Article by Rajiv Anand MA , Museum Consultant for the JAINpedia Project
This article first appeared in Young Jains UK Magazine
JAINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st Century. Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of temporary and travelling exhibitions, cultural events and educational activities at the partner institutions; the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the British Library (BL), the Bodleian Library and Wellcome Trust Library. Further to this the project will digitise approximately 5000 pages from Jain manuscripts housed in these institutions, create a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners and will deliver an inclusive learning programme in schools and community settings. Written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Gujarati, these manuscripts are vitally significant pieces of Jain heritage. The majority of the manuscripts are on paper, palm-leaf, and cloth (some dating back to 1200AD). Many of the documents are highly fragile and susceptible to damage through handling and exposure to light.
REACHING OUT TO A DIVERSE AUDIENCE
British Jain collections represent some of the most important in the world. These heritage collections are important because they are rare or unique cultural objects, and many are sacred objects to members of the Jain community. The information they contain is also of cultural importance. Access to them is therefore clearly important to the Jain community. The JAINpedia project will make accessible, for the first time, a range of cultural objects and artefacts relevant to the Jain religion and culture which will develop a strong sense of community heritage and pride. Many of the objects in the JAINpedia display at the V&A and BL have never been on public display, thus by showcasing the manuscripts in galleries of national importance fosters a sense of ownership and cultural pride amongst the Jain communities of the UK. It is of utmost importance to get the Jain community involved in this work as it develops a sense of community heritage pride and an understanding of this ancient world religion to a wider audience. This will be done through outreach initiatives in local community centres, inter-faith venues, local museums, libraries and archives.
We hope to influence the mainstream by offering intercultural and interfaith learning opportunities to an artistic heritage they would not normally have exposure to and aim to collaborate with the widest sections of the mainstream public. With this in mind we are expecting to bring new audiences to Jain artistic heritage and to examine what impact this will have. We will also be questioning the issue of whether we need to redefine heritage and whose story are we telling. We will also look at what community heritage means to the mainstream and how as an organisation we respond to differing views of heritage.
We are planning training for teachers on Jainism and will run a series of INSET afternoons at LEAs throughout the country. These will be focused on the educational material produced through the JAINpedia project and will be led by a suitably trained staff. We will also produce a DVD for public mainstream and voluntary sector workers providing an introduction to the Jain religion and community.
Research has been conducted and has concluded that the main beneficiaries of the project will be:
- The Jain community of Britain
- Mainstream schools and students who study a plethora of religions in the multi-faith community that is Britain today
- The general public of Britain who are interested in the wide range of cultures that make up Britishness in the 21st Century.
Further to this we hope to attract wider families with pre-school children, older people, the unemployed, young people and the disabled along with mainstream visitors to the holding repositories (BL, Bodleian Library, V&A and Wellcome Trust Library).
As part of our creative strategy we are opening up the national Jain collections to a wider audience. Care and sensitivity is required in order to deliver the correct message to people who would not usually visit Jain collections or events. By providing specific cultural events we aim to open up Jainism as a major ancient world religion in a comparative way. This in turn will foster an understanding of the customs and cultures the wider community would not usually have awareness of.
Building strategic partnerships with the libraries and museums is of vital importance as projects such as JAINpedia promote cultural diversity and equality. Museums and Libraries need to attract a more diverse audience profile to their collections and events in order to develop basic skills and to promote lifelong learning. Museums and libraries collate diversity figures which are reported upon and the public programmes often try to build in diversity as part of their general provision and services.
TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS
For many of the communities who cannot come to the institutional collections the JAINpedia Team are currently devising a travelling exhibition to be housed temporarily in religious venues, regional museums and libraries as well as community and arts centres across the UK. The travelling exhibition has two main intentions which are to increase a general awareness in the beliefs and customs of Jainism and to highlight the work of JAINpedia by ensuring that visitors to the exhibition visit the JAINpedia site and accompanying websites, displays and related activity. The exhibition will be divided into six sections, which broadly follow the themes of the website; these include People, Principles, Practice, Places, Jainism Today and a Jainpedia section. The text regarding these sections will be backed up by visual images and there will also be an interactive terminal for visitors to visit the JAINpedia website.
