I was so sorry to learn of Ashok Aklujkar’s passing.

I had the privilege of studying with him during his year as a visiting professor at Harvard. I took his courses in Advanced Sanskrit and philosophy, and was a member of his small seminar on Bhartṛhari’s Vākyapadīya, which was a truly unforgettable experience.

Ashok was a brilliant scholar, an unmatched expert on Bhartṛhari’s philosophy of language and one of the finest connoisseurs of Sanskrit grammar in our field. He was also a kind, intellectually generous, and remarkable person. May he rest in peace.

Nataliya

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Nataliya Yanchevskaya
Lecturer in Sanskrit & South Asian Studies,
Princeton University

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 10:31 PM Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

I just now read a message from Shrikant Bahulkar that Ashok Aklujkar passed away today. I knew from Vidyut Aklujkar that Ashok had a hip replacement surgery and he was in hospital taking somewhat longer time to recover. But I did not expect to hear this sad news. I also received a message from Vidyut just a minute ago. I knew Ashok from my highschool days in Pune. He was four-five years ahead of me. Later we became very close friends for a lifetime. A very big loss to the field of Sanskrit studies. May he rest in peace.

Madhav M. Deshpande

Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies

Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India

[Residence: Campbell, California, USA]

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