Wellcome Collection

Part of the Wellcome Institute, the Wellcome Collection is one of the JAINpedia partners. Its extensive collections include historical and contemporary books, manuscripts, prints, paintings, photographs and films, with a bias towards science and medicine. The Wellcome holdings of Jain materials are small but valuable and interesting.

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/

Where Will You Go? What Will You Be In Your Next Birth?

The text of a lecture delivered by Samani Prasanna Pragya in 2006 is presented on the HereNow4U website. In the lecture Samani Prasanna Pragya outlines the cycle of rebirth, karma and the classes of living beings.

http://www.herenow4u.net/index.php?id=cd8341

Will of Claude Martin

The text of the will of Claude Martin is provided on Wikisource. French-born Martin had risen within the British East India Company to become a prominent figure in Lucknow in the late 18th century. A successful businessman and polymath, he was close to the ruling nawab and was an architect, amateur scientist, art connoisseur and collector of Indian cultural artefacts. He commissioned the Persian translation of the Karma-kāṇḍa or Karma-prakrti, one of the Highlights of JAINpedia.

Worship at Shravana Belgola

This short 2009 video films a worship ceremony – pūja – at the pilgrimage site of Shravana Belgola in Karnataka. The temple attendants perform the daily ritual bath – mastakābhiṣeka – on the small metal idol at the bottom of the 18-metre-high statue of Bāhubali, also called Gommaṭeśvara or ‘Lord of Gommaṭa. They trickle water on to the feet of the stone colossus and offer it to worshippers because the water is believed to have special properties after it has been used in the ceremony. The grand version of the rite – Mahā-mastakābhiṣeka or ‘Great head-anointing ceremony’ – is one of the most spectacular Jain festivals and takes place every 12 years, drawing thousands of pilgrims and sightseers. ifredpr uploaded this video to YouTube in 2011.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8d63mJyOSA

Worship of R̥ṣabha

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art provides an illustrated manuscript page showing the worship of R̥ṣabhanātha or Lord R̥ṣabha, the first Jina, at Mount Shatrunjaya. Shatrunjaya is a major pilgrimage site in Gujarat, especially for Śvetāmbara Jains.

http://collections.lacma.org/node/251525