Trouble getting vedic accents working with xetex

Question

I have referred to Cicada's solution to get vedic swara markings working on my osx. To test my MWE on your system, you will have to install fonts Shobhika and Sanskrit 2003 - sorry about that!

The MWE I used is the same as what Cicada posted:

\documentclass[12pt,varwidth,border=6pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\newcommand\mysktfont{Shobhika Regular}
\newfontface\fplain{\mysktfont}% no mapping
\newcommand\devtext{
\fontspec[Script=Devanagari,Mapping=itrans-dvn2]{\mysktfont}}%mapping transliteration to Devanagari
\newcommand\iast{
           \fontspec[Mapping=itrans-iast2]{\mysktfont}} %mapping transliteration to IAST transliteration scheme

 \newcommand{\Paragraph}[1]{\devtext{#1}
\par\medskip
{\iast{#1}}}

\begin{document}
\fplain
नम॑ः 

\Paragraph{
nama!ste^^^^1cda rudra ma-nyava! u-tota- iSha!ve- namaH. \\
 nama!ste^^^^1cda astu- dhanva!ne bA-hubhyA!mu-ta te- nama!H
}

\end{document}

I prepared my system thus:

$ git clone https://github.com/Shreeshrii/xetex-itrans.git
$ cp itrans-iast.map itrans-iast2.map
$ # Edit itrans-iast2.map
$ Teckit_compile itrans-iast2
$ diff -du itrans-iast.map itrans-iast2.map 
--- itrans-iast.map 2020-02-02 05:58:51.000000000 -0800
+++ itrans-iast2.map    2020-02-02 06:00:15.000000000 -0800
@@ -153,6 +153,9 @@

 pass(Unicode)

+svarita > U+0951
+anudatta > U+0952
+
 a > asvara
 a a > Asvara
 A > Asvara


$ cp *.tec *.map /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/fonts/misc/xetex/fontmapping/xetex-itrans/
usage: cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvXc] source_file target_file
       cp [-R [-H | -L | -P]] [-fi | -n] [-apvXc] source_file ... target_directory

$ sudo mkdir -p !$ 

$ sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/fonts/misc/xetex/fontmapping/xetex-itrans/ 
Password:

$ sudo cp *.tec *.map /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/fonts/misc/xetex/fontmapping/xetex-itrans/


$ sudo mktexlsr 
mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-config/ls-R... 
mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-dist/ls-R... 
mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/2016/texmf-var/ls-R... 
mktexlsr: Updating /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/ls-R... 
mktexlsr: Done.

The pdf file resulting from running xelatex swara.tex shows that the itrans text is not converted to devanagari:

I found a few errors in the log file (swara.log) generated from xelatex. The entire log file is uploaded here

.................................................
Font mapping `itrans-dvn2.tec' for font `Shobhika Regular' not found.
.................................................
. fontspec info: "no-font-shape"
. 
. Could not resolve font Shobhika Regular/I (it probably doesn't exist).
.................................................
.................................................
. fontspec info: "defining-font"
. 
. Font family 'ShobhikaRegular(2)' created for font 'Shobhika Regular' with
. options [Mapping=itrans-iast2].
. 
. This font family consists of the following NFSS series/shapes:
. - 'normal' (m/n) with NFSS spec.: <->"Shobhika
. Regular/OT:script=latn;language=DFLT;mapping=itrans-iast2;"
. - 'small caps'  (m/sc) with NFSS spec.: - 'bold' (bx/n) with NFSS spec.:
. <->"Shobhika Regular/B/OT:script=latn;language=DFLT;mapping=itrans-iast2;"
. - 'bold small caps'  (bx/sc) with NFSS spec.: - 'bold italic' (bx/it) with
. NFSS spec.: <->"Shobhika
. Regular/BI/OT:script=latn;language=DFLT;mapping=itrans-iast2;"
. - 'bold italic small caps'  (bx/itsc) with NFSS spec.: 
.................................................

I verified that the Shobhika font is indeed installed on my mac by running xetex opentype-info.tex after setting myfontname to Shobhika Regular:

The font features directive in the fontspec in my source (swara.tex) refers to Mapping=itrans-dvn2 but I don't find any map or tec files named itrans-dvn2* under /usr/local/texlive/texmf-local/fonts/misc/xetex/fontmapping/xetex-itrans/ This is one of the errors in the log file. @Cicada never said anything about generating this file and I don't see it in the git repo either.

I changed the font name from Shobhika to Sanskrit 2003 in my source and that failed too. Entire log is here

Update 1

Without relying on the .tec files to provide swara markings, I inserted the them manually into my document (as was suggested in another post):

\documentclass[12pt,varwidth,border=6pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\newcommand\mysktfont{Shobhika Regular}
\newfontface\fplain{\mysktfont}% no mapping
\newcommand\devtext{
\fontspec[Script=Devanagari,Mapping=itrans-dvn]{\mysktfont}}%mapping transliteration to Devanagari
\newcommand\iast{
           \fontspec[Mapping=itrans-iast]{\mysktfont}} %mapping transliteration to IAST transliteration scheme

\newcommand\svarita{^^^^0951}
\newcommand\anudatta{^^^^0952}
\newcommand\doublesvarita{^^^^1cda}

 \newcommand{\Paragraph}[1]{\devtext{#1}
\par\medskip
{\iast{#1}}}

\begin{document}
\fplain
नम॑ः 

\Paragraph{nama\svarita ste\doublesvarita\ rudra ma\anudatta nyava\svarita\ u\anudatta tota\anudatta\ iSha\svarita ve\anudatta\ namaH. \\
 nama\svarita ste\doublesvarita\ astu\anudatta\ dhanva\svarita ne bA\anudatta hubhyA\svarita mu\anudatta ta te\anudatta\ nama\svarita H}

\end{document}

This gives me text with swara markings, with one exception that I have pointed out with a red arrow:

If there's a way to get rid of the weird circle between नम and ः, my problem would be resolved.

Update 2

Output with font Siddhanta

Answer 1

I have no knowledge of devanagari but it looks as if the input order of the stress sign UDATTA (U+0951) and VISARGA (U+0903) matters. There is a discussion here about the input order: https://github.com/harfbuzz/harfbuzz/issues/2017

It also looks as if the noto fonts has small problems and that siddhanta is better. (https://github.com/googlefonts/noto-fonts/issues/1551).

When I compile the following in a current texlive with lualatex-dev (and so with harfbuzz enabled) (the ^^^^-notation is only there as it is easier for me to input)

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{NotosansDevanagari}[Renderer=Harfbuzz,Script=Devanagari]

\setsansfont{siddhanta}[Renderer=Harfbuzz,Script=Devanagari]

\begin{document}
^^^^0928^^^^092e^^^^0951^^^^0903 नम॑ः

^^^^0928^^^^092e^^^^0903^^^^0951 नमः॑

\sffamily

^^^^0928^^^^092e^^^^0951^^^^0903 नम॑ः

^^^^0928^^^^092e^^^^0903^^^^0951 नमः॑

\end{document}

I get this output: