Statement on the ongoing conversations between the Institute of Jainology and Wellcome Collection on the restitution of the Jain manuscripts held by Wellcome Collection.
For announcement on Ahimsa Day, October 24, 2023.
- Wellcome Collection holds around 2000 Jain manuscripts in its collections. Most of these were obtained from India during the early 20th century by Henry Wellcome, using a variety of agents.
- We have held several conversations exploring possible avenues for the restitution of Jain manuscripts, currently held by Wellcome Collection, to the Institute of Jainology as the representative of the the UK Jain community (collectively OneJAIN).
- We look forward to continuing these conversations to resolve practical questions, such as inventory, identification, cataloguing, digitisation, conservation, and ownership transfer.
- We want to take the opportunity offered by Ahimsa Day to announce the fact that these conversations are taking place, and the intentions that inform them.
- We make this announcement to highlight that restitution is an open, ongoing process that forms the beginning of an evolving, long-term relationship rather than the end of a transaction.
- We also wish to highlight that restitution is about righting a wrong. On Ahimsa Day, it is relevant to speak of the violence caused by the unethical acquisition and keeping of Jain material heritage.
- The Institute of Jainology is committed to making these manuscripts accessible and open for research and teaching.
- Wellcome Collection’s vision is a world where everyone’s experience of health matters. Learning from the Jain principles of moral and spiritual health is part of realising that vision.
Posted By Kishor B Shah on 3 May 2024
