WOODS, James Haughton. Boston 27.11.1864 — 14.1.1935. U.S. Indologist. Professor in Cambridge MA. Son of John Wheeler W. and Caroline Fitz. Studies at Harvard (A.B. 1887) and Cambridge Theological Seminary. Further studies at Berlin in 1889-91, Oxford 1891 and Strassburg 1894-97. Ph.D. 1896 Strassburg. Teaching at Harvard: from 1891 Assistant in History, 1900 Lecturer in Philosophy, 1900-01 Instructor in Anthropology and 1903-08 in Philosophy, 1908-13 Assistant Professor in Philosophy. From 1913 Professor of Philosophy at Harvard, retired 1934. Visiting Professor in France in 1916-18 and 192?. Married 1907 Gertrude Baldwin, again 1927 Elizabeth.

Woods apparently became interested in eastern thought during his travels in India in 1902-03 (again in India and Japan in 1907-09). He wrote about Indian and Japanese religion and philosophy.

Publications: Diss. Erktennis-Theorie und Causalität. 1896.

– Translated Deussen’s Outline of Vedānta. 6+45 p. N.Y. 1906.

– Practice and Science of Religion: A Study of Method in Comparative Religion. 8+123 p. N.Y. 1906.

– Translated: The Yoga-system or the ancient Hindu doctrine of concentration of mind. Embracing the mnemonic rules, called Yoga-Sūtras, of Patañjali, and the comment, called Yoga-Bhāshya, attributed to Veda-Vyāsa, and the explanation, called Tattva-Vaiçāradī, of Vāchaspati-Miçra. 422 p. H.O.S. 17. Cambridge, Mass. 1914.

– “The Yoga-Sūtras of Patañjali as illustrated by the Comment entitled The Jewel’s Lustre or Maṇiprabhā”, JAOS 34, 1915, 1-114; “La théorie de la connaissance dans le système du yoga”, JA 11:11, 1918, 385-389.

– Edited with D. Kosambi: Papañca-Sūdanī. 1-2. L. PTS 1922-28 (Majjhimanikāya comm., vols. 3-5 by I. B. Horner).

– “Integration of consciousness in Buddhism”, Fs. Lanman 1929 (on VisM 7, 203).

– Works on Western philosophy.

Sources: Who Was Who in Am. 1; brief note in JAOS 55, 1935, 114; https://ealc.fas.harvard.edu/james-haughton-woods with portrait; parents in findagrave.com.