Mabel Haynes Bode

Mabel Haynes Bode
Born	(1864-10-28)28 October 1864 England
Died	(1922-01-20)20 January 1922 Shaftsbury, Dorsetshire, England
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Notting Hill High School, University College London, University of Berne
Scientific career
Fields	Pali, Sanskrit, Buddhist Studies
Institutions	School of Oriental Studies, University College London

Mabel Haynes Bode (1864–1922) was one of the first women to enter the academic fields of Pali, Sanskrit and Buddhist studies. She lectured in Pali and Sanskrit, edited Pali texts, and translated the German translation of the Pali text called Mahavamsa. She also wrote a book on the history of Pali literature in Burma. She was the first woman to have an article published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Early life

Mabel Kate Haynes was born on 28th October 1864 to Robert and Emily Haynes. Her father was a well-known law publisher and bookseller, and a partner in the firm Stevens & Haynes. Her mother died of typhoid fever in 1870. In 1879 Mabel's father passes away. She and her older sister Lily continued to live with their aunt, Janet Mary Hayes, their mother's sister, who had moved in after their mother died. On 15th November 1888 she married William Ernest Bode, an actor professionally known as Milton Bode at St Pancras parish church. The marriage didn't work out and within four years of their marriage William was living with another woman.

Education

Bode writes in the curriculum vitae she provided to the University in Berne: "After attending private schools in my childhood I went through the (public school) curriculum on the Notting Hill High School for Girls (London), taking prizes for Latin and English Literature, and finishing at the age of seventeen in the top-form."

In 1891 she studied Pali language and Buddhist literature under Prof. T.W. Rhys Davids at University College London. In 1894 she studied Sanskrit with Prof. E. Muller-Hess at Berne University. In 1895 she attended the Sanskrit lectures of Professor Cecil Bendall at University College London. In 1896 she attended lectures in classical and vedic Sanskrit of Prof. Sylvain Levi at the College de France in Paris and Prof. Victor Henry at the Sorbonne besides those of Prof. Sylvain Levi and Prof. Louis Finot at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. She also did courses in History. In Paris she became fluent in French and continued living there on and off until 1908.

In 1897-1898 she studied Sanskrit at Berne with Professor E.Muller-Hess and history with Professor Woker. She received her phD at the University of Berne in 1898. Her dissertation was called "A Burmese historian of Buddhism".

In 1904-1906 she attended studied Sanskrit with Prof. Carlo Formichi at the university in Pisa. Prof. Carlo Formichi described her as "one of the cleverest and best women I ever met".

Career

In 1909 she became Assistant Lecturer at University College London. In 1911 she was awarded a Civil List Pension of £50 "in consideration of the value of her contributions to the study of Pali" From 1911 to 1917 she was lecturer at the Indian School (Pali & Buddhist literature), University College London and the first lecturer in Pali at the School of Oriental Studies. One of her private pupils was the composer Gustav Holst, who learnt Sanskrit from her. During World War I she was a helper to the Belgian committee and the French Red Cross. She wrote articles for the Times Literary Supplement in collaboration with Mr T.W. Rolleston .

In 1918 she resigned from her teaching posts due to ill health.

Later Life

In 1918 she moved to reside with her sister and brother-in-law in London, and then to The Chantry, Shaftesbury, Dorset. She died on 20th January 1922 in Shaftsbury, Dorsetshire. She is buried at St James Church, Shaftesbury. Her gravestone's inscription reads "phD. Et prope et procul usave cor cordium dum vivam et ultra".

Articles and Books

• Women leaders of the Buddhist Reformation. Journal of the royal Asiatic Society, London, 1893. Can be viewed at http://www.sacred-texts.com/journals/jras/1893-13.htm.

• Index to the Gandhava.msa, Journal of the Pali Text Society Vol IV, 1896.

• Sasanavamsa, Pali Text Society, London, 1897.

• A Burmese historian of Buddhism, (subtitled dissertation presented to the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Berne for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy), Woking, 1898. Can be viewed at https://archive.org/details/burmesehistorian00boderich.

• The transformation of Sanskrit studies in the course of the 19th century by Sylvain Levi, translated by Mabel Haynes Bode. Published for the Congress of Arts & Science Universal Exposition, 1904.

• On German universities : A review of Prof. Paulsen's work on the German university system, a pamphlet published in London by P.S. King & Son, 1905.

• The Kharostra country & the Kharostin writing by Sylvain Levi, translated by Mabel Haynes Bode. Published by the Royal Geographic Society, 1906.

• Early Pali Grammarians in Burma, Journal of the Pali Text Society vol VI, 1908.

• The Pali literature of Burma, published by the Royal Asiatic Society, London 1909..

• The legend at Ratthapala in the Pali Apadana and Buddhaghosa's commentary in Melanges d'Indianisme offerts ... a S. Levi, Paris, 1911.

• The Mahavamsa; or The great chronicle of Ceylon, translated into German by Wilhelm Geiger and from German into English by Mabel Haynes Bode, published in London for the Pali Text Society by H. Frowde, 1912.

References

• Anonymous. Mable Haynes Bode in Milton Bode. Accessed at http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hoz/milton/mabel.html on 9.4.2014.