Presented in collaboration with the Bhagwan 1008 Adinatha Swamy Jain Temple, under the auspices of the Gyan and Kanchan Jain Chair in Jain Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Sunday, October 19, 2025
12:00 PM EDT – Lecture
1:15 PM EDT – Complimentary lunch
In-Person at: Bhagwan 1008 Adinatha Swamy Jain Temple
7875 Mayfield Rd, Brampton, ON L7E 0W1 (Map)
The Jains are renowned for their long-standing role in producing and preserving manuscripts, creating a legacy of some of India’s most remarkable illustrated works. Yet, despite their richness, these manuscripts have not fully revealed their secrets, and their profound importance to India’s cultural heritage often remains overlooked.
Join Professor Christine Chojnacki to explore the fascinating world of Jain manuscripts. Through images and examples, we will address key questions:
- What is a Jain manuscript, from its conception to its preservation?
- How do manuscripts serve the Jain community?
- Why are Jain manuscripts essential to the world’s cultural heritage?
- What challenges must we overcome to safeguard this unique heritage for future generations?
SPEAKER BIO
Professor Christine Chojnacki holds the Gyan and Kanchan Jain Chair in Jain Studies at the University of Toronto. Her research spans a variety of Jain literary genres—including ritual eulogies, invitation letters, and biographies—composed in several Indian languages, primarily Sanskrit and Prakrit, but also Apabhraṃśa and Old Gujarati.
With Kuvalayamālā (“Garland of Blue Waterlilies”), a Jain romance-poem in Prakrit composed by Uddyotana in 779, she turned her focus to this unique literary form. Her study of the text, accompanied by a French translation (Marburg: Indica et Tibetica, 2008), received the Prakrit Jnanabharati International Award in 2013 and was later translated into English (Bangalore: Sapna House, 2018).
Her most recent monograph, Voix et échos dans le roman-poème en prakrit : vers une histoire des traditions monastiques jaina dans l’Inde médiévale (8e–12e siècles), was published in 2024 (Marburg: Indica et Tibetica 62).
Currently, her research focuses on the preservation, translation, and study of largely forgotten medieval Jain literature in Sanskrit and Prakrit, which highlights the important role of Jainism in Indian history and culture and deepens our understanding of premodern India.
Please contact Alumni Relations if you require information in an alternate format, or if any other arrangements can make this event accessible to you.