Tankini Sanskrit IME (टङ्किनी संस्कृतम्)

Tankini Sanskrit IME is a high-performance, ergonomic phonetic Input Method Engine (IME) crafted for classical and Vedic Sanskrit. Built upon the Keyman Engine architecture, Tankini provides natural Latin-to-Devanagari typing across Desktop (macOS, Windows, Linux), Mobile (iOS, Android), and the Web.

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🌟 Key Highlights

• Smart Latin Buffer Engine: Consonant keys are buffered dynamically with real-time Latin preview, committing into Devanagari halant (्), full consonants, or complex conjuncts seamlessly without requiring manual virama keystrokes.
• Full Vedic Svara Support: Dedicated, collision-free keystrokes for Vedic accents—Anudatta (Z), Svarita (X), and Deergha Svarita (XX).
• Intuitive Dual Mappings: Natural, mnemonic key sequences inspired by standard ITRANS and Harvard-Kyoto (e.g., A / aa, I / ii / ee, U / uu / oo, K / kh, G / gh).
• Homorganic Nasal Intelligence: Automatic phonetic assimilation for velar and palatal nasals (ng → ङ्, nj → ञ्), including compound conjunct handling (ngx → ङ्क्ष).
• Compound Word & Punctuation Support: Hyphenation (-), parentheses (()), danda (.), and double danda (..) cleanly commit active consonant buffers with halant preservation.
• 100% Test Verified: Comprehensive 816-test suite covering edge cases, ligature formations, Vedic accents, and classical shloka corpora.

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📖 Phonetic Mapping Reference

1. Independent Vowels (स्वर)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)	Description
अ	a	Hrasva A
आ	aa, A	Deergha A
इ	i	Hrasva I
ई	ii, I, ee	Deergha I
उ	u	Hrasva U
ऊ	uu, U, oo	Deergha U
ऋ	R	Vocalic R
ॠ	RR	Long Vocalic R
ऌ	lR	Vocalic L
ॡ	lRR	Long Vocalic L
ए	e, E	E
ऐ	ai	AI
ओ	o, O	O
औ	au	AU

2. Modifiers (अयोगवाह)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)	Description
ं	M	Anusvara
ः	H	Visarga
ँ	M.	Candrabindu

3. Consonants (व्यञ्जन)

कण्ठ्य (Gutturals / Velars)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
क	k + a
ख	kh, K + a
ग	g + a
घ	gh, G + a
ङ	ng + a

तालव्य (Palatals)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
च	c + a
छ	ch, C + a
ज	j + a
झ	jh, J + a
ञ	nj, Y + a

मूर्धन्य (Retroflex / Cerebrals)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
ट	T + a
ठ	Th + a
ड	D + a
ढ	Dh + a
ण	N + a

दन्त्य (Dentals)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
त	t + a
थ	th + a
द	d + a
ध	dh + a
न	n + a

ओष्ठ्य (Labials)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
प	p + a
फ	ph, P + a
ब	b + a
भ	bh, B + a
म	m + a

अन्तःस्थ (Semi-vowels)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
य	y + a
र	r + a
ल	l + a
ळ	L + a
व	v, w + a

ऊष्मन् (Sibilants & Aspirate)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)
श	sh, S + a
ष	Sh, shh + a
स	s + a
ह	h + a

4. Special Conjuncts (संयुक्त)

Devanagari	Keystroke(s)	Example
क्ष	x + a	kSa or xa → क्ष
ज्ञ	gY, jY + a	jYa or gYa → ज्ञ
ङ्क्ष	ngx + a	kAngxitArthadA → काङ्क्षितार्थदा

5. Vedic Accents (वैदिकस्वराः)

Accent	Unicode	Keystroke	Description
॒	U+0952	Z	Anudatta (अनुदात्तः - horizontal line below)
॑	U+0951	X	Svarita (स्वरितः - vertical line above)
᳚	U+1CDA	XX	Deergha Svarita (दीर्घस्वरितः - double vertical line)

