SOAS Research Online

Abstract

How can the blind spots in Jaina social and intellectual history be investigated in a systematic fashion given the fragmentary nature of the evidence? The idea of a prosopographical database with a sociological focus emerged organically from a SOAS Centre of Jaina Studies project on Johannes Klatt’s Jaina-Onomasticon. The initial aim of the JPD project was to cross-reference the complex bio-bibliographic data on more than 5,000 historical Jaina individuals collated by Klatt between 1880 and 1892 and make them available in form of a database with the capacity to incorporate potentially all available historical information on the Jaina tradition. The JPD, a product of international research collaboration between SOAS and researchers in India, now offers linked data on more than 21,000 individuals and on more than 7,000 works in Indic and European languages. What makes the JPD unique is its combination of sociological and indological methodologies with advanced data visualisation technology. The article highlights key innovations and types of outcomes and discusses sociological, indological, and technological challenges and strategic plans for this long-term research project, and benefits for users of this new resource.