Sir Robert Chalmers - Governor of Ceylon and Pali Scholar

R P Fernando
(rfernando@live.co.uk)

Sir Robert Chalmers was the Governor of Ceylon from 1913-1915. Today, he is remembered as being the Governor during
the Sinhalese-Muslim riots in 1915 when the colonial authorities over-reacted and imposed martial law for three months,
causing considerable trauma to sections of the Sinhalese population. Chalmers is frequently accused as having been
anti-Buddhist. He was, in reality, one of the foremost Pali scholars of the time and this article describes his contributions to
the study of Buddhist literature.
Chalmers was born in London in 1858. He attended the City of London school during the headmastership of Dr Edwin
Abbott. Chalmers was described later by Abbott as an exact and tasteful scholar who wrote good and vigorous
composition in Greek and Latin, has some knowledge in Sanskrit, and made a special study of philology. He went up to
Oriel College, Oxford, in 1877 with a classical scholarship where he studied classics till Moderations. At that point he
changed to Natural Sciences (Biological subjects) as he considered taking medicine. Following graduation, he dropped the
idea of medicine and entered the Treasury, eventually becoming Permanent Secretary in 1911.
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 entitled The Madhura Sutta concerning caste. The sutta, which is contained in the Majjhima Nikaya, gives the Buddhist view on caste. In the paper,
Chalmers discussed the origin of the sutta, gives the Pali text and an English translation. In the next year, 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text of an unpublished sutta from the Majjhima Nikaya dealing with the marvels and mysteries of the Buddhas nativity
(Acchariyabbhuta- suttam). He then took over the task of translating the Jataka tales from Rhys Davids, He joined the
company of scholars, under the editorship of Professor Cowell, with the object of translating the complete set of Jataka
tales. The first volume was translated by Chalmers in 1895 and dedicated to Rhys Davids. This contained Jataka No.1
(Apannaka Jataka) to No.150 (Sanjiva Jataka).
At the Paris Congess of 1897, Chalmers gave a presentation on the Pali term Tathagata which evoked much interest. A
paper on the topic was also published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1898. In this paper he discusses how
the first title assumed by the new Buddha was not Samma-sambuddha but Tathagata. The Buddha used the same term in
his dying words (Tamhehi kiccam atappam akkhataro Tathagata). In 1898 he published another paper in the Journal of the
Royal Asiatic Society on the King of Siams Edition of the Pali Tipitaka. In the paper, he marvelled at the publication of 39
volumes of the Pali Canon. He commended the Pali scholarship of the publication which he said would remain a great
landmark on the path of progress and an enduring monument to the Buddhist king who conceived and executed so
excellent an undertaking. 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.
Chalmers arrived in Ceylon as Governor in 1913. His fame as a Pali scholar had preceded his arrival and local scholars,
particularly Buddhist monks, were jubilant. One of his first public engagements was to preside over the prize-giving at
Vidyodaya Pirivena. As he had studied Pali in Roman script, the monks thought that he would not be able to enunciate Pali

words and arranged for a interpreter to translate his English speech to Sinhalese. But to their utter amazement, he replied
to their elaborate Pali address of welcome in 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. Later he decided to bring
out an edition of the Ceylonese Commentaries, which he proposed to call the Aluvihara Edition. As he explained in an
address to the School of Oriental Studies at the Vidyodaya Pirivena in February 1915; I shall do myself the pleasure first
of paying the printers bill for the thousand copies of the two volumes of the Dhammarana edition of the Papanca Sudani
and secondly of asking the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society to accept as a gift from me the thousand copies, the
sale proceeds of which will form a reproductive fund for the future publication of successive volumes of Pitakas and
Atthakathas by Ceylons most eminent scholars in our Aluvihara Edition. Mark the name Aluvihara Edition, to which I
attach special value, both as recognising a debt to those Ceylon scholars who laboured at Aluvihara, two thousand years
ago, and also as recording our own aspiration in these latter days to follow in their footsteps by giving Ceylon, in printed
form, a rescension worthy alike of Ceylons traditions and of her scholarship today. The Society accepted the offer in
November 1915 and the proceeds were kept in a special fund called The Chalmers Oriental Text Fund. Unfortunately,
when Chalmers was recalled to England in 1916, all his constructive plans for the Ceylons pre-eminence for Pali
scholarship had to be abandoned, with only one book the Papanca-sudani, of the Mijjhima, having been published.
Fortunately, the work begun under the inspiration of Chalmers was not destined to be left uncontinued, and was
progressed with funds left in the will of Simon Hewavitarna.
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, sough 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. In 1931, the Council of the Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society considered what should
follow the Papanca Sudani in the Aluvihara Edition and referred the matter to Lord Chalmers. He agreed with G P
Malalasekera that the extended Mahavamsa should be included next. Chalmers donated his fine Pali library to Miss I B
Horner, the then Librarian of Newnham College, Cambridge. He passed away in November 1938.
It is remarkable that someone who was not born a Buddhist, did not live in a Buddhist country, nor was employed to do
so, would devote nearly forty years of his adult life to translating or editing about two thousand pages of Pali text.
Unfortunately, this academic background made him ill-suited for handling communal disorders during the 1915 riots.