Search syntax
The search box accepts plain words, exact phrases, prefix wildcards, and boolean operators. Diacritics and Sanskrit aliases are handled automatically. Examples on this page use universal terms (kṛṣṇa, dharma, yoga…) so they work against any of the 23 integrated works.
Plain words
| Query | Matches |
|---|---|
karma | verses containing karma (or any stemmed form: karmic, karmaṇi) |
karma yoga | verses containing both karma AND yoga (default: AND) |
krsna | also matches kṛṣṇa, krishna, kr̥ṣṇa — diacritics + aliases handled |
Phrases
Wrap an exact phrase in quotes. Order matters.
| Query | Matches |
|---|---|
"sarva-dharmān parityajya" | verses with that exact phrase (BG 18.66) |
"aham brahmāsmi" | verses with the exact phrase |
"karma yoga" arjuna | phrase plus standalone word — both required |
Wildcards
Use * at the end of a word for prefix matching. Wildcards inside or at the start of a word aren't supported.
| Query | Matches |
|---|---|
medit* | meditate, meditation, meditating, meditator… |
devotion* | devotion, devotional, devotionally… |
yog* | yoga, yogī, yogic, yogeśvara… |
Boolean operators
Supports AND, OR, and NOT as words or symbols — Vedabase-compatible. Without operators, multiple words rank by relevance (verses with more matches score higher). With operators, the query becomes strict.
| Query | Behavior |
|---|---|
karma yoga | Ranked — verses with both rank highest |
karma and yoga | AND — both required |
karma & yoga | AND — symbol form |
+karma +yoga | AND — native Lunr form (also works) |
karma or yoga | OR — either matches |
karma | yoga | OR — symbol form |
karma not yoga | karma but NOT yoga |
karma ^ yoga | NOT — symbol form |
karma -yoga | NOT — native Lunr form (also works) |
not yoga | Exclude all yoga matches |
karma and yoga not māyā | Combined — both required, exclude māyā |
Note: operator precedence is left-to-right; grouping parentheses are stripped. Use one operator type at a time for predictable results.
Diacritics and Sanskrit aliases
You can type Sanskrit names with full IAST diacritics or without — both find the same verses. The search index normalises diacritics and applies a small alias map for common spellings:
| Type | Also matches |
|---|---|
krsna | kṛṣṇa, kr̥ṣṇa, krishna |
caitanya | chaitanya |
visnu | viṣṇu, vishnu |
siva | śiva, shiva |
vrindavan | vṛndāvana, vrndavana |
radha | rādhā |
gita | gītā |
Where the search looks
Each verse document is indexed over several fields, each with a relevance boost.
A hit in ref (e.g. typing BG 2.47) ranks above a hit in
synonyms:
| Field | Boost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ref | ×5 | Verse reference like BG 2.47, SB 10.14.4 |
| translation | ×3 | English verse translation |
| iast | ×2 | Sanskrit verse in IAST transliteration |
| purport | ×2 | English purport / commentary |
| synonyms | ×1 | Word-for-word Sanskrit → English glossary |
| guidance | ×1 | Personal-guidance essence (where present) |
Result facets
Once results appear, the sidebar (or top of the page on mobile) shows three facets you can click to filter:
- Genre — Scripture, Commentary, Practice, Discourse
- Hierarchy (work) — Filter to BG, SB, CC, ISO, NoI, …
- Text Type — Which field matched (translation, purport, iast, …)
Bookmarkable URLs
Every search is a shareable URL with query parameters:
/search/?q=karma— initial query/search/?q=karma&work=bg— narrow to one work/search/?q=karma&genre=scripture— narrow by genre/search/?q=karma&field=translation— narrow by matched field
What's not (yet) supported
- Single-character wildcards (
?as ins?n) — coming later - Parentheses for grouping (
(A or B) and C) — parens are stripped; use one operator type per query - Proximity search (within N words / N verses) — would require positional metadata; deferred for index-size reasons
- Fuzzy / typo-tolerant matching — Sanskrit terms are precise; we lean on the diacritic + alias normaliser instead