified as honorific or title or family name. This must be decided on a case by case basis. See also sāha, which corresponds to Sanskrit śāha (king) or Sanskrit sādhu (see Klatt, Onomasticon, p. 291: Kalyāṇa). In modern times, Śeṭha and Śāha are also surnames. In case of doubt śāha is added as an honorific.
52. Sectarian indicators like °vijaya / vijaya° are part of the name, but titles, honorifics and nicknames are not (see no. 20).

Religious Affiliation

53. Jaina), “Denomination" (e.g. Śvetāmbara), “SectTradition" (e.g. Mūrtipūjaka, Sthānakavāsīn etc.), “Sect" (e.g. Tapāgaccha), “SectBranch" (e.g. Vijayaśākhā), “SectSubbranch" (Samudāya), “Itinerant Group" (Parivara): The English (En) term is standardized by the editors, whereas the term that appears in the source is recorded diplomatically under the field labelled Hindi (Hi) (e.g. Loṅkāgaccha (En), Luṅkāgaccha, Lumpākamata etc. (Hi)).
54. Itinerant Group = Sect sub-sub-branch (in the case of the Digambara tradition).
55. Indic names of monastic groups should be entered as found in the sources, e.g. Sārasvatagaccha and Sārasvatīgaccha, Cāndrakula und Candrakula. Many “religion- sect-subsect etc." sequences have already been defined, and in this case should be entered through the dropdown menu.

Events

56. Most dates related to the life-course of a person, that is, events without a “Person Right", must be entered under “Events" (e.g. “related life data", “birth", “death", “pilgrimage", “reign" etc.).
57. These events are entered via “Taxonomies > Other Tables > Event > Add New". The “Person" field under “Add New" is here a compulsory field (*), that needs to be filled via the dropdown menu to make sure the entered event is always related to a person.
58. Events with a “Person Right" (e.g. “marriage", “donation" etc.) are entered under the Person page “Role". In both cases, the main person (“Person Left") has to be “created" first. If more than one person are involved in such an event, e.g. as “donor", all named persons have to be created first. Only then can they individually be linked via the dropdown menu.
59. “Residence / nivāsa" must be added as an “Event".
60. If more than one person is related to an event then the respective procedure has to be repeated for each person involved.

Degrees of Certainty

61. When the dates given in the sources are imprecise or uncertain the field “Certainty Type" under “Date" (about, before, not earlier than, not later than) is used. (Sometimes date of birth, date of dīkṣā, etc. can be deduced from other known data on a person only. Those dates of birth etc., inferred or calculated by the researchers, should be given with a remark “about", “before" etc.
62. The data-inputter cannot always be 100% sure, whether the Vikrama Saṃvat date is North Indian or South Indian. In case of doubt North Indian is used.
63. With regard to Vīra Saṃvat no distinction is made between Digambara and Śvetāmbara dates.
64. If further specifications are given in the sources for a location (suburb, district, street, etc.), they are added after the name of Original Settlement / Modern Settlement, after a comma. E.g. Śravaṇabeḷagoḷa, Candragiri.

Generic Terms for “Commentary"

65. The terms ṭīkā, vyākhyā, vṛtti are often used indiscriminately in the sources. So also in the Database. If no specific title of a work is mentioned in a source, but only “commentary of …", the terms “vṛtti" (or “ṭīkā") are added to the title. Example: “commentary on Bhayaharastotra" > Bhayaharastotravṛtti.

Teacher and Disciple

66. Pupil vs. disciple: in case of uncertainty or if the source does not give a specific Indic term, as default “male disciple – śiṣya" must be added. If other Hindi or Sanskrit terms are used in the source, then these terms are entered (e.g. antevāsin).
67. “Sūri", if unclear, whether it designates a position or the role of a teacher in general or an honorific, is entered as “MonasticPosition".
68. “Sūri" and “ācārya" are used synonymously when they are clearly “position / status" indicators.

Space and Time

69. In addition to the diplomatically recorded dates and place names found in the sources standardized time and place coordinates are created by means of the following devices to establish a consistent time and space framework for data-analysis:
    - Time: North Indian Vikrama Samvat (VS) calendar / Gregorian (CE) calendar. Date conversion from VS dates to CE dates is conventionally done with the Pancanga software: https://www.cc.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~yanom/pancanga/
    - Space: Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/