Abhishek Jain

Visiting Bhagwan Mallinath Assistant Professor of Jain Studies and Indic Theology

  • Los Angeles CA UNITED STATES
  • Theological Studies

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Biography

Abhishek Jain (Ph.D., Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 2021) is currently Bhagwan Mallinath Visiting Assistant Professor of Jain Studies at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Prior to joining LMU, Abhishek was a Gonda Postdoctoral Fellow at Leiden University, The Netherlands. During his PhD, Abhishek conducted research at the University of Chicago, the University of Oxford, and Apabhramsha Sahitya Akademy in Jaipur. At LMU, Abhishek has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, namely Hinduism Jainism and Yoga, Comparative Theology, Sanskrit, and Jaina Yoga. The major focus of his research is on classical and modern South Asian languages and literature, literary theory, Classical Indian Philosophy, Jain Studies, and translation theory.

Education

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Ph.D. in Indian Literary Studies with a special focus on Jain Literature

South Asian Studies

2021

Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University

M.Phil. in Jain Philosophy

Sanskrit Studies

2015

Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University

M.A. in Jain Philosophy

Sanskrit Studies

2014

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Areas of Expertise

Classical Indian Studies
Translation Theory
Literary Studies
Jain Studies
South Asian Languages and Literatures

Accomplishments

Rector Scholarship from the Adam Mickiewicz University

2019 - 2020

Visiting Doctoral Candidate under Professor Haun Saussy at the University of Chicago

2019

PhD Stipend from the ERC Project “Narrative Modes of Historical Discourse in Asia” (NAMO)

2016 - 2019

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Affiliations

  • Leiden University
  • Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań

Languages

  • Hindi
  • English
  • Sanskrit
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Media Appearances

Discourse on the Ātman in Jain Thoughts

LMU Yoga Studies  online

2023-11-09

This talk focuses on the 9th-century treatise, entitled Ātmānuśāsana written by Ācārya Guṇabhadra, a South Indian Digambara Jain author. Poetically written in 270 Sanskrit verses, the treatise eloquently discourages readers from having worldly attachments. Many metaphors used in the treatise provide an explicit message that the root cause of the nature of the five sense objects (pañcendriyaviṣaya) is suffering. The author presents the sufferings that stem from engagement (āsakti) with the senses and encourages the audience to seek the way out, which ultimately leads the audience to study the scriptures (svādhyāya) and spirituality. The spiritual conceptions embedded in the treatise are thoughtfulness in attempting actions that make the audience aware of the trap of worldly affairs and show the uselessness of relations using logical arguments.

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Event Appearances

Invited Lecture

“Spirituality in Indian Philosophical Traditions”  Loyola Marymount University

2022-09-21

Invited Lecture

“Local Biographies in Jain Literary Production”  Universiteit Leiden

2022-08-25

Invited Job Talk

“Reconsideration of Repetitions in Historical Discourse: An Emphasis on Making an Identity”  Florida International University

2022-05-05

Articles

A Preliminary Study on the Indian Grammar Manuscripts of the Āmer Śāstrabhaṇār in Jaipur

Przegląd Orientalistyczny

Ulrich Timme Kragh and Abhishek Jain

2019-12-15

The study of language and grammar is one of the most fundamental parts of
an education, and India has a long and sophisticated tradition of language and grammar
teaching (vyākaraṇa) that is as old as the Indian scripts and writing themselves. Starting
around the fourth century BCE with the grammatical treatises by Pāṇini and his commentators,
the Indian grammarian tradition developed through several distinct schools of grammar and
language study. A historical study of these traditions done on the basis of a normal literary
history focused on the places and dates of textual composition yields a chronological
overview, where certain major traditions are seen as remaining popular over time through
a steady production of new texts, whereas other minor systems become replaced by the
development of new schools. In contrast, a microhistorical study that assesses the popularity
of the different traditions of grammar by examining their concrete textual representations in
a particular manuscript collection reveals a local historical record of the popularity of each
system within a specific educational community. The present essay provides a microhistorical
study of the Digambara manuscript collection Āmer Śāstrabhaṇḍār from Āmer and Jaipur
in Rajasthan dating from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. It contributes to the
educational history of India by revealing an unexpected continued popularity of the late
medieval Sārasvata grammar tradition in the Jaipur area long after this minor grammatical
system otherwise has been thought to have gone out of vogue.

Use and Evolution of Languages in Jain Literature

Tulsī Prajñā

2015

Jane, Come with Me to India: The Narrative Transformation of Janeeyreness in the Indian Reception of Jane Eyre

Open Book Publishers

Ulrich Timme Kragh and Abhishek Jain

2023-11-14

The essay presents the reception of Jane Eyre on the Indian subcontinent. It examines the Indian motif within Brontë’s novel, surveys seven literary and cinematographic Jane Eyre adaptations in five Indian languages produced between 1914 and 1972, discusses the history of Indian translation practices and presents eighteen Jane Eyre translations into nine Indian languages that appeared between 1953 and 2020, and finally synoptically analyses four passages from two literal translations into Hindi and Kannada and an abridged translation into Gujarati. Throughout, the essay proposes a new approach to narrative analysis based on an Indian dramaturgical model, a new definition of translation and adaptation based on the Indian philosophical notion of transformation, and a new criterion drawn from Indian poetics for distinguishing between the notions of adaptation, abridgement, and translation.

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