11Feb11 The Role of Museum, Libraries & Heritage in JAINpedia

Article by Rajiv Anand MA ,    Museum Consultant for the JAINpedia Project
This article first appeared in Young Jains UK Magazine

JAINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st Century.  Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of temporary and travelling exhibitions, cultural events and educational activities at the partner institutions; the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the British Library (BL), the Bodleian Library and Wellcome Trust Library.  Further to this the project will digitise approximately 5000 pages from Jain manuscripts housed in these institutions, create a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners and will deliver an inclusive learning programme in schools and community settings.  Written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Gujarati, these manuscripts are vitally significant pieces of Jain heritage. The majority of the manuscripts are on paper, palm-leaf, and cloth (some dating back to 1200AD). Many of the documents are highly fragile and susceptible to damage through handling and exposure to light.

REACHING OUT TO A DIVERSE AUDIENCE

British Jain collections represent some of the most important in the world. These heritage collections are important because they are rare or unique cultural objects, and many are sacred objects to members of the Jain community. The information they contain is also of cultural importance. Access to them is therefore clearly important to the Jain community. The JAINpedia project will make accessible, for the first time, a range of cultural objects and artefacts relevant to the Jain religion and culture which will develop a strong sense of community heritage and pride.  Many of the objects in the JAINpedia display at the V&A and BL have never been on public display, thus by showcasing the manuscripts in galleries of national importance fosters a sense of ownership and cultural pride amongst the Jain communities of the UK.  It is of utmost importance to get the Jain community involved in this work as it develops a sense of community heritage pride and an understanding of this ancient world religion to a wider audience.   This will be done through outreach initiatives in local community centres, inter-faith venues, local museums, libraries and archives.

We hope to influence the mainstream by offering intercultural and interfaith learning opportunities to an artistic heritage they would not normally have exposure to and aim to collaborate with the widest sections of the mainstream public.  With this in mind we are expecting to bring new audiences to Jain artistic heritage and to examine what impact this will have. We will also be questioning the issue of whether we need to redefine heritage and whose story are we telling.  We will also look at what community heritage means to the mainstream and how as an organisation we respond to differing views of heritage.

We are planning training for teachers on Jainism and will run a series of INSET afternoons at LEAs throughout the country. These will be focused on the educational material produced through the JAINpedia project and will be led by a suitably trained staff.  We will also produce a DVD for public mainstream and voluntary sector workers providing an introduction to the Jain religion and community.

Research has been conducted and has concluded that the main beneficiaries of the project will be:

  • The Jain community of Britain
  • Mainstream schools and students who study a plethora of religions in the multi-faith community that is Britain today
  • The general public of Britain who are interested in the wide range of cultures that make up Britishness in the 21st Century.

Further to this we hope to attract wider families with pre-school children, older people, the unemployed, young people and the disabled along with mainstream visitors to the holding repositories (BL, Bodleian Library, V&A and Wellcome Trust Library).

As part of our creative strategy we are opening up the national Jain collections to a wider audience. Care and sensitivity is required in order to deliver the correct message to people who would not usually visit Jain collections or events.  By providing specific cultural events we aim to open up Jainism as a major ancient world religion in a comparative way.  This in turn will foster an understanding of the customs and cultures the wider community would not usually have awareness of.

Building strategic partnerships with the libraries and museums is of vital importance as projects such as JAINpedia promote cultural diversity and equality.  Museums and Libraries need to attract a more diverse audience profile to their collections and events in order to develop basic skills and to promote lifelong learning.  Museums and libraries collate diversity figures which are reported upon and the public programmes often try to build in diversity as part of their general provision and services.

©V&A Museum, London. Indrabhuti Gautama Attains Perfect Knowledge. IS 46-50-1959

TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS

For many of the communities who cannot come to the institutional collections the JAINpedia Team are currently devising a travelling exhibition to be housed temporarily in religious venues, regional museums and libraries as well as community and arts centres across the UK.  The travelling exhibition has two main intentions which are to increase a general awareness in the beliefs and customs of Jainism and to highlight the work of JAINpedia by ensuring that visitors to the exhibition visit the JAINpedia site and accompanying websites, displays and related activity. The exhibition will be divided into six sections, which broadly follow the themes of the website; these include People, Principles, Practice, Places, Jainism Today and a Jainpedia section.  The text regarding these sections will be backed up by visual images and there will also be an interactive terminal for visitors to visit the JAINpedia website.

It is expected that the Jain community will be active in volunteering at the travelling exhibition locations across the UK and will be on hand to answer questions lead on creative heritage activities and promote diversity, tolerance and equality for all.   Along with this we will be working in schools and other locations nationally and hope to see the mutual benefits of collaborative working between the mainstream and the Jain community.  We will be evaluating all outreach work in  looking at how successfully.

the wider communities have worked with the specific Jain community and to set benchmarks and targets against this.

LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

We have been working closely with the various departments at the V&A and BL; these have included colleagues in curatorial, learning, visitor services, marketing and special events. Most of the previous events have been focused on family groups and young people.  The main aim of the events is to make learning informal and fun whilst at the same time developing analytical, behavioural and creative skills for life through gallery education by opening up the collections.  Such events have included traditional activity such as rangoli floor art popular in the Indian regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat, interactive Jain stories, traditional musical recitals and craft workshops.  In June 2011 the V&A will be taking a coach load of visitors to the Potters Bar temple in conjunction with JAINpedia.  Members of the local Jain community will offer talks and tours of the temple, temple architecture plus the sacred shrines throughout the temple grounds. This event will prove to be a great learning opportunity for the visitors involved.  The main objective is that they return to the temple with family and friends and will be able to offer explanations on what they learned during their visit.

