Today is the birth anniversary of Sir Edwin Arnold, KCIE, CSI, the English poet and Journalist.Educated at Oxford,he had a stint as a School Master in King's School London.He came to India in 1856 as Principal of Government Sanskrit College Poona.He returned to England in 1861 and worked for The Daily Telegraph.He is best known for Light of Asia, a book in blank verse on the life and teachings of Lord Buddha.Subsequently he wrote Pearls of Faith &The Light of the World about Islam and Christianity respectively also.He also wrote The Song Celestial, a book in verse rather a compact translation of Bhagwadgita.
However The Light of Asia remains his most popular work , which was translated in Hindi and Punjabi among perhaps other languages also.
I remember our Punjabi teacher reading out from Asia Da Chaanan , the Punjabi translation of the book , that left us spellbound.
He was influenced by the the Japanese way of life also and eventually had a Japanese wife.
Our humble tributes to the great poet and author !
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