Monier Monier-Williams
Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire |
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Sir Monier Monier-Williams
Early life
Monier Williams was born in
He married Julia Grantham in 1848. They had six sons and one daughter. He died, aged 79, in Cannes, France.[2]
In 1874 he bought and lived in Enfield House, Ventnor, on the Isle of Wight where he and his family lived until at least 1881. (The 1881 census records the occupant was 61-year-old Professor Monier Monier-Williams; his wife, Julia; and two children, Montague (20) and Ella (22).)[citation needed]
Career
Monier Williams taught Asian languages at the
The vacancy followed the death of
Both candidates had to emphasise their support for Christian evangelisation in India, since that was the basis on which the professorship had been funded by its founder. Monier Williams' dedication to Christianisation was not doubted, unlike Müller's.[6] Monier Williams also stated that his aims were practical rather than speculative. "Englishmen are too practical to study a language very philosophically", he wrote.[5]
After his appointment to the professorship Williams declared from the outset that the conversion of India to the Christian religion should be one of the aims of orientalist scholarship.[6] In his book Hinduism, published by SPCK in 1877, he predicted the demise of the Hindu religion and called for Christian evangelism to ward off the spread of Islam.[6] According to Saurabh Dube this work is "widely credited to have introduced the term Hinduism into general English usage"[7] while David N. Lorenzen cites the book along with India, and India Missions: Including Sketches of the Gigantic System of Hinduism, Both in Theory and Practice : Also Notices of Some of the Principal Agencies Employed in Conducting the Process of Indian Evangelization[8][9]
Writings and foundations
When Monier Williams founded the University's
In his writings on Hinduism Monier Williams argued that the Advaita Vedanta system best represented the Vedic ideal and was the "highest way to salvation" in Hinduism. He considered the more popular traditions of karma and bhakti to be of lesser spiritual value. However, he argued that Hinduism is a complex "huge polygon or irregular multilateral figure" that was unified by Sanskrit literature. He stated that "no description of Hinduism can be exhaustive which does not touch on almost every religious and philosophical idea that the world has ever known."[6]
Monier-Williams compiled a Sanskrit–English dictionary, based on the earlier Petersburg Sanskrit Dictionary,[10] which was published in 1872. A later revised edition was published in 1899 with collaboration by Ernst Leumann and Carl Cappeller (sv).[11]
Honours
He was
He also received the following academic honours: Honorary DCL, Oxford, 1875; LLD,
Published works
Translations
Monier-Williams's translations include that of
- Translation of Shakuntala (1853)
- Hindu Literature: comprising the Book of Good Counsels, Nala and Damayanti, the Rámáyana and Śakoontalá
Original works
- An Elementary Grammar of the Sanscrit Language: Partly in the Roman Character, Arranged According to a New Theory, in Reference Especially to the Classical Languages; with Short Extracts in Easy Prose. To which is Added, a Selection from the Institutes of Manu, with Copious References to the Grammar, and an English Translation. W. H. Allen & Company. 1846.
- Original papers illustrating the history of the application of the Roman alphabet to the languages of India: Edited by Monier Williams (1859) Modern Reprint
- Indian Wisdom, Or, Examples of the Religious, Philosophical, and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindūs. London: Oxford. 1875.
- Hinduism. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. 1877.
- Modern India and the Indians: Being a Series of Impressions, Notes, and Essays. Trübner and Company. 1878.
- Translation of Governor of Bombay Presidency, Imperial India. Currently preserved at Bodleian Library.
- Brahmanism and Hinduism (1883)
- Buddhism, in its connexion with Brahmanism and Hinduism, and in its contrast with Christianity (1889)[15]
- Sanskrit-English Dictionary, ISBN 0-19-864308-X.
- A Sanskrit-English Dictionary: Etymologically and Philologically Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European languages, Monier Monier-Williams, revised by E. Leumann, C. Cappeller, et al. 1899, Clarendon Press, Oxford
- A Practical Grammar of the Sanskrit Language, Arranged with Reference to the Classical Languages of Europe, for the Use of English Students, Oxford: Clarendon, 1857, enlarged and improved Fourth Edition 1887
Notes
- ^ Oxford University Calendar 1895, Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1895, p.131.
- ^ a b c Macdonell 1901.
- ^ Memorials of old Haileybury College. A. Constable and Company. 1894.
- ^ "Review of Memorials of Old Haileybury College by Sir Monier Monier-Williams and other Contributors". The Quarterly Review. 179: 224–243. July 1894.
- ^ a b Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Scholar Extraordinary, The Life of Professor the Right Honourable Friedrich Max Muller, P.C., Chatto and Windus, 1974, pp. 221–231.
- ^ a b c d Terence Thomas, The British: their religious beliefs and practices, 1800–1986, Routledge, 1988, pp. 85–88.
- ISBN 978-0-7914-3687-5.
- ^ Alexander Duff (1839). India, and India Missions: Including Sketches of the Gigantic System of Hinduism, Both in Theory and Practice : Also Notices of Some of the Principal Agencies Employed in Conducting the Process of Indian Evangelization, &c. &c. J. Johnstone. for popularising of the term.
- ISBN 978-81-902272-6-1.
- ^ Kamalakaran, Ajay (12 April 2014). "St Petersburg's illustrious Sanskrit connections". www.rbth.com. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
- JSTOR 287725.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
- JSTOR 592384.
- JSTOR 592432.
- JSTOR 3156561.
References
- Katz, J. B. (2004). "Williams, Sir Monier Monier-". In Katz, J. B (ed.). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/18955. Retrieved 31 January 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Attribution
- Macdonell, Arthur Anthony (1901). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography (1st supplement). London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 186–187. . In
External links
- SpokenSankrit Online Free Dictionary
- Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries (Searchable), Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary
- Biography of Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Dr. Gillian Evison, Digital Shikshapatri
- Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Searchable
- Monier-Williams Shikshapatri manuscript, Digital Shikshapatri
- The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
- Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary: DICT and HTML versions
- Works by Monier Monier-Williams at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Monier Monier-Williams at Internet Archive