Children enjoying Jain storytelling at the V&A Museum on 14th November led by Seema Anand.

JAINpedia will be on display at the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art at the V&A until December 2012 and a series of further events are currently being devised to complete the project.  We are planning a Jain manuscripts symposium along with hands on jewellery making from Jain symbols and images found in the display working alongside ‘hard to reach’ groups of young people from local London boroughs.  Further to this we are running tours of the JAINpedia displays at the V&A and BL.  Volunteers play an important part in the project and they have been trained to deliver and conduct tours of the displays to the public and Jain community as and when required.

The BL is an important strategic partner as the Jain collection is the largest and most important outside the Indian Sub-Continent.  The exhibition will enhance understanding of Jainism and the Jain religious, artistic and cultural heritage.  They state that ‘the main aims of the exhibition is to show how the British slowly discovered the Jain heritage in India and to display the patterns of interaction between the British and Jains over the last two centuries’. The library is aware that the ‘diasporic Jain community of multi-cultural Britain is interested in the rediscovery of its tradition and is keen on explaining its value to wider audiences’.

JAINpedia at the BL aims to enhance understanding of Jainism and Jain religious, artistic and literary traditions.  It will explore issues of Jain identity and philosophy, which concentrates on and respects reverence for all life forms and to delve into the adherence of Ahimsa (non-violence).  The display also aims to examine how these concepts are preserved in Jain communities worldwide. Jainpedia is on display at the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library till 30th April 2011 in the first instance.

JAINpedia will also be on display at the Bodleian Library University of Oxford.  Oxford’s libraries are amongst the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages.  Among them the Bodleian, the chief among the University’s libraries, has a special place.    The Bodleian Library collection contains a significant holding of academic Jain material and manuscripts as it is one of the leading university libraries in the UK and Europe regarding such objects.   With this in mind we hope to display these through the JAINpedia exhibition which will be a representative example of the Libraries Jain manuscript collection and will be held at the library in 2012. It is expected that various academic issues surrounding Manuscriptology, Sanskrit, Graphology and Jain art and culture will be researched by curators and librarians at the Bodleian.  Jainism is a peace loving religion so it is ethical to look into such issues of concern and interest surrounding environment and ecology.  Jainism is in essence a religion of ecology, of a sustainable lifestyle and of reverence for life.  The religion’s entire emphasis is that of life constant with ecology.

Diwali at the V&A Museum

At present the JAINpedia Museum Consultant is in liaisons with the Wellcome Trust Library as they have a large collection of Jain manuscripts which are being digitised for the main project website but to date have not been able to hold a physical display in the collections due to the lack of space in the Wellcome Library.  Despite this issue they are hopeful that a display may be possible in the future and discussions regarding this are ongoing.  JAINpedia is a unique project which deals with issues of reaching new and diverse audiences by making the nations Jain collections accessible and understandable in an educational and interesting manner.  We are also looking at interfaith and intercultural dialogues within a wider society which respects the needs of all.

AINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st Century. Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of temporary and travelling exhibitions, cultural events and educational activities at the partner institutions; the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the British Library (BL), the Bodleian Library and Wellcome Trust Library. Further to this the project will digitise approximately 5000 pages from Jain manuscripts housed in these institutions, create a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners and will deliver an inclusive learning programme in schools and community settings. Written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Gujarati, these manuscripts are vitally significant pieces of Jain heritage. The majority of the manuscripts are on paper, palm-leaf, and cloth (some dating back to 1200AD). Many of the documents are highly fragile and susceptible to damage through handling and exposure to light.

REACHING OUT TO A DIVERSE AUDIENCE

British Jain collections represent some of the most important in the world. These heritage collections are important because they are rare or unique cultural objects, and many are sacred objects to members of the Jain community. The information they contain is also of cultural importance. Access to them is therefore clearly important to the Jain community. The JAINpedia project will make accessible, for the first time, a range of cultural objects and artefacts relevant to the Jain religion and culture which will develop a strong sense of community heritage and pride. Many of the objects in the JAINpedia display at the V&A and BL have never been on public display, thus by showcasing the manuscripts in galleries of national importance fosters a sense of ownership and cultural pride amongst the Jain communities of the UK. It is of utmost importance to get the Jain community involved in this work as it develops a sense of community heritage pride and an understanding of this ancient world religion to a wider audience. This will be done through outreach initiatives in local community centres, inter-faith venues, local museums, libraries and archives.

We hope to influence the mainstream by offering intercultural and interfaith learning opportunities to an artistic heritage they would not normally have exposure to and aim to collaborate with the widest sections of the mainstream public. With this in mind we are expecting to bring new audiences to Jain artistic heritage and to examine what impact this will have. We will also be questioning the issue of whether we need to redefine heritage and whose story are we telling. We will also look at what community heritage means to the mainstream and how as an organisation we respond to differing views of heritage.

We are planning training for teachers on Jainism and will run a series of INSET afternoons at LEAs throughout the country. These will be focused on the educational material produced through the JAINpedia project and will be led by a suitably trained staff. We will also produce a DVD for public mainstream and voluntary sector workers providing an introduction to the Jain religion and community.