It is expected that the Jain community will be active in volunteering at the travelling exhibition locations across the UK and will be on hand to answer questions lead on creative heritage activities and promote diversity, tolerance and equality for all. Along with this we will be working in schools and other locations nationally and hope to see the mutual benefits of collaborative working between the mainstream and the Jain community. We will be evaluating all outreach work in looking at how successfully.
the wider communities have worked with the specific Jain community and to set benchmarks and targets against this.
LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
We have been working closely with the various departments at the V&A and BL; these have included colleagues in curatorial, learning, visitor services, marketing and special events. Most of the previous events have been focused on family groups and young people. The main aim of the events is to make learning informal and fun whilst at the same time developing analytical, behavioural and creative skills for life through gallery education by opening up the collections. Such events have included traditional activity such as rangoli floor art popular in the Indian regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat, interactive Jain stories, traditional musical recitals and craft workshops. In June 2011 the V&A will be taking a coach load of visitors to the Potters Bar temple in conjunction with JAINpedia. Members of the local Jain community will offer talks and tours of the temple, temple architecture plus the sacred shrines throughout the temple grounds. This event will prove to be a great learning opportunity for the visitors involved. The main objective is that they return to the temple with family and friends and will be able to offer explanations on what they learned during their visit.
JAINpedia will be on display at the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art at the V&A until December 2012 and a series of further events are currently being devised to complete the project. We are planning a Jain manuscripts symposium along with hands on jewellery making from Jain symbols and images found in the display working alongside ‘hard to reach’ groups of young people from local London boroughs. Further to this we are running tours of the JAINpedia displays at the V&A and BL. Volunteers play an important part in the project and they have been trained to deliver and conduct tours of the displays to the public and Jain community as and when required.
The BL is an important strategic partner as the Jain collection is the largest and most important outside the Indian Sub-Continent. The exhibition will enhance understanding of Jainism and the Jain religious, artistic and cultural heritage. They state that ‘the main aims of the exhibition is to show how the British slowly discovered the Jain heritage in India and to display the patterns of interaction between the British and Jains over the last two centuries’. The library is aware that the ‘diasporic Jain community of multi-cultural Britain is interested in the rediscovery of its tradition and is keen on explaining its value to wider audiences’.
JAINpedia at the BL aims to enhance understanding of Jainism and Jain religious, artistic and literary traditions. It will explore issues of Jain identity and philosophy, which concentrates on and respects reverence for all life forms and to delve into the adherence of Ahimsa (non-violence). The display also aims to examine how these concepts are preserved in Jain communities worldwide. Jainpedia is on display at the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library till 30th April 2011 in the first instance.
JAINpedia will also be on display at the Bodleian Library University of Oxford. Oxford’s libraries are amongst the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Among them the Bodleian, the chief among the University’s libraries, has a special place. The Bodleian Library collection contains a significant holding of academic Jain material and manuscripts as it is one of the leading university libraries in the UK and Europe regarding such objects. With this in mind we hope to display these through the JAINpedia exhibition which will be a representative example of the Libraries Jain manuscript collection and will be held at the library in 2012. It is expected that various academic issues surrounding Manuscriptology, Sanskrit, Graphology and Jain art and culture will be researched by curators and librarians at the Bodleian. Jainism is a peace loving religion so it is ethical to look into such issues of concern and interest surrounding environment and ecology. Jainism is in essence a religion of ecology, of a sustainable lifestyle and of reverence for life. The religion’s entire emphasis is that of life constant with ecology.
At present the JAINpedia Museum Consultant is in liaisons with the Wellcome Trust Library as they have a large collection of Jain manuscripts which are being digitised for the main project website but to date have not been able to hold a physical display in the collections due to the lack of space in the Wellcome Library. Despite this issue they are hopeful that a display may be possible in the future and discussions regarding this are ongoing. JAINpedia is a unique project which deals with issues of reaching new and diverse audiences by making the nations Jain collections accessible and understandable in an educational and interesting manner. We are also looking at interfaith and intercultural dialogues within a wider society which respects the needs of all.
