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Institue of Jainology, London and Ahmedabad in conjunction with Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institue, Pune had organized a three day seminar on Manuscriptology from 1st to 3rd August at Vishwakosh Bhavan,  Ahmedabad.

This was a first ever seminar organized in India on Manuscriptology attended by both professionals and students of the subject. Over 230 professionals and students attended the seminar.

Prof. Dipti Tripathi, Director of the National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi inaugurated the seminar with an opening addressed. She started by commending  Mr Nemu Chandaria OBE and Padmashree Dr Kumarpal Desai to have conceived the idea of this seminar at a national level. It was sure to inspire more research work

Dr. Maitreyee Deshpande - Hon. Secretary of Bhandarkar Oriental Lights the Dip whilst Director Prof Tripathi Look on

She emphasized the need for research in manuscriptlogy as we need to understand the rich heritage from our ancestors.

She also expressed concern that there was very little research on ways of conserving the manuscripts.  Modern technology has enabled many conservation methods but no research has been undertaken seriously.

Both the Government and the private institutes have funding available to offer financial assistance and scholarship but sadly the researchers have not come forward to take this opportunity.

She was of the opinion that such seminars would certainly help bring about a deeper understanding of the subject and inspire interest in studying the manuscripts and also undertake research on manuscript conservation.

She concluded with commending the Institute of Jainology once again for the initiative and assured it and other Institutes that if they had proper infrastructure to promote such activities, financial assistance will certainly be available from the Government. In her conclusion she also referred to the work done by the Institute in creating an excellent catalogue of the manuscripts held in the British Library collection and the JAINpedia project to make the rare manuscripts accessible to lay people.

Officials Including Director Prof Tripathi on the Podium

The first session of the seminar was opened by Dr. Sudha Gopalakrishnan the former Director of the National Mission for Manuscripts.  In her talk she suggested that manuscriptology as a subject should be included in the University curriculum and appealed to the professors present in the audience to take this message home.
In the sessions that followed, there were 24 prominent speakers from Departments of History, Languages, and Philosophy from various leading universities. All were very enthusiastic to have had an opportunity to attend such a seminar and expressed their agreement to increase the level of both the studies and research in the subject of manuscriptology.

Several Heads of various departments at universities and institutes agreed to make available to both students and research graduates the photocopies of the MSS for research in Jain Agam, Religion, Art, History, Civilization, Medicine, Sculpture and so on.
It was very pleasing to note that new subjects in Manuscriptology were introduced by three MSS experts in the field, namely Dr. Niranjan Rajyaguru, Dr. Balwant Jani, and Dr. Mohyuddin Bombaywala.  The three new subjects were:
(1) Sant Sahitya: Manuscripts Research and Editing
(2) Charani Sahityani Hastaprato.
(3) Farasi Hastaprato: Sanshodhan and Sampadan

Some of the Audience

Dr. Kumarpal Desai and Shri Nemubhai Chandaria, Trustees of the Institute of Jainology announced the availability of a scholarship for post graduate research in MSS.

They also announced a competition to encourage the students attending the seminar to study and write on what had been discussed and proposed in the seminar.

The Institute can take justifiable pride in having not only pioneered fundamental research in the subject of Manuscriptology by having created the catalogue of British Library collection but also inspired further studies and research in to the rich heritage in India of the ancient manuscripts.

Several papers were presented amongst them, one by Mr Ranjiv Anand, IoJ  Consultant for the JAINpedia project. His paper is one of the papers published by V & A  for international distribution. A copy of his paper is repeated below. Other papers being published at the same time can be seen at:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/res_cons/research/conferences/margins_to_core/index.html

Information available includes conference papers and notes, Christopher Breward’s conference reflections, speakers biographies, video’s and photographs.

The Role of Community Heritage – Rajiv Anand MA,    Museum Consultant

British Jain collections represent some of the most important in the world. These 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 manuscripts and artefacts relevant to the Jain religion and culture and will develop a strong sense of community heritage through a series of exhibitions in the holding collections and associated events.

Jain material in Britain consists of approximately 4,000 unique manuscripts in various UK collections such as the British Library, the Bodleian Library, the Wellcome Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Many of them have never been catalogued or put on public display and access to their host institutions is severely restricted.

Written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Gujarati, these 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.

The 39 Jain collections at the Victoria & Albert Museum, relating to social and religious life will provide a valuable context to the manuscripts. 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 the wider audience. This is done through outreach initiatives in local community centres, multi-faith institutes, local museums, libraries and archives. We are developing a travelling exhibition to complement the major exhibitions/collections where we will be hosting a selection of
community heritage events till 2012.

It is expected that the Jain community will be active in volunteering at 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.