Research has been conducted and has concluded that the main beneficiaries of the project will be:

  • The Jain community of Britain
  • Mainstream schools and students who study a plethora of religions in the multi-faith community that is Britain today
  • The general public of Britain who are interested in the wide range of cultures that make up Britishness in the 21st Century.

Further to this we hope to attract wider families with pre-school children, older people, the unemployed, young people and the disabled along with mainstream visitors to the holding repositories (BL, Bodleian Library, V&A and Wellcome Trust Library).

As part of our creative strategy we are opening up the national Jain collections to a wider audience. Care and sensitivity is required in order to deliver the correct message to people who would not usually visit Jain collections or events. By providing specific cultural events we aim to open up Jainism as a major ancient world religion in a comparative way. This in turn will foster an understanding of the customs and cultures the wider community would not usually have awareness of.

Building strategic partnerships with the libraries and museums is of vital importance as projects such as JAINpedia promote cultural diversity and equality. Museums and Libraries need to attract a more diverse audience profile to their collections and events in order to develop basic skills and to promote lifelong learning. Museums and libraries collate diversity figures which are reported upon and the public programmes often try to build in diversity as part of their general provision and services.

TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS

For many of the communities who cannot come to the institutional collections the JAINpedia Team are currently devising a travelling exhibition to be housed temporarily in religious venues, regional museums and libraries as well as community and arts centres across the UK. The travelling exhibition has two main intentions which are to increase a general awareness in the beliefs and customs of Jainism and to highlight the work of JAINpedia by ensuring that visitors to the exhibition visit the JAINpedia site and accompanying websites, displays and related activity. The exhibition will be divided into six sections, which broadly follow the themes of the website; these include People, Principles, Practice, Places, Jainism Today and a Jainpedia section. The text regarding these sections will be backed up by visual images and there will also be an interactive terminal for visitors to visit the JAINpedia website.

It is expected that the Jain community will be active in volunteering at the travelling exhibition locations across the UK and will be on hand to answer questions lead on creative heritage activities and promote diversity, tolerance and equality for all. Along with this we will be working in schools and other locations nationally and hope to see the mutual benefits of collaborative working between the mainstream and the Jain community. We will be evaluating all outreach work in looking at how successfully.

the wider communities have worked with the specific Jain community and to set benchmarks and targets against this.

LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

We have been working closely with the various departments at the V&A and BL; these have included colleagues in curatorial, learning, visitor services, marketing and special events. Most of the previous events have been focused on family groups and young people. The main aim of the events is to make learning informal and fun whilst at the same time developing analytical, behavioural and creative skills for life through gallery education by opening up the collections. Such events have included traditional activity such as rangoli floor art popular in the Indian regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat, interactive Jain stories, traditional musical recitals and craft workshops. In June 2011 the V&A will be taking a coach load of visitors to the Potters Bar temple in conjunction with JAINpedia. Members of the local Jain community will offer talks and tours of the temple, temple architecture plus the sacred shrines throughout the temple grounds. This event will prove to be a great learning opportunity for the visitors involved. The main objective is that they return to the temple with family and friends and will be able to offer explanations on what they learned during their visit.

JAINpedia will be on display at the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art at the V&A until December 2012 and a series of further events are currently being devised to complete the project. We are planning a Jain manuscripts symposium along with hands on jewellery making from Jain symbols and images found in the display working alongside ‘hard to reach’ groups of young people from local London boroughs. Further to this we are running tours of the JAINpedia displays at the V&A and BL. Volunteers play an important part in the project and they have been trained to deliver and conduct tours of the displays to the public and Jain community as and when required.

The BL is an important strategic partner as the Jain collection is the largest and most important outside the Indian Sub-Continent. The exhibition will enhance understanding of Jainism and the Jain religious, artistic and cultural heritage. They state that ‘the main aims of the exhibition is to show how the British slowly discovered the Jain heritage in India and to display the patterns of interaction between the British and Jains over the last two centuries’. The library is aware that the ‘diasporic Jain community of multi-cultural Britain is interested in the rediscovery of its tradition and is keen on explaining its value to wider audiences’.

JAINpedia at the BL aims to enhance understanding of Jainism and Jain religious, artistic and literary traditions. It will explore issues of Jain identity and philosophy, which concentrates on and respects reverence for all life forms and to delve into the adherence of Ahimsa (non-violence). The display also aims to examine how these concepts are preserved in Jain communities worldwide. Jainpedia is on display at the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library till 30th April 2011 in the first instance.

JAinpedia will also be on display at the Bodleian Library University of Oxford. Oxford’s libraries are amongst the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Among them the Bodleian, the chief among the University’s libraries, has a special place. The Bodleian Library collection contains a significant holding of academic Jain material and manuscripts as it is one of the leading university libraries in the UK and Europe regarding such objects. With this in mind we hope to display these through the JAINpedia exhibition which will be a representative example of the Libraries Jain manuscript collection and will be held at the library in 2012. It is expected that various academic issues surrounding Manuscriptology, Sanskrit, Graphology and Jain art and culture will be researched by curators and librarians at the Bodleian. Jainism is a peace loving religion so it is ethical to look into such issues of concern and interest surrounding environment and ecology. Jainism is in essence a religion of ecology, of a sustainable lifestyle and of reverence for life. The religion’s entire emphasis is that of life constant with ecology.

