Heleen De Jonckheere is a scholar of Jain literature and Jain history. Her current research focuses on the conceptualisation and practice of translation and adaptation in the Jain context and in South Asia in general, and on the religious implications of translation. Her further interests include Jain narrative literature, Jain manuscript culture, religious plurality in historical India as well as the interactions of popular forms of religiosity with more established forms of religion. She received a PhD from Ghent University in December 2020 and continued her work at the University of Chicago and the University of Toronto. At present, Heleen is appointed as lecturer in South Asian Religions at SOAS, University of London.

Eva De Clercq is Associate Professor at Ghent University, Belgium. Her courses include all levels of Sanskrit and Prakrit (incl. Apabhramsha and Classical Hindi), as well as South Asian literature and South Asian religious traditions. Her main research interests are the Jain versions of the Indian epics especially in Apabhramsha, and later medieval and early modern Digambara history. The first volumes of her translation of Swayambhudeva's Paumacariu have been published in the Murty Classical Library of India (Harvard University Press) as ‘The Life of Padma’.

Simon Winant is a PhD student affiliated with Ghent University and funded by FWO who works on Jain Sanskrit adaptations of the Indian epic Mahābhārata. In his current project ‘Evangelists and Epigones: Sanskrit adaptations of Mahābhārata by Jains in 13th-century Gujarāt’ (FWO), he explores two Mahābhārata adaptations composed in 13th century north-western India: the Pāṇḍavacarita (1213 CE) by Devaprabhasūri and the Bālabhārata (1240 CE) by Amaracandrasūri. rnBy comparing these two adaptations with the authoritative Mahābhārata associated with Hindu traditions, Simon hopes to contribute to a better understanding of North Indian literary culture with regards to language choice, courtly support and religious ideology. Besides Sanskrit epics and Jainism, Simon’s research interests also include early Sanskrit kāvya authors, Prakrit, Kannada, and historical linguistics.