AINpedia is a 5 year project taking Jainism into the 21st Century. Besides a rich online website showcasing rare and sacred manuscripts, the project is conducting a series of temporary and travelling exhibitions, cultural events and educational activities at the partner institutions; the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the British Library (BL), the Bodleian Library and Wellcome Trust Library. Further to this the project will digitise approximately 5000 pages from Jain manuscripts housed in these institutions, create a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners and will deliver an inclusive learning programme in schools and community settings. Written in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi and Gujarati, these manuscripts are vitally significant pieces of Jain heritage. The majority of the manuscripts are on paper, palm-leaf, and cloth (some dating back to 1200AD). Many of the documents are highly fragile and susceptible to damage through handling and exposure to light.
REACHING OUT TO A DIVERSE AUDIENCE
British Jain collections represent some of the most important in the world. These heritage collections are important because they are rare or unique cultural objects, and many are sacred objects to members of the Jain community. The information they contain is also of cultural importance. Access to them is therefore clearly important to the Jain community. The JAINpedia project will make accessible, for the first time, a range of cultural objects and artefacts relevant to the Jain religion and culture which will develop a strong sense of community heritage and pride. Many of the objects in the JAINpedia display at the V&A and BL have never been on public display, thus by showcasing the manuscripts in galleries of national importance fosters a sense of ownership and cultural pride amongst the Jain communities of the UK. It is of utmost importance to get the Jain community involved in this work as it develops a sense of community heritage pride and an understanding of this ancient world religion to a wider audience. This will be done through outreach initiatives in local community centres, inter-faith venues, local museums, libraries and archives.
We hope to influence the mainstream by offering intercultural and interfaith learning opportunities to an artistic heritage they would not normally have exposure to and aim to collaborate with the widest sections of the mainstream public. With this in mind we are expecting to bring new audiences to Jain artistic heritage and to examine what impact this will have. We will also be questioning the issue of whether we need to redefine heritage and whose story are we telling. We will also look at what community heritage means to the mainstream and how as an organisation we respond to differing views of heritage.
We are planning training for teachers on Jainism and will run a series of INSET afternoons at LEAs throughout the country. These will be focused on the educational material produced through the JAINpedia project and will be led by a suitably trained staff. We will also produce a DVD for public mainstream and voluntary sector workers providing an introduction to the Jain religion and community.
Research has been conducted and has concluded that the main beneficiaries of the project will be:
- The Jain community of Britain
- Mainstream schools and students who study a plethora of religions in the multi-faith community that is Britain today
- The general public of Britain who are interested in the wide range of cultures that make up Britishness in the 21st Century.
Further to this we hope to attract wider families with pre-school children, older people, the unemployed, young people and the disabled along with mainstream visitors to the holding repositories (BL, Bodleian Library, V&A and Wellcome Trust Library).
As part of our creative strategy we are opening up the national Jain collections to a wider audience. Care and sensitivity is required in order to deliver the correct message to people who would not usually visit Jain collections or events. By providing specific cultural events we aim to open up Jainism as a major ancient world religion in a comparative way. This in turn will foster an understanding of the customs and cultures the wider community would not usually have awareness of.
Building strategic partnerships with the libraries and museums is of vital importance as projects such as JAINpedia promote cultural diversity and equality. Museums and Libraries need to attract a more diverse audience profile to their collections and events in order to develop basic skills and to promote lifelong learning. Museums and libraries collate diversity figures which are reported upon and the public programmes often try to build in diversity as part of their general provision and services.
TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS
For many of the communities who cannot come to the institutional collections the JAINpedia Team are currently devising a travelling exhibition to be housed temporarily in religious venues, regional museums and libraries as well as community and arts centres across the UK. The travelling exhibition has two main intentions which are to increase a general awareness in the beliefs and customs of Jainism and to highlight the work of JAINpedia by ensuring that visitors to the exhibition visit the JAINpedia site and accompanying websites, displays and related activity. The exhibition will be divided into six sections, which broadly follow the themes of the website; these include People, Principles, Practice, Places, Jainism Today and a Jainpedia section. The text regarding these sections will be backed up by visual images and there will also be an interactive terminal for visitors to visit the JAINpedia website.