At present the JAINpedia Museum Consultant is in liaisons with the Wellcome Trust Library as they have a large collection of Jain manuscripts which are being digitised for the main project website but to date have not been able to hold a physical display in the collections due to the lack of space in the Wellcome Library. Despite this issue they are hopeful that a display may be possible in the future and discussions regarding this are ongoing. JAINpedia is a unique project which deals with issues of reaching new and diverse audiences by making the nations Jain collections accessible and understandable in an educational and interesting manner.  We are also looking at interfaith and intercultural dialogues within a wider society which respects the needs of all.

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20Nov10 THE PRINCE OF WALES VISITS JAINPEDIA AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM

Jain Community celebrates launch of JAINpedia exhibitions and website
London 18th November 2010

Magnificent Venue for the JAINpedia Visit

Jain Manuscripts & Paintings

The Institute of Jainology (“IoJ”) was delighted to receive His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London to view the JAINpedia exhibition and see the JAINpedia online digital resources.

The Prince is Grreted by IoJ Deputy Chairman

The Prince was greeted by Mr Paul Ruddock, Chairman of the V&A, and Mr Nemu Chandaria, Deputy Chairman of the IoJ and then introduced to the Directors of the IoJ and key staff at the V&A.
The JAINpedia project is a 5 year project launched by the IoJ in 2007 to make the Jain manuscripts in major UK collections more accessible through exhibitions and events, and a digitally rich website featuring over 5,000 images and contextual material.
Mr Nemu Chandaria commented, “the Jain community is grateful to His Royal Highness for visiting the JAINpedia exhibition. His warmth and interest in the project and the Jain community has made this a very special day for us.”

IoJ Deputy Chairman Leading H R H to the Nehru Gallery

JAINpedia Executive Director Welcome the Prince

Nicholas Bernard & Prof Nalini Balbir Showing the Exhibits

Prince Charles visits the V&A to view the Jainpedia project

The Prince was guided through the V&A exhibition by curator Nick Barnard and JAINpedia expert Prof. Nalini Balbir of the University of Paris. He spent several moments discussing Jain cosmology and 15th century manuscripts featuring the lives of the Jain teachers. His Royal Highness was then shown how the manuscripts are made available through the JAINpedia site; its technical development partner being Kings College London.

Looking at the JAINpedia Website

The Prince Meets IoJ Directors & Their Wives

Meeting the IoJ Directors & Their Spouses

Over 100 members of the Jain community were invited to meet His Royal Highness during the visit as well as stakeholders from the British Library, the Wellcome Trust and the Bodleian Library. After the visit, there were speeches by Beth McKillop, Deputy Director of the V&A, Mehool Sanghrajka Director of the IoJ and the JAINpedia Project and finally by Wesley Kerr, Chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund London Committee.

The Prince Viewing the Rangoli

JAINpedia Team Presented to the Prince

JAINpedia Team

Meeting the President of The Oshwal Association of the UK

Meeting the President of The Navnat Vanik Association of the UK

Project Stake Holders Awaiting Introduction. Mr Wesley Kerr Chairman HLF on the left

More Stake Holders in the ProjectProject

About the JAINpedia Project
The JAINpedia project was created by the IoJ following the successful launch of its publication ‘The Catalogue of the Jain Collection at the British Library by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh.
JAINpedia is a project to create an online, accessible resource for the Jain community and beyond. This will be a first for Jain heritage as there is no other online public resource that has worked with the key holders of Jain artefacts in the UK or worldwide. Not only will the website be an extensive and highly detailed multimedia site of Jain Manuscripts, but it will have two main sub-sites called ‘Learn Jainism’ and ‘Jain Spirit’.
Learn Jainism, will provide educational resources for teachers using the images and text from the main site and will be a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners with materials for religious education lessons. Jain Spirit, will be a dedicated site for the community, with articles and event updates of the Project. The JAINpedia project now in its third year has exhibitions already running at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Library, and still to come at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

About the JAINpedia exhibition at the V&A
A display of finely illustrated Jain manuscript pages and paintings from India opened at the Victoria and Albert Museum on 14 May. Of these a large Jayatra yantra or Victory banner, consecrated at Diwali in 1447, is one of the oldest surviving dated Jain paintings on cloth. The illustrated manuscript pages on display include finely detailed pages of the 15th and 16th centuries from manuscripts of the canonical Kalpasutra and Uttaradhyayanasutra texts. They tell the stories of the 24 Jinas (spiritual victors) revered by the Jains and several illustrate the principles of non-violence and respect for all forms of life that are at the heart of Jainism.

Conservation of the Jain manuscript pages involved special research and treatment to avoid the use of animal glues in accordance with Jain principles.
The display continues until 31 December 2012.

About the Institute of Jainology
The Institute of Jainology (IoJ) was established following the first International Jain Conference held in London in 1983, when the need for an organisation to coordinate Jain affairs internationally was recognized. The Trust is administered by a Board of Trustees. Its centeres of operations are in London and in Ahmedabad, India.
Representatives of Jains worldwide met at Buckingham Palace, London in 1990 to present the ‘Jain Declaration on Nature’ to H R H Prince Philip. This event repositioned Jainism as the eight faith of the world and marked its entry to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
To find out more about the project please visit www.jainpedia.org or contact the JAINpedia team on bansri.mehta@jainpedia.org  020 82361001

PHOTO GALLERY











































Above is a selection of the photographs that were taken during the visit by H R H The Prince of Wales. Click here to see the rest of the photographs taken by us on the day. Should you want a copy of any of the photograph please contact Ms Bansri Mehta at  Bansri.Mehta@jainpedia.org.

