Living Art of Rajasthan & Uttar Pradesh
This award motivated and helped me to explore the art and cultural heritage of small folk pockets of Rajasthan & UP. I was pursuing my Masters in History of Art when I got this award. The classroom studies provide us with a theoretical know how of any subject. To get involved and understand the practical significance and importance of arts and culture in rural areas one has to deeply interact with the local habitats.
The construction of indigenous gods and linkages with the communities of eastern Uttar Pradesh
The award of a Small Study and Research grant proved invaluable for me for reasons probably different from many others. I was not a young scholar but a university teacher in mid-career, and had developed a serious academic interest in an area that was not directly related to my formal discipline of English literature. My independent readings in sociology, anthropology and history, along with my travels in the Indian countryside had opened the fresh arena of the creation and continuation of village gods as an intergral part of cultural existence in India.
Anugraha images of Siva
The award, granted when I was pursuing my research for a PhD at Banaras Hindu University, helped me with data collection from museums and sites in Madhya Pradesh and Orissa as well as west and south India. I achieved my PhD and published two articles and presented two papers in national seminars in the years immediately following that while pursuing post-doctoral research. My academic career has continued.
Ritual objects and temple accessories in Varanasi
Ritual utensils and temple accessories in Banaras
