Pe Maung Tin

Pe Maung Tin ( ; 24 April 1888 – 22 March 1973) was a scholar of Pali and Buddhism and educator in Myanmar, formerly Burma. Born to an Anglican family at Pauktaw, Insein Township, Rangoon, he was the fifth child of U Pe and Daw Myaing. His grandfather was the first Burmese pastor of Henzada. He learnt the basic Buddhist texts at a local private school before he went to Rangoon Government High School where he won a scholarship at age 14.

Distinguished career He graduated with a B. A. degree from University College, Rangoon in 1909 and an M. A. degree from the University of Calcutta in 1911. Pe Maung Tin became the first national professor of Pali language at University College, Rangoon, and also, at the age of 24, the youngest professor in Burma in 1912. The position came with the post of librarian of Bernard Free Library and the job of Honorary Secretary of the Burma Research Society as well as editor of its journal JBRS. He was called "M.A. Maung Tin" or "Pali Maung Tin" because of his knowledge of Buddhism. He obtained his Bachelor of Letters (B. Litt.) degree from Oxford University in 1922.

Pe Maung Tin was the only Burmese to be appointed to the commission set up in 1918 to establish Rangoon University independent of Calcutta. He then worked hard to raise the status of Burmese literature as an Honours degree subject. He himself brought out texts to teach. The first course was taught in 1924, and the first student was Sein Tin who graduated in 1927 and later became famous under the pen name Theippan Maung Wa as one of the pioneers of the Hkit San literary movement.

Pe Maung Tin became principal of University College, Rangoon University, in 1937. In 1939 he was elected president of the Burma Research Society. After the Second World War in 1946, he retired at age 58. He was however asked to serve as principal of the University of Adult Education in 1947. He then became chairman of the University Translation and Publication Advisory Board and professor emeritus of Pali the following year. He was re-elected president of the BRS in 1950, and awarded an honorary doctorate LL. D. by Rangoon University in 1952.

He was also professor of Oriental studies and was honored by the Pali Text Society for his translation of the Visuddhimagga, an encyclopedia of the dhamma written by Buddhaghosa, into English. It was for this work that he had received the B. Litt. from Oxford. His first translation work for the PTS, started in 1916, was The Expositor (Atthasalini): Buddhaghosa's Commentary on Dhammasangani The First Book of the Abhidhamma Pitaka published by the Oxford University Press in 1920-21. It was the first time he signed the name Pe Maung Tin to the introduction dated 1 November 1922. The year 1928 saw the publication of Selections from the Inscriptions of Pagan compiled with Luce. Their youngest daughter Tin Tin Myaing (Brenda), a scholar of French language and literature and librarian, lives in London. She is on the council of the Britain Burma Society She organised a symposium on her celebrated father's 110th anniversary in 1998 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. His centenary was overshadowed by the momentous events in Burma in 1988.