Thomas William Rhys Davids (May 12, 1843 - December 27, 1922) was an British scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pali Text Society. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1843 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... December 27 is the 361st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1922 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... . Pāli (ISO 639-1: pi; ISO 639-2: pli) is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ... The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids to foster and promote the study of Pali texts. Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved. ...

T. W. Rhys Davids was well educated in Latin at school. Deciding on the Civil Service he studied Sanskrit at Breslau, Germany, where he earned money by teaching English. He returned to England in 1863 and, passing his civil service exams, he was posted to Ceylon. As Magistrate of Galle a case was brought before Rhys Davids involving questions of ecclesiastical law, and he first came across Pali when a document in an strange language was tabled as evidence. Latin is the language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... 1863 is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

In 1871 he was posted as Assistant Government Agent of Nuwarakalaviya of which Anuradhapura was the administrative centre, where the Governor was Sir Hercules Robinson. Robinson founded the Archaeological Commission in 1868. Rhys Davids became involved with the excavation of ancient Ceylonese city Anuradhapura, which had been abandoned after an invasion in 993. 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. During this time Rhys Davids learned the local language and spent time with the people of the area. His civil service career, along with his residence in Sri Lanka, came to an abrupt end: personal differences with his superior C. W. Twynham seem to have inspired formal investigation, tribunal, and dismissal for misconduct. A variety of minor offences had been discovered by the investigation, as well as several significant grievances concerning fines improperly exacted both from Davids' local subjects and his employees. He then studied for the bar and briefly practised law, although he continued to publish articles about Sri Lankan inscriptions. The very first kingdom in Sri Lanka, Anuradhapura was made the countrys capital by King Pandukabhaya (reigned c. ... Lord Hercules George Robert Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead (December 19, 1824 - October 28, 1897) was a British colonial administrator. ... 1868 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Events July 4 - Saint Ulrich of Augsburg canonized Births Deaths Categories: 993 ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1872 was a leap year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Article 90a of the bylaws of the Royal Asiatic Society. ...

From 1882 to 1904 Rhys Davids was Professor of Pali in the University of London, a post which carried no fixed salary other than lecture fees. In 1905 he took up the Chair of Comparative Religion in the University of Manchester. Davids attempted various methods to promote Theravada Buddhism and Pāli scholarship in England. He 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, advancing numerous arguments (in writing and in lectures) as to how this would strengthen imperial England's grip on India. His attempts to increase general public interest among Britons included a numerous "Historical Lectures" and papers advancing a racialist theory of the common "Aryan" ethnicity of the people of England, Sri Lanka, and the Buddha's own tribe in times gone by. These views are comparable to the racial theories of Max Müller, but were used to a different purpose: Davids tried to establish that Britons would have a natural, "racial" affinity with Buddhist doctrine. This aspect of Davids' career has been criticized. 1882 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1904 is a leap year starting on a Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1905 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Aryan is an English word derived from the Indian Vedic Sanskrit and Iranian Avestan terms ari-, arya-, ārya-, and/or the extended form aryāna-. The Old Persian ariya- is a cognate as well. ... Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900), more commonly known as Max Müller, was a German-born British Philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of Indian studies, who virtually created the discipline of comparative religion. ...

He married Caroline Augusta Foley, a noted Pāli scholar in her own right, in 1894. Unlike his wife, Davids was a lifelong critic and opponent of Theosophy. Caroline Augusta Foley Rhys Davids (1857-1942). ... 1894 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of belief which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ...

See also: Pali Text Society, Pāli The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids to foster and promote the study of Pali texts. Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved. ... . Pāli (ISO 639-1: pi; ISO 639-2: pli) is a Middle Indo-Aryan dialect or prakrit. ...

Thomas and Caroline had three children, the second of whom Arthur Rhys Davids, was a member of the Royal Flying Corps in World War One. Arthur Percival Foley Rhys Davids DSO, MC (with bar) was born in London on 26th October 1897. ... The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the over-land air arm of the British military during most of World War I. Origin and Early History Formed by Royal Warrant on May 13, 1912, the RFC superseded the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ...

External link

• Lorna S. Dewaraja. Rhys Davids: His contribution to Pali and Buddhist studies part1, part2