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17Nov10 Invitation to Join ‘Mukti Yatra; A Jain Convention

Visha Oshwal Community of Kenya is holding a Jain Convention titled ‘Mukti Yatra’ from 4th February to 6th February 2011 in Nairobi. A number of well known Jain scholars and speakers from overseas will be holding discourses and workshops on different aspects of Jain philosophy and religion.

In addition to the discourses there will be several cultural events to entertain the participants. Exhibitions of Rangoli and Jain Arts & Crafts will also be held.

Convention is open to all Jains from anywhere in the world. All intending participants must pre – register – though there is no registration fee.

Details of the event are given in the attached file. Click here to get the details flyer-jain-convention

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16Nov10 JAINpedia Celebrated Diwali at The V&A Museum London

JAINpedia celebrated Diwali at the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London during the weekend of 13-14th November 2010. The day was fun filled with educational activities for children and families as well as those in search for more knowledge about the culture and heritage of Jainism.

The celebrations kicked off with Shobhna and Pratima Haria creating a large ‘Rangoli’. This is a a traditional decorative folk art of India. The purpose of Rangoli is decoration and it is thought to bring good luck. Design-depictions may also vary as they reflect traditions, folklore and practices that are unique to particular area. The base material is usually dry or wet granulated rice or dry flour, to which Sindhoor(vermillion), Haldi(tumeric) and other natural colours can be added. Shobhna and Pratima began their work of art, depicting 6 of the 14 dreams of Queen Trishala on Saturday morning and took 3 days to finish their masterpiece.

Their steady and skilled hands filled the drawings meticulously with coloured powder. JAINpedia volunteers were on hand to explain the significance of Rangoli and the relevance of the particular pictures.

Dr Harshad Sanghrajka, the lead volunteer on the day explaing the Jain cosmology

JAINpedia display tours were conducted by volunteers every hour through the 2 days with over 1000 people having viewed the display. The JAINpedia volunteers captivated their audiences with the explanation of the the history and contents of the display.

A large Jayatra yantra or Victory banner on display is believed to have been consecrated at Diwali in 1447. It is one of the oldest surviving dated Jain paintings on cloth and combines exquisitely delicate painting with the numerals and syllables which gave it its power as a yantra or esoteric diagram.

Jain monks have traditionally been supported by a much larger lay community, who gained spiritual merit by commissioning manuscripts, which were then preserved in temple libraries. The illustrated manuscript pages on display were made for the Shvetambara sect of Jains in Gujarat and Rajasthan. There are finely detailed pages of the 15th and 16th century manuscripts of the canonical Kalpasutra and Uttaradhyayanasutra texts. Some are opulently decorated with blue and gold pigment while others retain the vibrant red and fine line characteristic of the earlier part of this period. They tell the stories of the 24 Jinas (spiritual victors) revered by the Jains and several illustrate the principles of non-violence and respect for all forms of life that are at the heart of Jainism.

Conservation of the Jain manuscript pages involved special research and treatment which avoids the use of animal glues in accordance with Jain principles. A series of fascinating illustrations from cosmological manuscripts chart the changes in Jain paintings in the 17th and 18th centuries. Finally, a large but highly detailed painting made in 1844 in Deshnok, Rajasthan, shows the Middle World of the Jain universe, where mortals dwell, and its intriguing island continents and seas. Very fragile, and bearing the scars of severe historical damage, it was specially conserved for the display.

On Sunday, the Victoria & Albert Museum organized a Diwali themed treasure hunt for the visitors. Families explored the galleries to find objects related to the story of Queen Trishala’s 14 dreams. They were given digital cameras by the museum, then worked with the museum’s digital artists to create a digital collage from their pictures illustrating their own dream story.

The highlight of the weekend was the two story-telling sessions by Seema Anand. Seema is a passionate and inspiring story teller. Whether her listeners are 9years or 90years, she has the capacity to transport them into her story world and hold them there. Story, according to Seema, is a physical skill and a visual art and her work is developed to include alternative aesthetic and cultural perspectives for all ages and capacities. The Nehru Gallery, where the story-telling took place was filled to the brim, and music from the dancers supporting the story-telling echoed in the galleries. The children were invited to take part in the story-telling making the event interactive and amusing for all. Seema’s stories were taken from the newly published ‘Jain Tales’ by Colin Hynson, a publication by the Institute of Jainology.

Seema Anand In the Middle of a Story

The Dancers

Commencement of Rangoli 'Carpet' Creation

Rangoli is an delecate art work

FCompleted Rangoli

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14Nov10 Fellowship Program for Research in Human-Animal Studies

The Animals and Society Institute and Wesleyan Animal Studies invites applications for the fifth annual summer fellowship program for scholars pursuing research in Human-Animal Studies.

Beginning in the summer of 2011 and going forward, this interdisciplinary program will enable 6-8 fellows to pursue research in residence at Wesleyan University at the College of the Environment. Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut is a selective private, coeducational, non-sectarian school of liberal arts and sciences known for the excellence of its academic and co-curricular programs.  Wesleyan’s College of the Environment was created in 2009 with a belief in the resilience of the human spirit and a desire to engage students and scholars in discussions about environmental issues and their social and political impact.

The fellowship will be hosted by Wesleyan faculty Lori Gruen and Kari Weil. Gruen is chair and associate professor of philosophy, associate professor of environmental studies, associate professor of feminist, gender and sexuality studies at Wesleyan, and author of Ethics and Animals: An Introduction (Cambridge, Feb. 2011). Weil is a visiting professor of letters at Wesleyan, and author of Thinking Animals: An Introduction (Columbia, 2011).

