News on Jainism around the world

Summary

This section reports on several events in the Jain world circa 1998. A Summer School on Prakrit Language and Literature at the Bhogilal Leherchand Institute of Indology gathered forty teachers and researchers to study Prakrit texts and emphasise the importance of preserving Jain manuscripts and India’s linguistic heritage. During the session, dignitaries such as Prof. S.R. Banerjee and Justice M.N. Venkatachaliah highlighted the interconnectedness of Indian languages and the need for Prakrit scholarship. The article also notes that Dr V.M. Kulkarni received the Ācārya Hemacandrasūri Puraskar for his lifelong work in Sanskrit and Prakrit studies. In the United States, a joint Hindu–Jain event in Cincinnati celebrated religious harmony by installing a statue of Mahāvīra in a Hindu temple, reflecting the adaptation of Indian religious identities in diaspora. Another news item describes an international seminar on "Jainism and Ecology" at Harvard University, where scholars discussed Jain cosmology, non‑violence and environmental ethics. Photographs accompany reports on awards and the Detroit Jain Temple.