London’s Wellcome Assortment is to restitute 2,000 manuscripts that had been acquired in 1919 at “a low value” from a Jain temple in what’s now Pakistan. This represents the biggest group of Jain manuscripts outdoors South Asia. A Memorandum of Understanding on the formal switch is being signed on the Home of Commons this night.
In an uncommon association, the restitution is not going to be to the nation of origin, however to a UK physique, the Institute of Jainology, for deposit on the College of Birmingham. This will come as a shock, since there are solely 60,000 Jains within the UK and 6 million in India, however the scenario in South Asia grew to become very tough for the Jain group after the partition of India in 1947.
Jainism is an historical faith that emphasises religious purity and non-violence in direction of all dwelling creatures. The realm the place the manuscripts got here from grew to become a part of Pakistan at partition. With an overwhelmingly Muslim inhabitants in Pakistan, almost all Jains who survived the turmoil have been pressured to flee to India.
At this time there are nearly no Jains left in Pakistan—and due to this fact no appropriate depository there for the Wellcome manuscripts. The Jains in India are a fragmented group, with no apparent single establishment to take care of the gathering.
How did the Jain manuscripts arrive on the Wellcome?
The Jain manuscripts in London had been acquired in 1919 by Henry Wellcome, who had made a fortune from his pharmaceutical enterprise. He collected an unlimited amount of objects and paperwork regarding well being and drugs from all all over the world. Many of the objects have been later dispersed to the Science Museum, however the Wellcome Assortment in London’s Euston Highway retains the archival materials and artworks, the place they’re accessible for research.
Of the Wellcome’s 2,000 Jain manuscripts, round 1,200 got here from an unidentified temple within the Punjab space, in a spot named within the acquisition paperwork as Patli or Pattli. The are a number of villages or cities with this title, however no Jain temple may very well be tracked down there. The remaining 800 manuscripts got here from quite a lot of unidentified sources in what’s immediately Pakistan. A few of the manuscripts are nonetheless wrapped within the 1919 newspapers by which they have been enclosed for defense through the transport.
A 1919 newspaper wrapper holding one of many Jain manuscripts Picture: Courtesy of the Wellcome Assortment, London
Wellcome’s Indian agent in 1919, Paira Mall, gave few particulars in regards to the acquisition, however the Wellcome Assortment’s head of collections, Adrian Plau, admits that the manuscripts have been purchased at “a low value and towards the perfect pursuits of their authentic homeowners”. Correspondence of the time means that they have been purchased for five rupees every (15 rupees was then equal to £1, though clearly inflation signifies that was value rather more than it could be immediately).
Mehool Sanghrajka, a trustee of the UK Institute of Jainology who has helped to rearrange the switch of the Wellcome materials, admits that “a few of these manuscripts wouldn’t have survived the turmoil” on the time of partition. A lot of the Jains materials tradition was misplaced or destroyed within the traumatic occasions that adopted partition in 1947. Sanghrajka is due to this fact “grateful to the Wellcome for the care and respect they’ve proven these texts”.
Adrian Plau (Wellcome Assortment) and Mehool Sanghrajka (Institute of Jainology) inspecting the Jain manuscripts Picture: Courtesy of the Wellcome Assortment, London
Of the two,000 manuscripts, round half have a well being connection. They vary from an early sixteenth century illustrated textual content of an vital Jain scripture, the Kalpasutra, to nineteenth century paperwork. The gathering additionally consists of what’s presumably the earliest surviving copy of the primary medical treatise in early Hindi, courting from 1592. Paperwork are primarily written in Prakrit, however some in different South Asian languages. They’re presently saved in over 100 archive packing containers.
The manuscripts will go to the Birmingham Centre of Jain Research, which was established in 2023 on the College of Birmingham. A Wellcome spokesperson says that is “essentially the most applicable place to maximise group entry, deepen analysis alternatives and safeguard the way forward for this vital assortment.”
The formalities will now proceed, with permission to deaccession being sought from the Wellcome Assortment’s governors and the Charity Fee. The bodily switch is starting this yr and will take a number of years.
The Wellcome Assortment has an unlimited holding of manuscripts from different cultures, round 265,000 objects. Plau says that personal discussions are underway with a couple of different establishments about attainable transfers of fabric.
Sanghrajka additionally sees the Jain acquisition as a attainable mannequin: “Returning objects is all the time fraught with difficulties, however it is very important look how this will have a optimistic impression with communities and academia.”
