Thomas William Rhys Davids

Thomas William Rhys Davids
Thomas William Rhys Davids, founder of the Pali Text Society.
Born	(1843-05-12)May 12, 1843 Colchester, Essex, England
Died	December 27, 1922(1922-12-27) (aged 79) Chipstead, Surrey
Nationality	British
Occupation	Pāli language
Known for	Founder of the Pali Text Society. One of the first translation of early Buddhist text.

Thomas William Rhys Davids, FBA (12 May 1843 – 27 December 1922) was a British scholar of the Pāli language and founder of the Pali Text Society. He took an active part in founding the British Academy and London School for Oriental Studies.

Thomas William Rhys Davids was born in England, at Colchester in Essex, the eldest son of a Congregational clergyman from Wales, who was affectionately referred to as the Bishop of Essex. His mother, who died at the age of 37 following childbirth, had run the Sunday school at his father's church.

Deciding on a Civil Service career, Rhys Davids studied Sanskrit under A.F. Stenzler, a distinguished scholar at the University of Breslau. 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 (then known as Ceylon). When he was Magistrate of Galle and a case was brought before him involving questions of ecclesiastical law, he first learned of the Pali language when a document in that language was brought in as evidence.

In 1871 he was posted as Assistant Government Agent of Nuwarakalaviya, where Anuradhapura was the administrative centre. 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.