Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843-1922)

 

Thomas William Rhys Davids (1843-1922): T. W. Rhys Davids was born at Colchester in Essex, England, on May 12, 1843, the eldest son of a Congregational clergyman from Wales. His mother, who died at the age of 37 following childbirth, had run the Sunday school at his father's church. T. W. Rhys Davids married Caroline Augusta Foley in 1894. They had three children: Vivien Brynhild Caroline Foley Rhys Davids (1895-1978), Arthur Rhys Davids (1897-1917), and Nesta Enid (1900-1973). Deciding on a Civil Service career, Rhys Davids studied Sanskrit under A.F. Stenzler, a distinguished scholar at the University of Breslau (Germany), and achieved the degree of Ph.D. He earned money in Breslau by teaching English. In 1863 Rhys Davids returned to Britain, and on passing his civil service exams was posted to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) in 1864.

When he was Magistrate of Galle in Sri Lanka and a case was brought before him involving questions of ecclesiastical law, about the occupation of a village vihara, he first learned of the Pāli language when a document in that language was brought in as evidence. He received the assistance of Venerable Yātrāmule Unnānse Sri Dhammarama, a Pāli scholar: “I had heard of his learning as a Pāli scholar, and of his illness, and was grateful to him for leaving his home under such circumstances, to teach a stranger. There was a strange light in his sunken eyes, and he was constantly turning away from questions about Pāli to questions about Buddhism. I found him versed in all the poetry and ethics of the Suttas and was glad to hear him talk. There was an indescribable attraction about him, simplicity, a high-mindedness that filled me with reverence.” Venerable Yātrāmule told him: "Go and talk to the yellow robed and tonsured recluse - not of course through an interpreter, or out of a book of phrases: you must know not only his language but something of Buddhist ideas; and you must speak to him as man to man, not as the wise to the barbarian. You will certainly be courteous; for whatever else a Buddhist Bhikkhu may be, he will be sure to give proof of courtesy and a dignified demeanor. And it will be strange if you do not find a new world of thought and of feeling opening out before you."

He started studying the language intensely and was intrigued by the vast and deep wisdom of Buddha’s teachings. As his knowledge and understanding of Buddhism gradually expanded, he was convinced that this teaching was beyond the realm of faith and was indeed the “wisdom-jewel” of humanity. In 1871 he was posted as Assistant Government Agent of Nuwarakalaviya, where Anuradhapura was the administrative center. The governor was Sir Hercules Robinson, who had founded the Archaeological Commission in 1868. Rhys Davids became involved with the excavation of the ancient Sinhalese city of Anuradhapura, which had been abandoned after an invasion in 993 CE. He began to collect inscriptions and manuscripts, and from 1870-1872 wrote a series of articles for the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Journal about them. He learned the local language and spent time with the people. Rhys Davids' interest was not confined only to antiquities. As Assistant Government Agent of Anuradhapura he tried to improve the economic conditions of the people. Rhys Davids' civil service career and his residence in Sri Lanka ended abruptly because of personal differences with his superior, C. W. Twynham.

Contributions:

In 1875 he wrote papers for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society on “Inscriptions of Parākrama Bāhu,” Sigiri, the Lion Rock,” and “Two Old Sinhalese Inscriptions.” In 1877 he published in the International Numismatic Orientala, an essay on "The Ancient Coins and Measures of Ceylon". He wrote his first book on Buddhism “The Life and Teachings of the Buddha” for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, in the series on non-Christian religions. In 1877 he also studied law and was called to the bar, but a legal career, though lucrative did not appeal to him. His interests centered on Buddhism and the field of Pali canonical literature. His wife Caroline Rhys Davids said that, "Rhys Davids was haunted and pursued by the spiritual legacy bequeathed to him from Ceylon." He continued to publish articles about Sri Lankan inscriptions and translations, notably in Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East. He translated into English the first volume of Jatakas edited by Fousball in 1880 under the title "Buddhist Birth Stories" and proceeded to translate selected parts of the Sutta Pitaka which formed Vol. II of the Sacred Books of the East Series. In 1881 he was invited to deliver the prestigious Hibbert Lectures. His subject was "The origin and Growth of Religion as illustrated by some points in the History of Indian Buddhism".

