Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of Vamshanidhi, a federated archive of Indic civilizational records — manuscripts, inscriptions, temples, lineages, and allied heritage data (the “Platform”). By accessing the Platform or contributing to it, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform.

1. Acceptance of terms

Your use of the Platform constitutes acceptance of these Terms and of our Privacy notice. We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced on the governance page and reflected in the “Last updated” date above. Continued use after a change takes effect signifies acceptance of the revised Terms.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years of age, or the age of majority in your jurisdiction, to register an account or contribute. By creating an account you confirm that the information you provide is accurate and that you are legally capable of entering into a binding agreement. Where you contribute personal data about a living person other than yourself (for example, in a lineage or oral history), you confirm you have that person’s consent as required under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

3. User content and contributions

You retain ownership of the original content you submit (“Contributions”). By submitting a Contribution, you grant Vamshanidhi a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, and irrevocable licence to host, store, reproduce, translate, transliterate, display, and distribute that Contribution as part of the Platform and its federation, including onward sharing with federation peers and successor stewards of the archive. This licence exists solely to operate and preserve the archive in the public interest.

You represent and warrant that you own or have the necessary rights to your Contributions, and that they do not infringe the intellectual property, privacy, or other rights of any third party. [REVIEW] The default licensing intent for free-tier public records is open re-use under a Creative Commons-style attribution licence; the precise licence terms must be confirmed by the founder before launch.

4. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Submit false, fabricated, or knowingly misleading records or citations;
• Upload another person’s sensitive personal data without their consent, or content that violates the privacy of any individual;
• Post unlawful, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or communally inflammatory material, or material that promotes violence or discrimination;
• Infringe copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights, or breach the terms of any federation peer whose holdings are indexed here;
• Scrape, bulk-download, or harvest data except through the documented Open API and within its rate limits and tier terms;
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Platform, disrupt its operation, or circumvent security or moderation controls.

We operate moderation and verification workflows in the public interest. We may, with notice where practicable, decline, redact, or remove Contributions that breach these Terms or that fail scholarly verification, and may suspend or terminate accounts for serious or repeated breaches.

5. Intellectual property

The Platform’s software, design, compilation, and arrangement of records are owned by Vamshanidhi and protected by Indian and international intellectual property law. Records sourced from federation peers (for example, UPenn OPenn, Cambridge Digital Library, Bodleian Libraries, the Internet Archive, and Wikidata) remain subject to the originating institution’s rights and citation requirements; the Platform cites such holdings and does not claim ownership of them.

6. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. While we apply scholarly verification, dating, provenance, and translation are inherently uncertain; records may contain errors, gaps, or disputed attributions. To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and accuracy of content. You should independently verify any record before relying on it for academic, legal, or other consequential use.

7. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Vamshanidhi and its operators shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any loss of data, reputation, or goodwill, arising from your use of or inability to use the Platform. [REVIEW] Any aggregate-liability cap and the carve-outs for non-excludable statutory rights under Indian law must be confirmed by the founder and legal counsel before launch.

8. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of India. Subject to the grievance and dispute process below, the courts at [REVIEW — seat of jurisdiction, e.g. the registered office] shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms.

9. Grievance redressal and contact

For complaints relating to these Terms, your Contributions, or your personal data, please use the grievance redressal page, or write to legal@vamshanidhi.in. The grievance officer and timelines for acknowledgement and resolution are stated on that page in accordance with applicable Indian law.

10. Changes to these Terms

We may revise these Terms to reflect changes in the Platform, the law, or our practices. We will post the revised Terms here with an updated date and, for material changes, give notice through the governance page. Where required by law, we will seek your fresh agreement before the change applies to you.