Exporting Devanagarai text from org-mode to LaTeX?

Question

I have a .tex file with text in Devanagari script. I am able to convert to pdf using XeLaTeX outside of Emacs without any problem. However, when I try it within Emacs, the resulting pdf does not have any Devanagari text.

I am new to emacs, and am using spacemacs 25.1.

Here are the solutions I have already tried, but I couldn't get them to work:

• https://www.r-bloggers.com/hindidevanagari-presentations-using-orgmode-r-latex-and-beamer/
• https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/21200/auctex-and-xetex
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/15926817/add-xelatex-to-the-command-list
• http://orgmode.org/worg/org-faq.html#using-xelatex-for-pdf-export

I have tried many combinations and variations of these to no success.

How do I generate a pdf from within Emacs that shows the Devanagari script?

EDIT:

Here is the minimal example which works in a .tex file if compiled with xelatex outside of emacs environment:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage{sanskrit}
\setotherlanguage{english}
\setmainfont[Script=Devanagari]{Arial Unicode MS}
\newfontfamily\devanagarifontsf[Script=Devanagari]{Arial Unicode MS}

\begin{document}

मया emacs बहु रोचते।

\end{document}

However, when I try to write the same in org mode, desired output is not generated. Here is the content of my org mode file:

#+Title: Generating Devanagarai text in LaTeX?
#+LATEX_CMD: xelatex
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{polyglossia}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setmainlanguage{sanskrit}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setotherlanguage{english}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setmainfont[Script=Devanagari]{Arial Unicode MS}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \newfontfamily\devanagarifontsf[Script=Devanagari]{Arial Unicode MS}

मया emacs बहु रोचते।

If the org file is exported as html, the output has both Devanagari and English text as expected. However, no pdf output is generated when exporting as latex.

Answer 1

Finally, figured it out:

• Use M-x customize-group
  • org-export-pdf
  • org-latex-to-pdf-process (As explained here)
  • change this option:
    • %latex -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f
  • to this option:
    • xelatex -interaction nonstopmode -output-directory %o %f
  • in all places!

With this set, the latex headers in the question are redundant. Just type Devanagari text, and export will work fine in LaTeX!