Launched at an event at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the 18th of November was JAINpedia: a project to create an online, accessible resource devoted to the Jain religion. JAINpedia is the first such project to work with the key holders of Jain artefacts in the UK, with the aim to make their items accessible and understandable to a lay audience.
The JAINpedia website will contain approximately 2000 digitised images from around 4000 different manuscripts. It will also include translations of text and a wealth of contextual information about the Jain religion and a dedicated educational interface designed for schools and learners.
The Wellcome Library is one of a number of key stakeholders in this project and has contributed to it digitized images from its vast Jain manuscripts collection.
Representing the Library at the launch was our Asian Collections Librarian, Dr Nikolaj Serikoff, shown in the image above meeting the guest of honour, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.
For more information, see the website of the Institute of Jainology.
Image credit: from a selection of images of the launch on Picasa.
Author: Nikolaj Serikoff
