Wellcome Collection to Return Over 2,000 Jain Manuscripts to Jain Community

The Wellcome Collection in London has agreed to transfer more than 2,000 Jain manuscripts back to the Jain community in a “landmark” restitution, after the documents were held by the museum for more than a century. The collection, described as the largest known holding of Jain texts outside South Asia, will initially be moved to the Dharmanath Network in Jain Studies at the University of Birmingham as part of an agreement signed this week involving the Wellcome Trust, the Institute of Jainology and the university.

The manuscripts span illustrated works dating from the 15th century through unique texts from the 19th century. They cover subjects including religion, literature, medicine and broader cultural life, written in languages and scripts such as Prakrit, Sanskrit, Gujarati, Rajasthani and early Hindi. Among the items are a rare and illustrated early 16th-century copy of the Kalpasutra, as well as a fragile manuscript dated 1688 that is believed to be among the earliest surviving copies of Nainsukhs Vaidyamanotsav, a medical treatise originally written in 1592.

One document in the collection, according to the museum and the Institute of Jainology, reflects ethical ideas...