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Join us for the Bhūmi Spirit Launch Event | 5th June | The Nehru Centre, London
Namaste!
As part of the Bhūmi Spirit project, an eco-dharmic initiative of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and The Nand and Jeet Khemka Foundation, we are excited to invite you to our Launch Event!
Join us in celebrating World Environment Day on Friday 5th of June at the Nehru Centre. The event explores the relationship between nature, education and Dharma with an exciting panel discussion, more information about Bhūmi Spirit, and a showcase by some of the children who have had Bhūmi Spirit classes.
For more details, please see our website: bhumispirit.org
To register for the event, please use this link: https://bhumispirit.netlify.
Thank you and looking forward to seeing you there!
Date: Friday 5th June 2026 on World Environment Day
Time: 16:45-19:00
Location: The Nehru Centre, London, 8 S Audley St, London W1K 1HF
Talk: 3 June 2.30-3.30 “Ahiṃsā” | with Prof. Dr Peter Flügel
Wednesday 3 June, 2.30-3.30. OCHS Library. All are welcome!
“He who knows the violence done for the sake of special objects, knows what is free from violence; he who knows what is free from violence, knows the violence done for special objects” (Āyāraṅga 1.3.1.4). The apparent paradox, recognised in this and other canonical passages, that cognition of violence is a condition and hence integral part of a religious system aiming at the maximisation of non-violence, can be explained, with the help of the theory of autopoietic systems of N. Luhmann, as a consequence of the fact that all social systems constitute themselves through selective self-referential mechanisms, based on binary codes, programmes and routines, which constitute the elements of a system that function as its parts. The paper presents a theoretical interpretation of the Jaina tradition, arguing that, as a social system, the Jaina tradition reproduces itself with reference to a combination of an ontological code, jīva/ ajīva, and a moral code, ahiṃsā/hiṃsā, implemented through programmes, that is, criteria, for the allocation of objects and processes to one or to the other side of the constitutive distinctions directrices. Jaina philosophy itself highlights the significance of binary categorisations. Only with the development of the ahiṃsā-reductionism, predicated on the mushrooming of synonymous (a-) hiṃsā-words, described by K. Bruhn and C. Caillat, and the crystallisation of a central binary code in medieval times, the Jaina tradition could develop into a stable autopoietic social system, because all social systems are predicated on reductions of complexity. The paper argues that the self-differentiation of ahiṃsā through processes of semantic duplication and self-reference was the condition for the development of religious codes and programmes for their implementation, which still stabilise the Jaina system over time. As a social system, the Jaina religion is a relative late development. The paper presents an analysis of the semantics of (non)violence in the canonical Paṇhāvāgaraṇāiṃ.
Peter Flügel, Dr Phil Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, is Founding Chair of the Centre of Jaina Studies, and Professor of the Study of Religions and Philosophies at the Department of History, Religions and Philosophies at SOAS University of London.
Bursaries and Scholarships: Open for applications! Total: £20,412
Applications are now open for the 2026 OCHS Bursaries and Scholarships.
Each year, the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies awards a range of bursaries and scholarships on behalf of our generous donors. This year, a total of £20,412 is available. All registered OCHS students are eligible to apply — awards can be used towards fees, maintenance, or research costs.
To apply, send a one-page application along with the completed application form to secretary@ochs.org.uk.
The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, 26 May 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Full details of all available bursaries and scholarships, along with the application form, can be found at
22 May: The Sanskrit Traditions Symposium
Sign up for the symposium here!
We warmly invite you to the 42nd Annual Sanskrit Traditions Symposium, hosted at Trinity College, Oxford.
The Sanskrit Traditions Symposium (formerly STIMW) is a forum for the discussion of the Sanskrit traditions of South Asia, and the texts and cultures that have arisen out of them. It brings together established and rising academics for the focused examination of research pertaining to various aspects of South Asia’s rich Sanskrit religious and intellectual culture. It thereby seeks to sustain and build upon the long history of scholarship in this important area of study.
Talk: 6 May, 2.30-3.30 │ “Unfamiliar Religion” with Dr Seema Chauhan
Week 2, Wednesday 6 May, 2.30-3.30, OCHS Library
Dr Seema Chauhan
In the study of Jainism, it has become a truism to say that Jainas were interested in knowing the religious other. This is not a novel argument. What is less studied are the social identities that structure these encounters in stories, not to mention the literary methods used to write about the religious other. Put simply, when Jainas write stories about the religious other, who are the characters involved? And what motivates these characters to talk about non-Jaina religions?
In the Śvetāmbara suttas, it is usually the Jaina ascetic who encounters non-Jainas while on the road searching for alms. This makes for a narrative focused entirely on a conversation between Jaina ascetic and his other—a rather dry story devoid of any plotline because the ascetic has renounced all familial and sexual ties. But that is not the case for the Vasudevahiṇḍī, a fifth century CE Śvetāmbara narrative. There, it is sons who are looking for their long-lost fathers. And kings and nuns who try to justify incest and adultery. Such stories about day-to-day dramas inside the home become, I argue, the site for talking about non-Jaina religions. In this talk, I showcase such narratives, and answer how and why they use familial and sexual relationships to talk about unfamiliar religions.
Seema K. Chauhan is an Assistant Professor of Asian Religions at Trinity College Dublin. Prior to this appointment, she completed her doctorate at the University of Chicago Divinity School and held the Asoke Kumar Sarkar Early Career Fellowship in Classical Indology at Balliol College. She specialises in the history of early Jainism, Hinduism, and Sanskrit and Prakrit literature.