'The Light of Asia', a famous long poem on the life and teachings of the Buddha, was written in 1879 by:

"The Light of Asia" (1879), a long narrative poem in English about the life and teachings of the Buddha, was written by the English poet and journalist Sir Edwin Arnold.

About "The Light of Asia":

• Its full title is "The Light of Asia, or The Great Renunciation".
• It is written in blank verse, in eight books.
• It tells the story of Prince Siddhartha, from his birth, his life in the palace, his renunciation and search for truth, to his enlightenment and teaching.
• It presents the Buddha's teachings, such as the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, in poetic language.
• It became extremely popular in Britain and the USA, selling hundreds of thousands of copies, and was translated into many languages.
• It helped to make Buddhism known to people in the West.

Influence in India:

• Mahatma Gandhi read it as a young man in London, and said that it influenced him greatly.
• Swami Vivekananda and others also praised it.
• The title "Light of Asia" came to be used popularly for the Buddha himself.
• A Hindi-language silent film, "Prem Sanyas" (1925), based on the poem, was directed by Franz Osten and Himansu Rai.

About Edwin Arnold:

• He was born in 1832 and died in 1904.
• He served as the principal of the Government Sanskrit College at Poona (Pune) from 1856 to 1861.
• He later worked as editor of "The Daily Telegraph" in London.
• He also wrote "The Song Celestial" (1885), an English translation of the Bhagavad Gita, which Gandhi also read.

Other Western scholars of Buddhism:

• W. Rhys Davids founded the "Pali Text Society" in 1881, to publish Pali texts.
• Max Muller edited the "Sacred Books of the East" series.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Max Muller edited the "Sacred Books of the East".
• ✗Rudyard Kipling wrote "Kim" and "The Jungle Book".
• ✗W. Rhys Davids founded the Pali Text Society.