The fellowship is designed to support recipients’ individual research through mentorship, guest lectures, and scholarly exchange among fellows and opportunities to contribute to the intellectual life of the host institution.  All fellows must be in continuous residence for the duration of the program, May 23 – July 1, inclusive.

The fellowships are open to scholars from any discipline investigating a topic related to human-animal relationships. Selected topics from previous years’ programs include:

  • Analyzing one County’s Attempt to go “No Kill”
  • Animal Ethics in Cold War Literary Culture
  • Animal Experimentation and Animal Welfare in Twentieth Century Anglo-American Science
  • Animal Research in Theory and Practice
  • Animals and Colonialism
  • Cloning Extinct Species of Mammals
  • Ethics and Politics in Environmental Discourse in India
  • Gender Relations in Cattle Ranching
  • Genetically Engineered Pigs
  • Human Animal Relationships at the Duke Lemur Center
  • Inter-species Identity and Alterity in a Video Game
  • Legal Personhood, Animal Advocacy, and Human-Animal Relationships
  • Literary Representations of Dogs
  • Media Representations of the 2007 Pet Food Recall
  • Science and Policies Affecting Elephants in Captivity
  • The Animal Rights Movements in France and the United States
  • The Human-Animal Relationship for Veterinary Students
  • Victorian Quaker Women’s Contributions to Feminist-Animal Ethics
  • Xenotransplantation and Black Market Organs

Application deadline: January 15, 2011

Amount of Award

Scholars selected to participate in the fellowship program will be awarded a stipend of $3,000 to help cover travel costs, housing, living expenses, books, and other research expenses.  The Wesleyan hosts will help coordinate housing for the fellows.

Eligibility

Applicants must (1) possess a Ph.D., J.D., M.S.W. or equivalent, or be a doctoral student at the dissertation stage; (2) have a commitment to advancing research in Human-Animal Studies; (3) be actively engaged, during the fellowship program, in a research project that culminates in a journal article, book, or other scholarly presentation, and (4) submit a follow-up report six months after the fellowship’s completion.

Application

Applicants should email electronic copies of the following items to fellowshipapplication@animalsandsociety.org:

  • Cover sheet with the applicant’s name, mailing address to be used for future correspondence, telephone and fax numbers, e-mail address, present rank and institution name, date Ph.D. or J.D. or M.S.W. received or expected, citizenship status, title of project, history of fellowships and grants received during the past five years.
  • One paragraph abstract
  • Project proposal of up to three pages (single-spaced) that describes the project and indicates work completed on the project to date.  As the description will be considered by a panel of scholars from a variety of disciplines, it should be written for non-specialists.
  • Curriculum vitae of up to three pages.
  • Two letters of recommendation (pdfs of original letters recommended)
  • Applicants are responsible for contacting referees and supplying them with a description of the project.

Selection Process

The selection committee includes members from a range of disciplines connected to Human-Animal Studies.

Applications are evaluated on the contribution that the completed project will make to Human-Animal Studies, the qualifications of the applicant to complete the research, and how well the applicant’s project complements the other projects. In addition, we favor projects that include policy and practice implications.

Applicants will be notified by e-mail and letter March 2011.

The fellowship program will be directed by Ken Shapiro, Executive Director of Animals and Society Institute, Margo DeMello, Program Director, Human Animal Studies Program, and Wesleyan professors Lori Gruen, and Kari Weil. Please address all correspondence to us at the following address:

Committee on FellowshipsAnimals & Society Institute
403 McCauley Street
Washington Grove MD 20880

fellowshipapplication@animalsandsociety.org

301-963-4751

www.animalsandsociety.org

Margo DeMelloProgram Director,
Human-Animal StudiesAnimals and Society Institute2
512 Carpenter Rd,
Suite 201A2
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
734-677-9240

www.animalsandsociety.org
www.Facebook.com/AnimalsandSocietyInstitute
Check out Teaching the Animal

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9Nov10 JAINpedia Exhibitions at British Library & V&A Museum

Mahāvīra’s incarnation as a god in the Puśpottara heaven Kalpa-sūtra © The British Library Board

JAINpedia is a prestigious 5 year national project to create an online, accessible resource for the Jain community and beyond, taking Jainism into the 21st Century.  Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts the project is conducting a series of exhibitions, cultural events and cultural events at partner institutions the V&A, British Library, Bodleian Library and Welcome Trust Library.
The British Library launched JAINpedia in the Treasures Gallery which opened to the public on 8th October 2010  and will be displayed there till the end of April 2011.  The display consists of approx 40 objects from across the Library’s Jain collection and  is grouped as Sacred Text and further displayed in different sections these include Worship and Meditation, Lives of the Jinas, The Jain Universe and Jain Stories.  Depictions include The Jitakalpasutra, Worship to Sarasvati, Santinatha, The 16th Jina in Meditation, Worship of the Jina Parsvanatha, Auspicious Dreams and Enlightenment of a Jina.
To further compliment the display a series of events to celebrate Mahavir Jayanti in April 2011 will take place these will include a family craft workshop, storytelling in the gallery and a lunchtime recital, there will also be a reception in March 2011.
Entrance to the library and the galleries is free. Please visit with your friends.
For further information please contact:

Rajiv Anand M.A
Tel-0208 236 1020
rajiv.anand@jainpedia.org
www.jainpedia.org

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8Nov10 H R H Prince Charles To Visit JAINpedia

THE PRINCE OF WALES VISITS JAINpedia

The Board of Directors of The Institute of Jainology are delighted that His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales will be visiting the JAINpedia project and website, at the Victoria & Albert Museum on 18th November 2010. Leaders of the Jain community and Project stakeholders will be present and will have an opportunity to meet His Royal Highness.

