Material Culture of the Jaina Mendicant Traditions

The project focuses on documentation and comparative study of the paraphernalia used by contemporary Jaina mendicants and of the sect-specific rules regulating their type, number, production, acceptance, distribution, ownership, use, and disposal.

To date, no comprehensive study of the objects of daily use or the associated rules of the different Jaina mendicant traditions has been published. Existing literature is limited to a few articles on specific utensils, and two brief overviews on the implements used by the mendicants of the Terāpanth and the Kharataragaccha. Thus, the study of the material culture of Jaina mendicant orders is a significant and much-needed area of research.

A comprehensive study of the material culture of Jaina mendicants must document all types of objects used within the different orders, including variations in terminology, rules and regulations, scope of exceptions and individual choices, as well as rules and practices of procurement, of production, ownership (both collective and individual), transmission, and use. One challenge is that sect-specific customary rules (sāmācārī or maryādā) are not publicised, as they are frequently changed in response to contextual circumstances. A major problem is to establish standard lists for individual orders, and for male and female mendicants separately. Evidently, many more items are used than are mentioned in the canonised scriptures.

Flügel, P. (2025). Jaina Mendicant Paraphernalia Warehouses. In: Jaina Studies, 20, 16-22. https://soas-repository.worktribe.com/output/451113

Film documentation of the of paraphernalia used by different Jaina mendicant traditions in context, 2024-2025.

• Balbir, Nalini (2000a). Polémiques autour du ‘voile buccal’ des laïcs: la contribution de Vardhamānasūri. In : BEI 17-18 113-152.
• Balbir, Nalini (2000b). Le bâton monastique jaina: fonctions, symbolisme, controverses. In: Vividharatnakaraṇḍaka. Festgabe für Adelheid Mette. Hg. Christine Chojnacki, Jens Uwe Hartmann & Volker M. Tschannerl, 17-56. Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Verlag.
• Bothra, Shivani (2023). The Paraphernalia of the Kharataragaccha Mendicants. In: Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions. Ed. Flügel, Peter, De Jonckheere, Heleen & Söhnen-Thieme, Renate, 80-85. London: Centre of Jaina Studies, SOAS.
• Flügel, Peter. (2003). Spiritual Accounting: The Role of the kalyāṇaka patra in the Religious Economy of the Terāpanth Śvetāmbara Ascetics. In: Jainism and Early Buddhism. Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini. Ed. Olle Qvarnström, 167-204. Fremont: Asian Humanities Press,.
• Flügel, Peter. (2015). Jaina Funeral Palanquins. In: Jaina Studies, 10, 21-28.
• Flügel, Peter. (2019). Askese und Devotion: Das rituelle System der Terāpanth Śvetāmbara Jaina. Band I-II. Dettelbach: Röll Verlag, 2019 (Alt- und Neuindische Studien 56, 1-2).
• Jain, Prem Suman (2012). Peacock-Feather Broom (Mayūra-Picchī): Jaina Tool for Non-Violence. In: Jaina Studies, 7, 28-29.
• Maitra, Lipika (2024). Jain Paintings and Material Culture of Medieval Western India 1100-1650. Abington: Routledge.
• Pratibhāprajñā, Samaṇī (Pratibha Pragya) (2023). Mukhavastrikā: Historical and Symbolic Significance. In: Pure Soul: The Jaina Spiritual Traditions. Ed. Flügel, Peter, De Jonckheere, Heleen & Söhnen-Thieme, Renate, 104-111. London: Centre of Jaina Studies, SOAS.

Personnel 

• Dr Peter Flügel
• Dr Anna Sowra & Remi Sowra, Chouette Films

Collaborators

Arun Muni, Bhaskar Muni, Sadhvi Pratibha, Acharya Pundarika, Muni Mahavideha, Jinit Ajmera (Mumbai), Dr Kalpana Sheth, Dr Priyanka Shah, Dr Kinjal Shah, Akshita Sanghvi, Jitendra Sanghvi (Ahmedabad), Samani Dr Pratibha Pragya, Samani Punya Pragya (FIU Miami), Dr Shivani Bothra (CSU Long Beach), Mansi Dhariwal (Raipur), Dr Seema Gala (Vali), Ravinder Jain (Maler Kotla), Nitin H.P. (Bengaluru), Isha Parekh (London)

Schedule

2024-

Funder

• V&A Museum (Documentary Films)

Key SOAS Researchers

• Professor Peter Flügel