It is expected that the Jain community will be active in volunteering at the travelling exhibition locations across the UK and will be on hand to answer questions lead on creative heritage activities and promote diversity, tolerance and equality for all. Along with this we will be working in schools and other locations nationally and hope to see the mutual benefits of collaborative working between the mainstream and the Jain community. We will be evaluating all outreach work in looking at how successfully.
the wider communities have worked with the specific Jain community and to set benchmarks and targets against this.
LIBRARIES, MUSEUMS AND SPECIAL EVENTS
We have been working closely with the various departments at the V&A and BL; these have included colleagues in curatorial, learning, visitor services, marketing and special events. Most of the previous events have been focused on family groups and young people. The main aim of the events is to make learning informal and fun whilst at the same time developing analytical, behavioural and creative skills for life through gallery education by opening up the collections. Such events have included traditional activity such as rangoli floor art popular in the Indian regions of Rajasthan and Gujarat, interactive Jain stories, traditional musical recitals and craft workshops. In June 2011 the V&A will be taking a coach load of visitors to the Potters Bar temple in conjunction with JAINpedia. Members of the local Jain community will offer talks and tours of the temple, temple architecture plus the sacred shrines throughout the temple grounds. This event will prove to be a great learning opportunity for the visitors involved. The main objective is that they return to the temple with family and friends and will be able to offer explanations on what they learned during their visit.
JAINpedia will be on display at the Nehru Gallery of Indian Art at the V&A until December 2012 and a series of further events are currently being devised to complete the project. We are planning a Jain manuscripts symposium along with hands on jewellery making from Jain symbols and images found in the display working alongside ‘hard to reach’ groups of young people from local London boroughs. Further to this we are running tours of the JAINpedia displays at the V&A and BL. Volunteers play an important part in the project and they have been trained to deliver and conduct tours of the displays to the public and Jain community as and when required.
The BL is an important strategic partner as the Jain collection is the largest and most important outside the Indian Sub-Continent. The exhibition will enhance understanding of Jainism and the Jain religious, artistic and cultural heritage. They state that ‘the main aims of the exhibition is to show how the British slowly discovered the Jain heritage in India and to display the patterns of interaction between the British and Jains over the last two centuries’. The library is aware that the ‘diasporic Jain community of multi-cultural Britain is interested in the rediscovery of its tradition and is keen on explaining its value to wider audiences’.
JAINpedia at the BL aims to enhance understanding of Jainism and Jain religious, artistic and literary traditions. It will explore issues of Jain identity and philosophy, which concentrates on and respects reverence for all life forms and to delve into the adherence of Ahimsa (non-violence). The display also aims to examine how these concepts are preserved in Jain communities worldwide. Jainpedia is on display at the Sir John Ritblat Gallery: Treasures of the British Library till 30th April 2011 in the first instance.
JAinpedia will also be on display at the Bodleian Library University of Oxford. Oxford’s libraries are amongst the most celebrated in the world, not only for their incomparable collections of books and manuscripts, but also for their buildings, some of which remained in continuous use since the Middle Ages. Among them the Bodleian, the chief among the University’s libraries, has a special place. The Bodleian Library collection contains a significant holding of academic Jain material and manuscripts as it is one of the leading university libraries in the UK and Europe regarding such objects. With this in mind we hope to display these through the JAINpedia exhibition which will be a representative example of the Libraries Jain manuscript collection and will be held at the library in 2012. It is expected that various academic issues surrounding Manuscriptology, Sanskrit, Graphology and Jain art and culture will be researched by curators and librarians at the Bodleian. Jainism is a peace loving religion so it is ethical to look into such issues of concern and interest surrounding environment and ecology. Jainism is in essence a religion of ecology, of a sustainable lifestyle and of reverence for life. The religion’s entire emphasis is that of life constant with ecology.
At present the JAINpedia Museum Consultant is in liaisons with the Wellcome Trust Library as they have a large collection of Jain manuscripts which are being digitised for the main project website but to date have not been able to hold a physical display in the collections due to the lack of space in the Wellcome Library. Despite this issue they are hopeful that a display may be possible in the future and discussions regarding this are ongoing. JAINpedia is a unique project which deals with issues of reaching new and diverse audiences by making the nations Jain collections accessible and understandable in an educational and interesting manner. We are also looking at interfaith and intercultural dialogues within a wider society which respects the needs of all.