We would like to invite you to a special Jain Study Day on Saturday the 24^th of March at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, where we shall share our inspiring story with you. Tickets for this very special event can be booked through the V&A website.

We are pleased to announce that we shall be launching our JAINpedia beta site on Monday the 12^th of December 2011.

The website features digitised pages from Jain manuscripts, articles written by Professor Nalini Balbir and other academics from around the world, and much much more.

For those of you who can’t wait till the 12^th of December, we have a sneaky peak of website for you to enjoy…

Watch this video on YouTube.

Drop-in Design

Make your own manuscript

10.30–17.00, Lunchroom 1, Sackler Centre

Pick up a design challenge, hunt for ideas in the galleries, and then create your own fantastic manuscript using eco-friendly paper and lentils. 

Jain Storytelling

11.00, 13.00 & 15.00

South Asia Gallery

Join storyteller Seema Anand for an interactive tale about animals!

Jain Family Tours

12.00, 14.00 and 16.00

South Asia Gallery

The V&A is home to a world renowned collection of Jain manuscripts and objects. Join a free guided tour especially for families by Jainpedia volunteers.

This day of free events is presented by the V&A in partnership with Jainpedia and supported by the Jain Art Fund

Find out more at http://www.vam.ac.uk/families

An estimated 6000 people attended the event, with many coming in to see us at the colourful JAINpedia stall. Raising awareness of the commendable project was one of our objectives, and achieved substantially, with hundreds signing up for the future JAINpedia e-newsletter.

The Institute of Jainology team, as always stood out in the orange JAINpedia t-shirts, and talked to people about the project objectives, achieved milestones and showed people screenshots of the upcoming comprehensive and well – designed JAINpedia website. All were impressed at how much would be viewable on the site from digitized manuscripts zoomable to the minutest details, to ample information about Jainism through related articles, written by scholars and experts from around the world.

Further to this, young university students were encouraged to spend some time during their holidays, volunteering for JAINpedia events and website work; several signing up just to know more about their own culture.

A fruitful day for the project and much fun for the team. A full article of the event can be found on the Institute of Jainology Site soon.

Nick Barnard, curator of the Jainpedia display  at the V&A began the day with a presentation on Jain manuscript iconography, style and behind the scenes stories of Jain manuscripts not on display at the museum.

Thereafter, Mike Wheeler, the senior paper conservator explained the analysis of pigments in manuscripts and identifying any damage to them. The visitors were most fascinated when he showed this to them practically allowing them to see the raw mineral pigments.

The afternoon was commented to be the highlight of the day, with 15 visitors going to the Shikharbandhi Temple in Potters Bar. Arshna Sanghrajka gave an inspirational tour of the temple and its grounds, including a clear account of Jain principles and worship.  The beauty of the temple was appreciated immensely.

 A positively received event in general; ‘I enjoyed the visit to the Potters Bar temple and access to manuscripts in Storage’ (Inside Outing event visitor)

DATE: Thursday 16 June 2011
TIME:  10.00am to 5.30pm
MEETING PLACE: Hochhauser Auditorium in the Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum

Enjoy a behind-the-scenes day in two parts

In the morning you’ll take a closer look at some of the rare Jain manuscripts held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. You will learn how conservation has enabled their digitisation and public display.

The Śvetāmbara temple at Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, the first Shikharbandhi Jain temple to be built in Europe. Image taken from the Learn Jainism website, used by courtesy of OAUK.

In the afternoon you will begin the second part of the event. You will be taken to visit the first Jain Śvetāmbara temple in Europe, in Potters Bar, not far from London. Completed in August 2005, this spectacular building uses 1300 tonnes of pink sandstone and 500 tonnes of Indian marble. The individual pieces were carved in India and then assembled on site by Indian craftsmen.

Visitors will be treated to a personal tour of the temple and its extensive grounds, and then to tea.

