Small Study and Research Grant (India)

Rekha Tandon

Classification on the threshold of modernity: expanding the physical parameters of Odissi dance for contemporary audiences

J R Asokan

Comparative study of museum display and its interpretation by visitors

This award was very useful in the development of Chennai district museums. I had the chance to see some important museums in India and by seeing the display arrangements and interpretation techniques my knowledge was increased. I had the chance to apply this knowledge in newly opened museums.

Atul Tripathi

A comprehensive and comparative study of Solar Temples

N Athiyaman

Documentation of traditional diving for pearl and chunk in Mannar Gulf, from the Sangam period onwards;

These funds were very useful as seed money for ethnographic study in the Tamil region. As a result, Tamil University has extended its helping hand to widen the survey for the Palk Bay region also. INSA, New Delhi, also provided some contingency grants to improve the study of traditional pearl and chank fishing. Since the Trust has encouraged such a small study, I feel more confident in pursuing further ethnographic study uncovered by the scholars.

P Venkatesan

Relief sculptures as revealed from Hero-stones in Thiruvannamalai, Samburayar and North Arcot Districts of Tamilnadu

The grant was very helpful to me in allowing me to discover a number of hero-stones and inscriptions during the Pallava and Chola periods in Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts and to prepare research articles in vernacular research magazines like Hindu, Avanam, Pulamai, Dinamani etc. I am currently (2001) doing PhD research in the field of Hero-stones .

Smitha Cariappa

Artistic expression of the Kodavas through artifacts, ritual and performance

The grant helped me to understand the ethnic culture of the Kodavas (Kodagu, Karnataka)  and largely exposed me to the rural environment, paving the way to the use of natural materials, pigments, cloth for my growing practive of installation and site-specific work. I was awarded the Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award and was artist-in residence at the University of Newcastle in 1997-8.

Vibha Singh Chauhan

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.

Anish Vohra

To document and research modern Indian art criticism at Santiniketan, Bengal

Seema Gera

To research the collections at the National Museum and to construct school loan kits as an aid in teaching history in schools

Kamlesh Kumar Sharma

A study of arms and weapons in Indian collections

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