Paul Dundas

Paul Dundas (23 May 1952 – 5 April 2023) was a British Indologist, an honorary fellow in Sanskrit language and Head of Asian studies at the University of Edinburgh. His teachings and research focused extensively on understanding Jainism, Buddhism, Sanskrit literature and Middle Indo-Aryan philology. He was regarded as one of the leading scholars in Jaina and Prakrit studies. He was a member of the Council of the Pali Text Society.

Research papers and conferences

 * "Conversion to Jainism : Historical Perspectives" in R. Robinson and S. Clarke ( ed. ), Religious Conversion in India: Modes, Motivations, and Meanings, New Delhi: Oxford University Press 2003, pp. 125–48.
 * "Haribhadra's Lalitavistara and the legend of Siddharsi's conversion to Jainism", in O. Qvarnstrom (ed. ), Jainism and Early Buddhism: Essays in Honor of Padmanabh S. Jaini, Fremont: Asian Humanities Press 2003, 151–66.
 * "Beyond Anekantavada: A Jain Approach to Religious Tolerance", in T. Sethia ( ed. ), Ahimsa, Anekanta and Jainism, New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 2004, 123–36.
 * Il Jainismo: L'antica religione indiana della non-violenza; Prefazione di Raffaele Torella, Roma: Castelvecchi 2005 (Italian translation of The Jains, second enlarged edition, London and New York Routledge 2002).
 * "A Non-Imperial Religion? Jainism in its 'Dark Age'", in P. Olivelle (ed.), Between the Empires: Society in India 300BCE-400BCE,  New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, pp. 383–414.
 * "The Later Fortunes of Jamali", in P. Flugel (ed.), Studies in Jaina History and Culture: Disputes and dialogues, London and New York: Routledge 2006, pp. 33–60.

Later projects

 * A translation with commentary of Yasovijaya's Dvatrimsaddvatrimsika.
 * A study of the historical representation of the Jain Pancanamaskara mantra, with particular reference to Yasovijaya's Arhadgita.
 * A systematic investigation of the Sanskrit and Prakrit texts of the "Haribhadra corpus".