You can also be a part of this ground breaking project by attending the JAINpedia Diwali at the Victoria & Albert Museum this weekend, 13th and 14th November 2010.
The full programme of events being held this weekend is:

Rangoli Display
Date: 13-14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

JAINpedia Display Tours
Date: 13-14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

JAINpedia Treasure Hunt
Date: 14 November 2010
Time: 10.00am – 5.30pm

Jain Stories
Date: 14 November 2010
Time: 12.00pm & 3.00pm

JAINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st century. Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of exhibitions, cultural events, and educational activities at partner institutions: the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the Bodleian Library and the Wellcome Trust Library.
To find out more about JAINpedia, our events and museum tours please contact:
Email: bansri.mehta@jainpedia.org
Tel: 020 8236 1001

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7Nov10 ‘Jain Tales’ Second Book in National R E Curriculum Series Launched

JAIN TALES

The Institute is proud to have  launch   its latest publication, Jain Tales during the Ahimsa Day Celebration on 20th October at the House of Commons. Jain Tales is the 2nd book in the Learn Jainism series, which together with the accompanying websire – LearnJainism.org – meet the needs of the National Curriculum for teaching Jainism.

Outside Cover

The book has been written by the well known children’s author, Colin Hynson, who was also the author of the first book, Discover Jainism.
The book is aimed at 8 – 12  year old children growing up in western countries. The Jain principles and teachings are illustrated in simple and elegant way through specially selected stories from Jain scriptures covering a wide range of subjects.

The eight stories in the book are:

1.Monkey and Sugari
2. The Elephant and the Blind People
3. King Hansa
4. Kamalsen
5. Repairing the Mansion
6. Carrying Milk
7. King Megharath
8. The Fourteen Dreams of Mother Trishala

The book is printed in full colour on art paper and each tale is richly illustrated with original artwork commissioned for specially for the book from children’s illustrator Kamini Gupta. The hard cover is attractively finished. As with Discover Jainism, the book’s content have been co-ordinated with a dedicated website which has teachers’ notes, games and activities – all focusing on teaching Jainism in a fun way!

The book is ideally suited as a birthday gift to young children and for  prabhavna at special celebratory occasions.
Technical Details:

By Colin Hynson
Ed. Mehool Sanghrajka
Original Artwork by Kamini Gupta
Published by Institute of Jainology
2010 31 cm x 21.5 cm 64 pages on full colour art plates
Deluxe Hardcover Edition Rs. 400
ISBN No: 978-0-9554839-1-2

Available from the Institute of Jainology, London

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29Oct10 Ahimsa Day 2010

AHIMSA DAY 2010

Committee Room No 10       House of Commons
20th October 2010

The eight Ahimsa Day was celebrated this year in London’s House of Commons committee Room no 10. The room is steeped in history, its walls having witnessed  perhaps thousands of Parliamentary Bills discussed.The program started on time at 7 pm with the room completely filled up with leading members of the UK’s Jain community. As there were some very important bill’s being discussed in the House at the time, the attendance of the Members of Parliament was a little thin.

Mr Barry Gardiner MP Chair of the Labour Parliamentary Friends of India, Ms Pritti Patel, Deputy Chair of the Conservative Friends of India and Lady Dholakia representing Lord Dholakia,

Samir Juthani

Vishita Shah

the Chair for Liberal Democrat Friends of India were all present as the Co- Hosts for the evening.There were several other MPs in the audience including the Attorney General, Rt Hon Dominic Grieve, and some opposition members.

Mr Samir Juthani, the compère for the evening introduced himself and invited Vishita Shah to commence the program in Jain tradition by reciting the auspicious Namokar Mantra. The three co- hosts formally welcomed the audience and expressed their pleasure at having the opportunity to host the evening.  Dr Harshad Sanghrajka, Institute’s Director & Hon Secretary  followed the hosts to welcome the guests on behalf of the Institute. He outlined the history of Ahimsa Day celebration  and explained how it had taken on special significance four years ago when United Nations declared 2nd October as Ahimsa Day in honour of Mahatma Gandhi whose birthdate was 2nd October.Professor Sugata Mitra of Newcastle University, our keynote speaker took to  the stage. He had obtained a doctorate in Physics, worked in several research institutions, IT Teaching institutions in India before taking up the Professorship in Newcastle.  He spoke for just over 30 minutes in very lucid way holding the audience spellbound for the entire address.
He spoke about how when he was an instructor on IT applications, he thought of doing something different. He bought a computer and literally placed in a hole in a wall in one of the Delhi slums expecting the computer to be vandalised in next couple of days. Instead, to his amazement, the slum children had learnt to use the computer and carry out searches on Google – all on their own.
Emboldened by the success of this – he repeated the same experiment in a Tsunami affected village where children did not even have a class room! Once again there was success with children having learnt to use the computer.
On publication of his papers, he was contacted by Newcastle University to set up a much larger experiment in Hyderabad. Here the conditions were more formal with a instructor available not to teach but to ask critical questions to make the children think. Success of these projects prompted the University to try them out in the depressed areas of Newcastle. And as he had expected the children world over have the same curious natures and the ability to challenge what they do not understand.
Professor Mitra’s quest is to create environment for enabling the children in depressed areas to have an opportunity to develop their latent talents and skills in their own way rather than going through a regimented education process which may not offer them the same challenge to their own creativity.

