8/7/2019 Ralph T. H.

Griffith - Wikipedia

Ralph T. H. Griffith
Ralph Thomas Hotchkin Griffith (1826–1906) was an English Indologist, a member of the Indian education
service and among the first Europeans to translate the Vedas into English. He lived in the UK (Oxford) and in India
(Benares and Nilgiris).[1]

Contents
Life
Works
References
Bibliography
External links

Life
Griffith was born at Corsley, Wiltshire, on 25 May 1826.[2] The son of the Reverend R. C. Griffith (Chaplain to the
Marquess of Bath 1830),[3] he was a B.A. of Queen's College and was elected Boden Professor of Sanskrit on Nov 24,
1849. He translated the Vedic scriptures into English. He also produced translations of other Sanskrit literature,
including a verse version of the Ramayana and the Kumara Sambhava of Kalidasa. He held the position of principal at
the Benares College in India and later lived in Kotagiri, Nilgiri. Griffith was more interested in translating Vedic books
into English, and did most of his translations while living, teaching and researching in Kotagiri in the Nilgiris.[4]

His translation of the Rigveda follows the text of Max Müller's six-volume Sanskrit edition. His readings generally
follow the work of the great scholar Sayana, who was Prime Minister at the court of the King of Vijaynagar in what is
now the District of Bellary in the Indian state of Karnataka during the fourteenth century.

On his retirement he withdrew to Kotagiri, a beautiful hill station, some 7000 feet high, in the Nilgiris district,
Madras, residing with his brother Frank, an engineer in the public works department of the Bombay presidency, who
had settled there in 1879. At Kotagiri he tranquilly engaged in the study and translation of the Vedas. He died on 7
November 1906, and was buried there.[2]

Works
Copies of his translation of the Rigveda, Samaveda, Yajur Veda, Atharvaveda and Ramayana are available on the
internet.

The Ramayan of Valmiki (published 1870) (read online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rama/index.htm))

Hymns of the Rigveda (published 1889) (read online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/index.htm))
Hymns of the Samaveda (published 1893) (read online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/sv.htm))
Hymns of the Atharvaveda (published 1896) (read online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/av/index.htm))
The Texts of the White Yajurveda (published 1899) (read online (http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/wyv/index.htm))

References
1. Griffith, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin (11 April 1896). The Hymns of the Rig Veda (http://www.sanskritweb.net/rigveda/
griffith.pdf) (PDF). Kotagiri Nilgiri. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_T._H._Griffith 1/2
8/7/2019 Ralph T. H. Griffith - Wikipedia

2. Macdonell 1912.
3. Buckland, C.E. (1968). "Rev. R. C. Griffith". Dictionary of Indian Biography (https://books.google.com/books?id=Y
8AKI2nqPBQC&pg=PA181). New York: Haskell House. p. 181. GGKEY:BDL52T227UN.
4. "Kotagiri" (https://www.primidi.com/kotagiri). https://www.primidi.com. Retrieved 18 September 2018. External link
in |website= (help)

Bibliography
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Macdonell, Arthur Anthony (1912).
"Griffith, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin". Dictionary of National Biography (2nd supplement). London: Smith, Elder &
Co.
A. A. Macdonell, rev. J. B. Katz. "Griffith, Ralph Thomas Hotchkin (1826–1906)". Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33580 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2Fref%3Ao
dnb%2F33580).(Subscription or UK public library membership (http://www.oxforddnb.com/help/subscribe#public) required.)

External links
Works written by or about Ralph T. H. Griffith at Wikisource
Works by Ralph T. H. Griffith (https://www.gutenberg.org/author/Griffith,+Ralph+T.+H.+(Ralph+Thomas+Hotchki
n)) at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Ralph T. H. Griffith (https://archive.org/search.php?query=%28%28subject%3A%22Griffith%2
C%20Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%22%20OR%20subject%3A%22Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%20Griffit
h%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Griffith%2C%20Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%22%20OR%20creator%3A%
22Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%20Griffith%22%20OR%20creator%3A%22Griffith%2C%20R%2E%20T%2
E%20H%2E%22%20OR%20title%3A%22Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%20Griffith%22%20OR%20descriptio
n%3A%22Ralph%20Thomas%20Hotchkin%20Griffith%22%29%20OR%20%28%221826-1906%22%20AND%20
Griffith%29%29%20AND%20%28-mediatype:software%29) at Internet Archive
Works by Ralph T. H. Griffith (https://librivox.org/author/6301) at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Fellow of the University of Calcutta

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ralph_T._H._Griffith&oldid=892837084"

This page was last edited on 17 April 2019, at 06:01 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using
this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_T._H._Griffith 2/2