Obituary for Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Rau

[Ashok Aklujkar]

As Dr. Roland Steiner has written, Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Rau was indeed a
unique scholar with impressive preparation in several diverse areas of
scholarship. I will miss him also as a very warm and caring individual. In
fields like Indology where the drive toward exactitude and high standards
of scholarship (which must be maintained) can easily make scholars
nitpickers and lead them to miss the forest for trees, Rau constantly
maintained an awareness of the larger and positive goals and of the
importance of nurturing the next generation of scholars. He was extremely
patient with good-hearted but not-so-sharp persons. Generous toward his
relatives, students and colleagues, I found him to be considerate toward
almost every person he met.  Not only an exceptionally accomplished
scholar, an exceptionally kind teacher and good human being has left us.

-- ashok aklujkar