His findings have revolutionised the way in which educationalists think about the role of teachers, and his discovery of “self-organised learning units” (i.e. when children sort themselves out to learn in the most effective way possible- as they will naturally do in the absence of any impediments) have been proven to change the focus, ambition and lives of children all over the world. Professor Mitra, a polymath (genius in many fields), has also harnessed that age-old teaching technique- the power of the grandmother! Through harnessing the internet, he has allowed children from all over the world to be taught English by native speakers (all retired grandmothers).

Prof Sugata Mitra had the audience spellbound

He himself finally asked the question – what has all this to do with Ahimsa?  His answer was  that Hinsa – opposite to Ahimsa in Bengali (his language) means jealousy. That all Hinsa arises because of the difference between the haves and have nots leading to a variety of conflicts. Creating opportunities for the have nots to rise in the world will certainly reduce jealousy and evolve Ahimsa.

Prof Mitra was then requested to launch the Institute’s publication ‘Jain Tales’ 2nd in the National Curriculum Series of Jain Religious Education. (This book has been reviewed elsewhere on this site.

Professor Mitra Launches the book Jain Tales

Jaysukh Mehta, Institute’s Director and Co-ordinator of the Ahimsa Day program then spoke about how the Directors’ decide on the criteria for selecting the awardees. In the earlier years, the Directors had selected personalities who had woven ahimsa in their life styles.  Directors had then considered refocusing on this criteria and thought that it may be more appropriate to make the awards to those who create an awareness of the noble tenets of Jain philosophy like  Ahimsa and Anekantvad in the Western world. It was this awareness that would one day bring peace and stability in this strife torn modern society.

These thoughts had resulted in Professor Padmanabh Jaini, the most renowned scholar in Jain academia being awared the 2009 Ahimsa Award. He then announced the recipient of the 2010 Ahimsa Award as Professor Nalini Balbir of Sorbonne Nouvelle , University of Paris.She has been the Professor of Indian Studies there since 1988. Even though there is no established Jain Centre of Studies in Paris,  it remains one of the most important centres of Jain scholarship outside India and she is currently maintaining that reputation with her own scholarship.

The Dignitaries on the Head Table

She has demonstrated her scholarship not only for Jainism but also for Buddhism. Over the past decade, she has edited the catalogue of the Collection of  Jain manuscripts at the British Library. Currently she is the editor of the JAINpedia project – which is expected to become a standard reference for Jainism and will certainly inspire many more to understand Jain philosophy. The Institute has recognised her contribution in creating a deeper understanding of Jain philosophy and its principles not only in France but throughout the Western academic world and Jaysukh Mehta stated that the Institute felt honoured that Professor Nalini Balbir had accepted the Ahimsa  Award  for the year 2010.

Dr Harshad Sanghrajka then presented the Award trophy to Professor Balbir.

Dr Harshad Sanghrajka Presenting the Award to Prof Balbir

In response, Professor Balbir in her humility said that having seen the illustrious list names of the past recipients she did not feel that she deserved to receive the award and done so reluctantly at the insistence of the Directors of the Institute. She then went through her career outlining some very major achievements. She  finished the address with the details of the JAINpedia project and her personal involvement with it. Click here to see her full address.

Professor Nalini Balbir Addressing the Audience

She was followed by Dr Mehool Sanghrajka who outlined the progress being made on the JAINpedia project. He gave details of the exhibitions of the Jain manuscripts mounted by both Victoria & Albert museum and British Library. It was a tremendous achievement to get both these highly prestigious venues to mount such exhibitions and he requested all Jain community leaders to persuade their members to take advantage of these exhibitions and visit them.

To close the evening, Hemali Shah gave the vote of thanks in particular to the Keynote speaker, Prof Sugata Mitra and the three Co-Hosts. She made a particular reference to Mr Stephen Pound MP who could not be present that evening and his office staff who had assisted in securing the venue for the evening. The House of Commons Events Team was also thanked for organising the furniture in the room.

Hemali Shah Giving the Vote of Thanks

The evening finished with an opportunity for all the guests to mingle and to speak to Professor Mitra and Professor Balbir, as well as our hosts.

PHOTO GALLERY

Members of the Audience

I o J Team

IoJ Team with Professor Nalini Balbir

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26Oct10 Homage to Late Acharya Pujya JambuSwamiji

Acharyashri Pujya Jambuvijayji  ms, recently left his mortal coil following a tragic car accident in Rajesthan. There is no doubt that he was a great Jain scholar of our times. It was to him that the Jain scholars worldwide flocked to for seeking clarifications on their philosophical and literary quests from the Jain text.

Muni Jambuvijayji’s Magnum Opus work, the critical editional of Yogashastra of Acharya Hemchandra was recently published in three volumes by Motilal Banarasidass  Publishers. To pay a true homage to such a worthy saint and scholar, B L Institute of Indology is holding a International Seminar on Yogashastra of Hemchandra on 18th and 19th December in Delhi.

The great scholar had agreed to such a seminar following the publication of his critical work on the Yogshastra but it was not to be in his life time – now, however, it would be a fitting tribute to his great scholarly work on which he had spent several years.

All the major scholars from the worldwide Jain academia are participating in the seminar. Full details of the seminar are given in the attached brochure.

Click here for the  Brochure of International Seminar on Yogashastra-1

Further details from B L Institute of Indology, New Delhi

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