Sunday Times 2
Remembering Sir Robert Chalmers, Governor of Ceylon and Pali scholar
Sir Robert Chalmers, Governor of Ceylon from 1913-1916 is remembered as being the Governor during the Sinhala – Muslim riots in 1915 when the colonial authorities imposed martial law for three months, causing considerable trauma to sections of the Sinhala population. Chalmers is frequently accused as having been anti-Buddhist but in reality, was one of the foremost Pali scholars of the time who contributed to the study of Buddhist literature.
Chalmers was born in London in 1858. He wrote good and vigorous composition in Greek and Latin, had some knowledge of Sanskrit, and made a special study of philogy. He went up to Oriel College, Oxford in 1877 with a classical scholarship where he studied classics till he accepted Moderations.
Chalmers was attracted to Pali by the enthusiasm of Professor Rhys Davids whose pupil he became. He joined the Pali Text Society in 1894 and published a paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society titled ‘The Madhura Sutta – concerning caste’. The Sutta, which is contained in the Majjhim Nikaya, gives the Buddhist view on caste. Chalmers discussed the origin of the sutta, gave the Pali text and an English translation.
In 1895, he published another paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society on the ‘Nativity of the Buddha’. This contained the Pali text of an unpublished sutta from the Majjhima Nikaya dealing with the ‘marvels and mysteries’ of the Buddha’s nativity (Acchariyabbhuta- Suttam). He then took over the task of translating the Jataka tales from Rhys Davids.
At the Paris Congress of 1897, Chalmers gave a presentation on the Pali term Tathagata which evoked much interest. In 1898 he published another paper in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society on the King of Siam’s Edition of the Pali Tipitaka where he marvelled at the publication of 39 volumes of the Pali Canon.
From 1895 to 1902, under the guidance of Rhys Davids, he published the first edition of the Pali text of the Second Collection (Nikaya) in the first division (Sutta Pitaka): Discourses of the Buddha in the Majjhima Nikaya. He transcribed the text from the original script in Sinhala, Burmese and Siamese. He continued to work on the translation of this text which was published by the Pali Text Society as the ‘Further Discourses of the Buddha’ in 1926-7.
When Chalmers arrived in Ceylon as Governor in 1913, his fame as a Pali scholar had preceded him and local scholars, particularly Buddhist monks, were jubilant. One of his first public engagements was to preside at the Vidyodaya Pirivena prize-giving. As he had studied Pali in Roman script, the monks thought that he would not be able to enunciate Pali words and arranged for an interpreter to translate his English speech to Sinhalese. But to their utter amazement, he replied to their elaborate Pali address of welcome with an extempore speech in choice Pali, flawlessly enunciating every word. He concluded his half hour address by saying ‘May this noble Pali language ever flourish in Lanka.’
He was appointed Master of Peterhouse College, Cambridge in 1924. During his Mastership he produced his last work of scholarship – a metrical translation of the Sutta Nipata, the earliest teaching of the Buddha in Pali verse. At the time, his translation was considered “more remarkable for its style than precise literary accuracy”. He showed literary skill in his translation, sought out good English equivalents for the technical terms of Buddhism, and cut short the remorseless repetitions’. He was appointed President of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1922. He continued to take an interest in Pali scholarship in Ceylon. He passed away in November 1938.
It is remarkable that someone who was not born a Buddhist, did not live in a Buddhist country, and who was not employed to do so, would devote nearly 40 years of his adult life to translating or editing about 2,000 pages of Pali text. Unfortunately, this academic background made him ill-suited for handling communal disorders during the 1915 riots.