Institute of Jainology has established itself as a representative Jain organisation in the UK and world-wide over the past 25 years. The first important event was the Jain delegation which presented the JAIN DECLARATION ON NATURE to HRH Duke of Edinburgh at the Palace when Jainism became formally recognised as the ninth religion in England. Our relations with the Palace have been regular since then and many events have taken place including the release of the British Library Catalogue of Jain Manuscripts when we took over 300 people to Buckingham Palace.
We have built very good relations with many outstanding organisations such as the Vatican, The British Library, The Wellcome Trust, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Bodleian Library at Oxford University, Religious Education Council of England and Wales, Inter Faith Network UK, Jain Student unions in many UK universities and other faith communities.
Many of you may be aware of the many national and international programs which we have executed in partnership with these organisations as we always invite the community to such events.
Our Ahimsa Day celebration at the House of Commons has become an annual event of recognition.
Over the past five years, we have been developing JAINpedia as a website of distinction and many programmes have been hosted to make the community aware of this project. This project is about to go live and will benefit scholars of religions, younger generation who need to be given information in English and all those who may be interested in researching Jainism.
As a result of such activities, the Institute of Jainology has been invited to send a Jain representative to the Vatican to witness the Pontificating ceremony of Holy Father Pope Francis I. Our Deputy Chair and Director Dr Harshad N Sanghrajka is therefore attending the ceremony on behalf of Jains world-wide. He will also have an opportunity of audience with the Holy Father after the ceremony.
We shall post the news item on our website when we have details and event photographs available after the event.