Christine Chojnacki

Christine Chojnacki is a Professor and holder of the Gyan and Kanchan Jain Chair in Jain Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), with a graduate appointment in the Department for the Study of Religion. She specializes in the literature and history of Jainism, focusing on medieval Jain texts in Sanskrit and Prakrit, manuscript transmission, and the role of Jainism in Indian cultural and intellectual history. She previously served as Professor of Indian Languages and Culture at the University of Lyon, France.

• Education: Studied Classics (Latin/Greek), Sanskrit under Gerard Fussman (Strasbourg), Prakrit and Jainism with Colette Caillat (Paris), and further specialization in Munich, Münster, and London.

Her research explores forgotten medieval Jain literature to reconstruct Indian knowledge systems, manuscript reception, and understudied genres like kathākośa and prabandha. She emphasizes the importance of Jain contributions to pre-modern Indian intellectual traditions.

• Awards: 2013 Prakrit Jnanabharati International Award for her work on the Kuvalayamālā.

Her publications include analyses of Jain pilgrimage rituals, the Kṛṣṇa tradition, and biographies of monks. She actively mentors students in Jain studies and related fields.