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 community heritage and to examine what impact this will have.
We will also be questioning the issue whether we need to redefine heritage and whose story we are 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 from the mainstream.
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 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:

• T he 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 a wide range of cultures that make up Britishness in the 21st Cent.
• Further to this, we hope to attract wider families with pre-school
• children, older people, the unemployed, young people and the disabled along with mainsteam visitors to the holding repositories (BL, Bod Library, V&A and Wellcome Trust Library)

The Jainpedia project is beginning to gather pace. The British Library will soon have cross sectional representation of  Jain manuscripts along side the most precious and famous items are displayed. This collection also included Magna Carta. Read on:

Treasures of the British Library (The Sir John Ritblat Gallery)/JAINpedia Display:

Introduction:

The John Ritblat Gallery has the subtitle  ‘Treasures of the British Library’ and provides a wealth of history with no admittance charge to its visitors.  The gallery contains a permanent display of some of the British Library’s greatest objects and artefacts, arranged by theme.  It includes documents which made and recorded history, sacred text from the world’s religions, masterpieces of illumination, landmarks of printing, great works of literature and music, and major advances in science and mapmaking.  Items in this gallery may be changed at intervals for preservation reasons and sometimes items are lent to other institutions for exhibitions.  To preserve the items on display, temperature and light levels are low to maintain a suitable environmental condition.   The British Library contains some of the most important Jain manuscripts and artefacts outside of the Indian Sub-Continent.

The British Library have decided to display a small representational cross-section of their manuscript collection in the Treasures Gallery as part of the JAINpedia project and to offer their ongoing interest and support in the digitization of Jain material/manuscripts.  Rajiv Anand (Museum Consultant) will work alongside learning and curatorial staff from the Library also in conjunction with Professor Nalini Balbir the Web Content Director/Expert for JAINpedia.

Location of Jainpedia Display:

The JP display will be prominently exhibited in Treasures Gallery within the Sacred Texts section.  There is an existing small case for Jain objects on display currently alongside a case of Hindu objects.  The JAINpedia case is a state of the art cabinet which is  of a much bigger size is centrally located within the gallery and is in a prime location with good vistas across the space and illuminated manuscripts display.   JAINpedia was originally set for display in The Folio Gallery but Library staff decided against this to highlight the Jain collections as of great value suitable for display in Treasures.  The gallery is centrally located within the Library grounds and gets a respectable number of visitors to view the displays daily.

Timescales for Exhibit:

JAINpedia will be on display in Treasures between September 2010 till March 2011.  This gives exposure to the manuscripts for a seven month period in comparison to two month previously scheduled for Folio Gallery.  In the long term this is a better compromise for the project and a very satisfactory outcome.  The JAINpedia display case is in the same vicinity as the world famous Magna Carta exhibit which will provide a further draw.

Events and Activities:

It is anticipated that to compliment the JAINpedia display a small but comprehensive selection of related programmes in conjunction with Learning and APAC will take place in the Library.  Main events happen around the major exhibitions usually but the staff involved with the display at BL are keen to hold some sort of workshops and schools provision alongside the public programming section,  Prof Nalini Balbir could be approached to give a public talk in the Lecture Theatre/Seminar Rooms looking at issues surrounding Manuscriptology and Sanskrit.   Learning events may happen in late December 10 during the Christmas holidays this could possibly be a Rangoli making event and associated workshops for Jain community and wider public. (A wider selection of events is mentioned in the original display brief)

Manuscript selection and display:

A selection of manuscripts was chosen for the original display brief by the display team including Prof Nalini Balbirs contextual paper suggesting categories and sections.  This may be resurrected for selection again for Treasures display and other artefacts may be brought out for rotation.  It is not decided as to how many objects will be on display as the case is rather sufficient and will be able to house a relative cross section of manuscripts along with branding, narrative text panels and labels.  The display will be promoted through the Library e-newsletter and a link to JP via their website is likely to be created.

Please contact Mr Rajiv Anand (Museum Consultant) at rajiv.anand@jainpedia.org

The V&A Museum will  be hosting the long waited and ambitious JAINpedia display to be exhibited in the prestigious Nehru Gallery of Indian Art.  This gallery houses some of the Museum’s highlights such as Tipoo’s Tiger and Ranjit  Singhs Golden Throne.  It is also home to a rare selection of Jain manuscripts which will be rotated for the new JAINpedia display to open to the public on 14^th May with a series of events and programmes to complement this.  The first such event is Jain Art from India Gallery Talk 20^th May 13.00 hrs in Nehru Gallery.  JAINpedia display will consist of 19 objects including paintings and manuscript covers.  The below tables is a narrative of what visitors to the special display can view free of charge till December 2012.

Please visit http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/index.html for some more information on the exhibits.

An Example of a Panel from Kalpa Sutra

Each section of every page is linked to a specific section of the database giving a much wider description/explanation of the content in that section.