With the support of many distinguished scholars from England, France, Holland, Germany and the US who were interested in Oriental Studies, Rhys Davids established the Pali Text Society in 1881on the model of the English Text Society, "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Rhys Davids said: "The sacred books of the early Buddhists have preserved to us the sole record of the only religious movement in the world's history which bears any close resemblance to Christianity; and it is not too much to say that the publication of this unique literature will be no less important for the study of history and specially religious history than the publication of the Vedas has already been". Professor Dr. Hammalava Saddatissa Mahanayaka Thera considered Rhys Davids being the "greatest translator of Pali Texts and founder of Pali Text Society which has edited and translated virtually the whole of the Tripitaka. From 1882 to 1904 Rhys Davids was Professor of Pāli at the University of London, a post which did not provide a fixed salary other than lecture fees. In 1887 Rhys Davids was unanimously elected Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society Council. He promoted Theravada Buddhism and Pāli scholarship in Britain and actively lobbied the government (in co-operation with the Asiatic Society of Great Britain) to expand funding for the study of Indian languages and literature, using numerous arguments over how this might strengthen the British hold on India. As a result of the lobbying of the Royal Asiatic Society and Rhys Davids, the government accepted the proposal for an independent oriental school in 1908 and established London School of Oriental (and later) African studies. In 1905 Rhys Davids resigned from the Royal Asiatic Society to accept the Chair of Comparative Religion in the University of Manchester of which he was the first distinguished incumbent. This new position provided him with a reasonable income. At Manchester, while teaching the history of religions Rhys Davids wrote “Early Buddhism” book (1908) and a chapter for “The Cambridge History of India” on the Early History of Buddhism. His greatest achievement was the Pali English Dictionary on which he labored for 40 years with the collaboration of other renowned scholars.

Unfortunately, he died before he could finish his work, but the task was completed by his student William Stede in 1925. It superseded the first Pāli-English dictionary published in 1874 by Robert Caesar Childers. In 1915 Rhys Davids left Manchester. Many years before the University of Edinburgh conferred on him a LLD and Manchester made him a Doctor of Letters. Rhys Davids died on 27 December 1922 in Chipstead, Surrey. At the time of his death the Pali Text Society had issued 64 separate texts in ninety four volumes extending over 26,000 pages besides many articles and notes by European and Oriental scholars.

 

Works (alphabetical order)

• Asoka and the Buddha-relics, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1901
• Buddhism: being a sketch of the life and teachings of Gautama, the Buddha, London, 1890
• Buddhism: its history and literature, New York, London, 1896
• Buddhist & Christian gospels: now first compared from the originals being gospel parallels from Pāli texts, reprinted with additions, Philadelphia, 1904
• Buddhist Birth Stories, or Jataka Tales: The Oldest Collection of Folk-Lore Extant, 1880, London
• Buddhist India, New York, 1903
• Buddhist suttas, 1881, Oxford
• Cosmic law in ancient thought, London, 1917
• Der Buddhismus. Eine Darstellung von dem Leben und den Lehren Gautamas, des Buddhas, Leipzig, 1899
• Dialogues of the Buddha (The Dīgha Nikāya), London, 1899
• Early Buddhism, London, 1908
• Lectures on the origin and growth of religion as illustrated by some points in the history of Indian Buddhism, London, New York, 1882, 1891, 1897, 1906
• On the ancient coins and measures of Ceylon: with a discussion of the Ceylon date of the Buddha's death, London, 1877
• On Yuan Chwang's travels in India (A.D. 629-45), London 1904
• Report of the Transliteration committee: Adopted by Council, 8th May 1894, also by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
• The Pāli Text Society's Pāli–English Dictionary, 1925
• The Pātimokkha (with part of the Mahāvagga), Oxford, 1881
• The Questions of King Milinda, Oxford, 1890
• The Sects of the Buddhists, The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1891
• The Sumaṅgala-vilāsinī : Buddhaghosa's commentary on the Dīgha Nikāya, London, 1886
• The Yogāvacara's manual of Indian mysticism as practiced by Buddhists, London, 1896
• Vinaya Texts, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIII, Mahavagga I-IV, Vol. XVII, Mahavagga V-X, Kullavagga I-III, Vol. XX, Kullavagga IV-XII, Oxford, 1881-85

 

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