Organised in collaboration with the Institute of Jainology and supported by the V&A Jain Art Fund, this event is available at the special rate of £30 per person.

To book and pay for your place online, please click on the button at: http://www.vam.ac.uk/whatson/event/1108/

You have just less than a week to book so you’ll need to hurry!

Jain artefacts in the Sacred Texts display at the British Library © Institute of Jainology

The temporary display of ‘Jain Sacred Texts’ at the British Library began on 8th October 2010. The display highlights some of the most important collections of Jain manuscripts outside India.

The earliest specimen in the display is from the Jītakalpasūtra, a very rare manuscript on palm leaf, which is only one of the two existing in the British Library. The manuscript, dated 1201, is in the Prakrit language, in Devanagari script.

The entire display consists of approximately 40 objects from across the Library’s Jain collection. It includes pages from the Saṃgrahaṇīratna, the Kalpasūtra, the Uttarādhyayanasūtra and, very interestingly, the Ādityavaravratakatha. This last is a Jain story from the Digambara sect, the only manuscript from this sect in the display. Finally, the love story of Prince Ḍhola and the maiden Māru is also illustrated. Being fond of all types of stories, Jain monks made it their own even though it is considered to be a Rajasthani folk tale.

The IoJ recently published the book Jain Tales, with original artwork by Kamini Gupta, and text by Colin Hynson. The book has been designed for young readers, giving them an insight into the Jain religion, ethics and principles through stories that illustrate the Jain teachings. The launch of this book adds to the entry-level book, Discover Jainism, which is part of the English religious education curriculum.

We look forward to seeing more of you at the next event at the British Library on 15th April 2011. This event will be held to celebrate Mahavir Jayanti, a Jain festival celebrating the birth of Mahavira. Look out for more details of this FREE event!

We’d just like to remind you that there are special Diwali events this weekend at the V&A in South Kensington, London.

You can:

• see rangoli demonstrations both days
• take part in a JAINpedia digital treasure hunt on Sunday
• listen to the storyteller and watch the dancers bring the tales to life on Sunday.

All the events are free, though they will be popular!

And of course you can marvel at the beautiful exhibits in the free display of Jain manuscripts in the Nehru Gallery.

Enjoy!

Consisting of around 40 striking objects from the library’s Jain collection, the display appears in the rotating Sacred Texts permanent exhibition in the Sir John Ritblat Gallery, also known as the Treasures Gallery of the British Library.

The illustrated pages are displayed in different sections – Worship and Meditation, Lives of the Jinas, the Jain Universe and Jain Stories.

As well as two rare palm-leaf folios from the Jita-kalpa-sutra, the exhibition contains paintings of scenes such as:

• worship of Sarasvatī
• Śāntinatha, the 16th Jina, in meditation
• worship of the Jina Pārśvanatha
• 14 auspicious dreams
• enlightenment of a Jina.

Entry to the British Library is free and you can look at the display along with other treasures of the library completely free seven days a week.

Events at the British Library

To complement the display a series of events to celebrate Mahavir Jayanthi will take place in April 2011. These events will include a family craft workshop, storytelling in the gallery and a lunch-time recital. There will also be a reception in March 2011. All events will be free and drop-in so you don’t need to book.

For further information about the events contact rajiv.anand@jainpedia.org

The British Library

The United Kingdom’s national library, the British Library is one of the leading global research libraries.  The British Library holds well over 150 million items, in most known languages from a multitude of cultures around the world. As well as visiting the landmark twentieth-century building in central London for free, you can also explore large parts of its collections online.

The British Library has very large holdings of Jain manuscripts, many sold or bequeathed by eminent scholars of the past. With such a large collection, choosing the cream of the illustrated pages for the display was a difficult task but the JAINpedia team is extremely pleased with the results. You can read full details of pages displayed in this exhibition on the forthcoming JAINpedia website.

We hope to see lots of you in the Treasures Gallery over the next few months.