Scripture References
The texts behind every claim
Every Dharma claim on this platform names its text. This page is the register of those texts, arranged in the three tiers our confidence score is built on — the score says how close the source sits to Shruti, nothing more.
The specific chapter for any claim is cited on the article itself. How the tiers become tags and scores is explained in our editorial method.
Tier 1
Shruti
VEDICscores up to 5 / 5The oldest and most universally accepted layer of the tradition — what was heard, not composed. A claim cites this tier only when the passage itself can be named.
Rigveda
Hymns and their Brahmana and Aranyaka layers.
Yajurveda
Including the Taittiriya Samhita — the home of Shri Rudram, cited on the abhisheka guides.
Samaveda
The melodic recension of the hymns.
Atharvaveda
Hymns of the household and healing.
The principal Upanishads
The Vedantic close of each Veda — Isha, Kena, Katha, Taittiriya and their peers.
Tier 2
Smriti, Itihasa & Purana
PURANICscores up to 4 / 5The layer most ritual practice actually rests on. These are the texts our seeded guides cite by name today; the register grows as new guides are published.
Shiva Purana
Rudra Samhita and Parvati Khanda — the Sawan Somwar and Teej vrat kathas.
Bhavishya Purana (Uttara Parva)
The Bhavishyottara section — Raksha Bandhan's Indra–Shachi raksha katha and several vrat mahatmyas.
Brahmanda Purana
Ekadashi mahatmyas told as the Krishna–Yudhishthira samvada.
Brahmavaivarta Purana
Krishna-janma and vrat narratives.
Padma Purana
Vrat mahatmyas and tithi kathas across the calendar year.
Editions: where a printed edition matters, we verify against the widely available Gita Press (Gorakhpur) editions, and say so on the article when chapter numbering differs between recensions.
Tier 3
Nibandha & commentary
SHASTRAscores up to 3 / 5Named secondary texts — the digests that settle how a vrat is actually timed and observed. Still named, still checkable; scored lower only because they sit further from Shruti.
Dharmasindhu
Kashinatha Upadhyaya's digest — observance rules, including the sutak rules on the eclipse explainer.
Nirnayasindhu
Kamalakara Bhatta's digest — tithi determination when a vrat's tithi spans two civil days.
When texts disagree
Conflict rules
Texts disagree — on a tithi boundary, on a step of the vidhi, on who a vrat is for. When they do, we follow three rules. First, a higher tier outweighs a lower one: where a nibandha digest and a Purana differ, the Purana's reading leads and the digest's is noted. Second, where texts of the same tier disagree, we say so in the article rather than silently presenting one recension as the only one — the disagreement is part of the answer. Third, no conflict is resolved by custom: however widespread a practice, it cannot promote a claim into a tier its text does not support. That practice is recorded as Pratha, on its own terms.
Panchang data — tithi, nakshatra, timings — sits outside this register entirely: it is computed, not interpreted, and carries no tag or score. Where panchang publishers disagree on a boundary, the article says so.