Rahul Peter Das (born 7 July 1954 in

Haan Haan () is a town in the district of Mettmann, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated at the western edge of the Bergisches Land, 12 km southwest of Wuppertal and 17 km east of Düsseldorf. In 1975, Gruiten was incorporated ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

), an alumnus of St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata, is a former professor of

South Asian studies Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the History of India, history and Culture of India, cultures, Languages of South Asia, languages, and Indian literature, literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a ...

(''Südasienkunde'') at the

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public university, public research university in the cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German State o ...

, where he was also dean of studies of th
Faculty of Philosophy I
He retired in October 2020. Das was president of the German Association for Asian Studies () from 2016 to 2019, and received the Hind Rattan Award in 2006, the Nav Rattan Award in 2009. Das is of mixed

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and German parentage. He attended the

Calcutta Medical College Medical College, Kolkata, also known as Calcutta Medical College, is a Government medical college and hospital located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is one of the oldest existing hospitals in Asia. The institute was established on 28 Janua ...

and the

Maulana Azad College Maulana Azad College is a government college of liberal arts, commerce and science in India, located in central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The college is fully government-administered. It is located near the junction of Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road an ...

, both affiliated to the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

for his medical preparatory education. He returned to Germany in 1974, where he studied

Indology Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies. The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...

Islamic studies Islamic studies is the academic study of Islam, which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidiscipli ...

and

Tamilology Tamilology, a subset of the larger field of Dravidian studies, denotes study of the Tamil language, Tamil literature and the culture of the Tamil people Definition The term denotes the process of examining the study and contributions of Tamil l ...

at the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

and the

University of Hamburg The University of Hamburg (, also referred to as UHH) is a public university, public research university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by combining the previous General Lecture System ('':de:Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen, ...

, obtaining all his degrees from the latter. Through his teachers Klaus Ludwig Janert and Albrecht Wezler, students of

Paul Thieme Paul Thieme (; 18 March 1905 – 24 April 2001) was a German Indologist and scholar of Vedic Sanskrit. In 1988 he was awarded the Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy for "he added immensely to our knowledge of Vedic and other classical Indian lite ...

, he was influenced by the stringent principles of philological research. He applied these principles when he instituted, in 2000, the new subject of

South Asian Studies Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the History of India, history and Culture of India, cultures, Languages of South Asia, languages, and Indian literature, literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a ...

(Südasienkunde) at his university. Das has published on a variety of subjects ranging from Vedic linguistics through South Asian Islam and Tamil to Security Studies.Publications of Rahul Peter Das
/ref> His particular areas of interest are Bengal and Bengali, as well as traditional South Asian medicine. One of his major publications in the context of Bengali is his ''Lehrbuch der modernen bengalischen Hochsprachen'', a comprehensive teaching device for and grammar of Bengali in German. In 2006, Das initiated the interdisciplinary Working Group on Post-classical South Asia (Arbeitskreis Neuzeitliches Südasien) within the German Association for Asian Studies ( Deutsche Gesellschaft für Asienkunde). Das is or was the editor / co-editor of: *
Traditional South Asian Medicine
' * ''Südasienwissenschaftliche Arbeitsblätter'' (''Working Papers on South Asian Studies'') * ''Mitteilungen zur Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte der islamischen Welt'' (''Communications on the Social and Cultural History of the Islamic World'') * ''Veröffentlichungen zur Indogermanistik und Anthropologie'' (''Publications on Indo-European Studies and Anthropology'') * South Asia editor of ''Orientalistische Literaturzeitung'' (''Review of Literature on the Orient'') * South Asia editor of the new (3rd) edition of

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Rahul Peter 1954 births Living people People from Haan German people of Indian descent Academics from Kolkata Maulana Azad College alumni University of Calcutta alumni University of Hamburg alumni Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg German Indologists German male non-fiction writers German people of Bengali descent