Catalogue of Jain Manuscripts of British Library Volume III

Published jointly by the British Library and the Institute of Jainology. The Catalogue consists of Three Volumes.

The project to create the catalogue was undertaken by the Institute of Jainology at the instigation of British
Library in 1991.

This is the first time that Jain manuscripts preserved in the British Library and the holdings of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum have been catalogued in a thorough and systematic manner. The work was initiated by Professor Candrabhal Tripathi, but after his untimely death, Professor Nalini Balbir, of Sorbonne University, Paris, took on this project and worked at it for more than 10 years, ably assisted by Kanhaiyalal and Kalpana Sheth, both from Ahmedabad.

The scope of the catalogue extends from the Jain manuscripts in the Oriental Collection of the British Library to those in the India Office Library. This catalogue sheds light on 1083 manuscripts in 1425 entries. It is hoped that the catalogue will act as a springboard for the renewed academic study of Jainism.

The international launch of this catalogue took place on 15th May 2007 at Buckingham Palace, London in the presence of H R H The Duke of Edinburgh.

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