The Correspondence of the Modern Founders of Jaina Studies. By Peter Fluegel
Channel: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin
Date: 2022-08-14

More than six thousand Jaina manuscripts have found their way into various national and university libraries in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. From an academic point of view, the most important collections are those of the British Library in London, the Staatsbibliothek in zu Berlin, and of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Strasbourg, for which specialised catalogues of the highest standards have been produced. Specialised catalogues or sections of catalogues and handlists of varying quality and depth have been published for at least ten other important European collections. The paper explores ways in which the information collated in Jaina manuscript catalogues, together with letters of librarians who accrued them and of scholars who worked with them, can be of significance for the understanding of networks of collectors, scholars, Jaina monks, and merchants. 

Peter Fluegel is Professor in the Study of Religions and Philosophies and Chair of the Centre for Jaina Studies at SOAS University of London.