Currently jQuery's version can be accessed via jQuery.fn.jquery. I propose this patch:

Index: D:/dev/workspace/jquery/src/jquery/jquery.js
===================================================================
--- D:/dev/workspace/jquery/src/jquery/jquery.js	(revision 2128)
+++ D:/dev/workspace/jquery/src/jquery/jquery.js	(working copy)
@@ -37,6 +37,9 @@
 // Map the jQuery namespace to the '$' one
 var $ = jQuery;
 
+// create static version reference
+jQuery.version = "@VERSION";
+
 /**
  * This function accepts a string containing a CSS or
  * basic XPath selector which is then used to match a set of elements.