[INDOLOGY] Wellcome Trust returns ancient Jain texts in colonialist’s archive

Tue May 19 00:11:38 UTC 2026

Dear Colleagues, Patricia and Marie-Hélène, 
It was fascinating to see that the Jain Bhandara tradition is now to be carried on in the UK with the return of manuscripts from the Wellcome collection to the Jain community in the UK.
I could never have imagined this happening when I worked at the Wellcome from 1991 to 1996 to create a descriptive catalogue of their Hindi manuscripts. It is as if the landscape has changed completely it seems since I first went into the stacks in the Wellcome library depository over 30 years ago and started to unwrap and catalogue manuscripts which were mostly in still in their original pre 1920 newspaper packaging.  I was also very struck by the way the Times newspaper report on it highlighted works which I found in the collection and catalogued, and published articles and about book chapters. Such as the Hindi medical works and the the work by Muni Ratanchand on a Jain Christian dialogue in the mid-nineteenth century. Over the years I have also seem some of the Wellcome's other manuscripts, such as probably the earliest illustrated Rajasthani manuscript of Nath-Siddha and Sant verses from 1714 which was up to that time stored in a box with a label on it saying something like it was a 'Buddhist Wizard's book'.  
I hope that this re-development of the Jain manuscript Bhandara tradition in the UK will mark the start of future digitisation of these manuscripts and world-wide open access to the digital resources collected.
Peter

____________________

Peter G. Friedlander
Honorary Associate Professor and Reader in Hindi

School of Culture, History & Language

College of Asia & the Pacific

The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2600

CRICOS Provider: 00120C | ABN: 52 234 063 906

T: 61+ 2 6125 3126

E: peter.friedlander at anu.edu.au
W: https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/friedlander-pg

On Tuesday 19 May 2026 at 03:27:11 am AEST, Marie-Hélène Gorisse via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote: 

Dear Patricia,

Thanks a lot for sharing the news!

Indeed, last Thursday at the House of Commonswas a historic moment as the Wellcome Collection restituted 2,000 precious Jainmanuscripts to the Jain community represented by the Institute of Jainology.

I was deeply honoured to co-sign thisagreement as the Assistant Professor in Jain Studies at the University ofBirmingham, since our Dharmanath Network in Jain studies has been asked toshelter this precious heritage as we are working with the community to securethat this return has maximum impact for students, researchers, members of thecommunity, and for the general public.

It will take a few more months for themanuscripts to be fully catalogued and make their way to Birmingham, but I willbe very much looking forwards to updating you as this goes on!

As for now, you can find all the infos concerningour Jain Studies Network here: 

https://globalphilosophyofreligion.com/2026/05/18/the-dharmanath-network-in-jain-studies/

Kind regards,

Marie-Helene

--Marie-Hélène Gorisse
Dharmanath Assistant Professor in Jain StudiesCo-PI of the Templeton Global Philosophy of Religion projectSee our exciting upcoming events here: https://globalphilosophyofreligion.com/events/School of Philosophy, Theologyand Religion
University of Birminghamhttps://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/profiles/tr/gorisse-marie-helenehttps://globalphilosophyofreligion.com/

Le ven. 15 mai 2026 à 06:04, Patricia SAUTHOFF via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :

Wellcome to transfer 2,000 Jain texts to the Dharmanath Network in Jain Studies at the University of Birmingham.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/7fa1b43b-0e83-49cf-a5e1-436d9c2e22ff?shareToken=a61b5f430c4a83f0f930eb098104695d

Patricia Sauthoff司徒雛菊 Assistant ProfessorDepartment of HistoryHong Kong Baptist University 
Current project: Mineral and Metal Anti-Aging Recipes in Rasaśāstra Author: Illness and Immortality

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