Works in Sanskrit, Prakrit, Hindi, Gujarati and Rajasthani have been digitised by the British Library.
Image credit: via www.jainpedia.org
Miniature of Gautamasvamin seated, in the typical Svetambara monastic dress and holding a rosary, 15th century (British Library Or 2126A).
The selection includes rare and valuable palm leaf manuscripts such as Or 1385B, the oldest Jain manuscript in the British Library dated 1201 CE, several Kalpasutra versions, some of them illuminated (i.e. Or 11921, Or 14262 and Or 13959), and a 15th century manuscript of the Sripala-katha (Or 2126A) and IO San 3177, which contains the manuscript used by Hermann Jacobi for his edition, translation and glossary of the Kalakacarya-Kathanakam of 1880 (at that time the only known written version of the legend). Finely illustrated, it is also an amazing example of Jain calligraphy.
Folio from the Samgrahaniratna by Sricandra in Prakrit with interlinear Gujarati commentary. The miniature depicts the Pancaparameṣṭhins on Siddhaśilā, 17th century (British Library Or 2116C).
Beside poetical compositions like the Adityavara-katha (Or 14290), there are cosmological treatises such as Sricandra’s Samgrahaniratna (Or 2116C) and three Adhai-dvipa (‘Two and a half continents’), illuminated diagrams representing the world inhabited by human beings according to Jain cosmology (Add Or 1812, Add Or 1814 and Or 13937).
More digitised Jain manuscripts from the British Library and other collections in the UK are available at Jainpedia: the Jain universe online.
This article first appeared on the British Library’s Asian and African Studies blog.