Earlier this year, Wellcome Collection, the Institute of Jainology, and the University of Birmingham jointly signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a community event in the House of Commons. This sets out the framework for the return of nearly 2,000 manuscripts from Wellcome Collection to the UK’s Jain community.
The story, however, starts more than a century ago. In 1919, one of Sir Henry Wellcome’s purchasing agents visited a Jain temple in British-occupied Punjab, where he proceeded to purchase the library’s entire manuscript collection.
Shipping them to London, he wrote : “If it were in learned hands they would not part with it, at any rate not so cheaply.”
Courtesy Steven Pocock, Wellcome Collection / Wellcome catalogue: MS Indic Gamma 325
It seems an obvious thing to state, but as museums professionals and historical researchers, our eyes are often on the past. As has been repeatedly underlined, emphasising Jainism’s teachings on non-violence and the multi-sided nature of reality—restitution is not limited to being a remedy for the past alone.
Restitution is about us, the living, and the future we can create together. The signed MOU sets out a framework for how the legal ownership of Wellcome’s Jain collection will eventually be transferred to the IOJ, on behalf of the UK’s Jain community, while the manuscripts themselves are moved to the University of Birmingham in service of their community-funded Jain Studies programme.
This maximises the manuscripts’ access for researchers and community members alike and unlocks their full value as precious sources of insight into humankind’s religious, scientific, and literary history.
