Policy · सत्यापन
Verification
before visibility.
Anyone can publish a list of temples. This page describes how DharmSetu decides that a record is real, who did the checking, and what it takes to be seen at all.
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The rule
A temple, a pujari, or a request for assistance is not publicly searchable until it has been independently verified — level 2 or above in the table below. Until then it exists only in the administrative view, clearly marked as unverified.
This is deliberately restrictive. It means the directory grows more slowly than it could, and it means a genuine temple may sit unpublished while it waits for someone to confirm it. We would rather be slow than be a convincing-looking list of things nobody checked.
The four levels
Every verifiable record carries a level. It is shown on the record itself, so you never have to guess how much checking is behind what you are reading.
| Level | What it means | Public? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 · Self registered | Someone submitted the record and nothing has been checked. Held for review; not published, not searchable. | No |
| 2 · Volunteer verified | A verified volunteer has visited or otherwise confirmed the record first-hand. This is the threshold at which a record becomes publicly visible. | Yes |
| 3 · Document verified | Trust registration or comparable official documentation has been supplied and checked against the record. | Yes |
| 4 · Community trusted | Sustained good standing over time — verified, actively maintained, and carrying no unresolved flags. | Yes |
What a verification records
A level on its own is an assertion. Each verification is stored with the evidence behind it, so it can be re-examined later:
- Who performed the verification, and when.
- What was relied on — a visit, photographs, documents, or a combination.
- Any notes the verifier left, including doubts.
- The level granted, and the level it replaced.
Verifications are never silently overwritten. A record that is downgraded keeps its earlier history, because how a listing changed over time is often more informative than where it currently stands.
Documents and personal details
Trust registration numbers and identity documents are used to confirm a record and are not published. Personal details never appear in public listings or public APIs. Where assistance requests are involved, they follow a stricter path again — volunteer investigation and temple approval before anything at all becomes visible.
Challenging a listing
If a record is wrong, out of date, or should not be listed — including a request to remove a listing about you — write to us through the contact form and identify the page. We will review it, and where a claim is contested we will say so on the record rather than quietly picking a side.
Verification is a statement about what was checked and by whom. It is not an endorsement, and DharmSetu is not affiliated with any temple trust or religious organisation.