6. Special Symbols & Punctuation

Symbol	Meaning	Keystroke(s)
ॐ	Pranava (Om)	OM, AUM
।	Danda (Single)	.
॥	Double Danda	..
ऽ	Avagraha	.a
॰	Abbreviation Sign	q
-	Compound Hyphen	- (commits preceding consonant with halant)
()	Parentheses	(), ) (commits preceding consonant with halant)
\	Explicit Virama	\

7. Devanagari Numerals (संख्याः)

०	१	२	३	४	५	६	७	८	९
0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

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🏗️ Repository Structure

Tankini-IME/
├── README.md                           # Comprehensive documentation and mapping reference
├── layout-paln.txt                     # Canonical keyboard specification and layout design
├── .gitignore                          # Git ignore definitions
├── keyman/
│   ├── source/
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.kmn        # Primary Keyman source code (13 rule sections)
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.kps        # Keyman package source specification
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.kvks       # On-Screen Visual Keyboard specification
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.keyman-touch-layout # Touch layout definitions for mobile/tablet
│   │   ├── readme.htm                  # Package documentation
│   │   └── welcome.htm                 # User onboarding guide
│   ├── build/
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.kmx        # Compiled binary for Desktop (Windows, macOS, Linux)
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.js         # Compiled engine for KeymanWeb
│   │   ├── tankini_sanskrit.kmp        # Distributable installer package
│   │   └── tankini_sanskrit.kvk        # Compiled visual keyboard data
│   └── tests/
│       ├── index.html                  # Interactive test suite UI & visual verification runner
│       ├── run_tests_headless.js       # Playwright-based headless Chrome automated runner
│       ├── generate_tests.py           # Corpus-driven test generator
│       ├── test_cases.json             # 816 compiled test assertions
│       └── test.txt                    # Raw classical Sanskrit corpus source text
└── Mudgala-IME/                        # Legacy standalone IME engine and script conversion tables
    ├── Mudgala By Neelakantha Shastri.exe # Legacy Windows binary
    ├── input_phonetic.txt              # Phonetic input tables
    ├── output_devanagari.txt           # Devanagari output mappings
    ├── output_grantha.txt              # Grantha script mappings
    ├── output_tamil.txt                # Tamil script mappings
    └── output_roman.txt                # Roman transliteration mappings

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🛠️ Building & Compiling

Prerequisites

• Keyman Developer CLI (kmc):

  # Installed via npm / Homebrew
  npm install -g @keymanapp/kmc
  # Or via Homebrew
  brew install keyman-developer

Build Targets

# 1. Compile Desktop/Mobile binary (.kmx)
kmc build keyman/source/tankini_sanskrit.kmn -o keyman/build/tankini_sanskrit.kmx

# 2. Compile KeymanWeb binary (.js)
kmc build keyman/source/tankini_sanskrit.kmn -o keyman/build/tankini_sanskrit.js

# 3. Compile Keyman Package installer (.kmp)
kmc build keyman/source/tankini_sanskrit.kps -o keyman/build/tankini_sanskrit.kmp

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🧪 Testing & Verification

Tankini includes an extensive automated test suite covering all 55 character groups and phonological combinations:

• 152 Manual Test Cases: Granular validation of buffer states, deadkeys, aspirate deduplications, homorganic nasals, and Vedic accents.
• 664 Corpus Test Cases: Real-world classical Sanskrit words and sentences extracted from canonical literature.
• 100% Pass Rate: Verified via headless browser automation.

To run the test suite locally:

# 1. Start a local HTTP server
python3 -m http.server 8765 --directory keyman

# 2. Open tests in your browser
open http://localhost:8765/tests/index.html

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👤 Author & Acknowledgements

• Author: Neelakantha Shastri (@shastravid)
• Copyright: © 2026 Neelakantha Shastri. All rights reserved.