23rd Annual Lecture on Jaina Studies

The Centre of Jain Studies has invited Christine Chojnacki (University of Lyon) to share her careerlong expertise on the literature and history of Jainism.

This event is held in concert with The 25th Annual Jaina Studies Workshop and the Ācārya Mahāprajña Memorial Lecture.

Lecture Details

Religious and political debates at the Court of Caulukya Kings. The contribution of Jain Romance-Poems (1082-1112)

There is no shortage of Jaina sources showing how political and religious issues were intertwined during the medieval period. Thus, on several occasions, the texts hint at the sovereigns' decisions in religious matters. The kings had temples built and pilgrims exempted from taxes.

The Jaina sources also show how the kings intervened in the internal affairs of Jainism. They gave the congregations nicknames (kharatara, maladhārin), and took decisions following debates that resulted in the triumph of one congregation or another. In this respect, two debates in the presence of Caulukya sovereigns have remained famous in the Jaina tradition: one in 1024 which led to the triumph of the Kharataragaccha, the other in 1124 which consecrated the victory of the Śvetāmbaras over the Digambaras in Gujarat.

The texts also draw attention to the role of the monks in the political development of the kingdom. For instance, it is suggested how Jains helped Kumārapāla succeed to the throne and said how Hemacandra converted King Kumārapāla to Jainism and led him to take various political measures, such as abandoning animal sacrifice for a period of eight days or giving widows the right to inheritance.

The picture of these interactions is still incomplete, however. Indeed, to begin with,there is much more information for the period of Kumārapāla than for the Caulukya kings who preceded him. Furthermore, the information that does exist for the 11th century and the first half of the 12th century is mostly based on sources that are at least a century later.

Therefore, in the presentation that follows, I will study the material included in a group of six previously unknown romances that were composed between 1082 and 1112 under the reigns of Karṇa and Jayasiṃharāja and see what information they can give us about the religious issues debated for royal support as well as the evolution of political ideas that may have led to Hemacandra's pivotal role with King Kumārapāla.

Meet the speaker

Professor Christine Chojnacki (Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3), Professor of Indian Studies at the University of Lyon, studied classical philology before specialising in Indian Studies with Sanskrit and Prakrit languages.

Her main research deals with the study of Jain sources mainly from the 8^th to the 14^th century. Among her major works are the annotated translation of a Jaina romance in Prakrit dating from 779: Kuvalayamālā of Uddyotana. This 1177-page work, published in 2008 in Marburg in the collection Indica et Tibetica (edited by M. Hahn), was awarded an international prize (the Prakrit Jnanabharati International Award) in 2013 and commissioned to be translated into English. A revised version of the French edition was published in 2018 (Bangalore, Sapna House).

She is currently working on a body of eleven romances composed between the 8^th and the 12^th century, for the most part unknown in the histories of Indian Literature. Part of this latter work will be the object of the 23^rd Annual Jaina Studies Lecture. 

Contact

• Heleen De Jonckheere (hd28@soas.ac.uk)

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The event is free and open to all. It will be held in-person and a recording of the lecture will be made available online.