Study of terracotta and clay objects of the Kushan Period (1st to 4th century AD)
I am grateful to the Trust for awarding me the Fellowship to study Kushan terracottas in the museums in the UK at the appropriate time when I was excavating sites such as Kanishkapura and Ambaran (Akhnur) in Jammu and Kashmir related to the Kushan period - particularly the latter which is famous for earlier yields of typical Akhnur Buddhist terracotta heads.
Bengal Sultanate Coins
In 1996 I undertook a research project entitled "Coinage and Currency System of Bengal Sultans (1204-1576 AD inmy capacity as Fellow of the Institute. A part of this project involved indepth study and documentation of coins preserved in public collections inridge the UK. I applied for a Visiting Fellowship in 1997 and received the award in 1998 which was the ideal time for mto visit the UK after completing the first phase of rsearch work on the coin hoards of the Bengal Sultanate in India.
Study of Mediterranean pottery and other material relating to early trade in the Indian Ocean.
In my three month stay in the UK, I worked with Professor David Peacock and his team in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. We jointly wrote a paper on Mediterranean amphorae from Nevasa India. I produced a scond paper on " Impact of Indo-Roman trade of western India", which was published in the Journal of South Asian Studies of the British Academy. The award gave me the opportunity to initiate meaningful collaborations with scholars in the UK. I have delivered lectures at various institutes and academic gatherings in India and abroad.
Sculptural Bas reliefs in Western Indian Caves (2nd Century BC to 3rd Century AD)
During 1990 Shri N M Deshpande, one of the doyens of Indian archaeology, suggetsed that as nobody had studied the sculptural bas reliefs in early Buddhist caves in Maharashtra, I should try to study them. While conducting the primary study on the area, I was transferred to Madras, and lost hope of continuing my interest with this transfer and shelved the project, but a friend suggested that I apply to the NTICVA for a grant. I did so and was very happy to receive the grant.
A critique on Ajanta Mural Painting
This grant helped me further my career as an artist. As a student it was a real encouragement to an amateur artists to explore about Ajanta and its great art and this is still helping me with my approach towards art.
Ships in Ancient Indian Art
There are a good number of ships represented in ancient Indian art, which are valuable evidence, capable of throwing light on ancient Indian shipping and shipbuilding technology. Some of these representations were referred to by scholars here and there, but no complete and systematic study of these ships was carried out.