Opening Page of the Jainpedia Website

The project’s main objective is to create a contextualised database of the important Jain manuscripts currently in various collections in the UK. This database will be digitised and put on internet so that the manuscripts become accessible to lay people as well as the academics. 

These ancient manuscripts form a rich heritage for the Jain philosophy but because most of them are written either in the ancient Indian language ‘Ardh Magdhi’ and the later ones mainly in Sanskrit with some in Gujarati or Hindi they are not understandable to almost all lay people. So far they have only been useful to researchers and academicians.

Special requirements for preserving these manuscripts intact means  that direct access to them is severely restricted. By creating the database and putting it on line will mean that anyone can access this precious heritage and learn about the times when the manuscripts were created and about the manuscripts themselves.

The UK Government has made a grant of £365,000 with the Institute required to provide a matching amount to meet the total project cost of £730,000.  Dr Mehool Sanghrajaka, Institute’s Director in London is also the Project Director. Professor Nalini Balbir is the Chief Editor whilst King’s College, University of London has been appointed as the main contractor.  

Mr Paul Vetch a Senior member of the team developing the project at Kings College introduced the project  and explained the various concepts involved in its development exhaustively.  The database will comprise of illustrated collection of manuscripts. Each illustration will have several reference points which when clicked  will provide a detailed description of the point referred to. In this manner each manuscript will have a detailed description of the author of the script, the scribe and the place where it was written and also include historical facts of the time relevant to the content of the script. The content will be translated in English, Hindi and Gujarati. The objective of this project is to prepare a pool of knowledge which would help the  current and future generations of  Jains and others to understand Jain philosophy in all its facets. The project would also help researchers and scholars from other religions of the world.

Smt. Nalini Madgaonkar compêred the whole program. Program started with introduction of Dr Kumarpal Desai, Institute’s Trustee in India and the Co-ordinator.  He decribed the various activities undertaken by the institute at both national and international level over the last twenty years.

He emphasised the work being done by the Institute in  preserving the rich treasure of manuscripts we have inherited. He talked about the publication of the catalogue of 1500 manuscripts in British Library collection in three volumes. He was proud of the fact that the Institute had ensured participation by all Jain sects from all over the world at every level in production of this catalogue.  

The new lecture series titled ‘Jain Darshan Vyakhyanmala’ on Jain philosophy had its inaugural lecture delivered by  Pujya Rakeshbhai Jhaveri. In his talk titled ‘Ahimsa Paramo Dharma’, he elaborated the finer aspects of the concept of ‘Ahimsa’ from Jain perspective its universal appeal in his own inimitable style.

Shri Ratibhai Chandaria, Chairman of the institute and Shri Nemubhai Chandaria, Deputy Chairman had welcomed the guests who included many dignitaries including Shri Pratapbhai Bhogilal, Shri Rasikbhai Doshi, Shri Arvind Doshi, Shri Manubhai Shah and various other dignitaries.

On this occasion Shri Manubhai Shah, Chairman, Ruby Mills, who has completed his successful career as an industralist spanning over of a period of seventy-five years, was felicitated.  Shri Pratapbhai Bhogilal and Shri Arvindbhai Doshi were also felicitated. The program began with and concluded with devotional songs rendered by members of Dharampur Ashram.

PHOTO GALLERY

1. Project Manager
The Institute of Jainolgy is looking for a full time project manager for supporting its £800K investment in the development of JAINpedia a unique on line resource for Jainism using contextualised Jain scriptures - see http://blog.jainpedia.org/?p=3#more-3

The role includes managing relationships with leading organisations including Kings College London, V&A Museum, British Library and Universities in Europe and India.  Activities will include implementing outreach and educational services, volunteer support and liaison, and technical liaison as part of the JAINPedia rollout.

The role would suit a highly adaptable self starter who is excellent at managing relationships and a strong sense of quality in delivery Experience of community/voluntary work and a South Asian language would be of advantage.

Salary would be in line with experience and the post would be based in Borehamwood. Travel in the UK would be required, and own car is essential.

In the first instance, email ioj_usha@hotmail.com with a CV and a covering letter.  

2. Expert Jainologist

The Institute of Jainolgy is looking for a consultant expert Jainologist for supporting its £800K investment in the development of JAINpedia a unique on line resource for Jainism using contextualised Jain scriptures - see http://blog.jainpedia.org/?p=3#more-3
The role includes managing relationships with leading organisations including Kings College London, V&A Museum, British Library and Universities in Europe and India. 

Activities will include advising on all aspects of the project. The role will require the following skills and qualifications;

·   with academic qualifications internationally recognized through publications
·   with knowledge of Indian languages (Prakrit, Sanskrit and some modern languages)
·   with knowledge of the UK manuscript collections
·   with skills in manuscriptology and recognized experience with manuscripts

In the first instance, email ioj_usha@hotmail.com with a CV and a covering letter.