Understanding the antiquity of mankind: Interpretation of past human behaviour from archaeological artefacts with special reference to stone tools
The Nehru Trust award allowed me to visit the archives and manuscript collections of the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, and Indian Collections housed in the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford. The ambition of my project was to better consider the beginnings of prehistoric archaeology in the Indian sub-continent with special reference to eastern India.
Painting Restoration: Research and Training
To research and receive training in conservation and restoration of easel paintings from the Conservation Centre, National Museums and Galleries Liverpool
Textiles & Arts of the People of India
Professional training in modern methods of storage and preventive conservation, documentation and museum interpretation at the V&A museum, London.
Amaravati marbles: Study and Care
The Government Museum, Chennai holds a very significant collection of sculptures, in particular the sculptures from the Buddhist site of Amaravati. I took up the Fellowship in November 2000 in order to see the collection of Amaravati sculptures in the British Museum and to learn about display and conservation techniques. I learned from the British Museum how they had refurbished the Hotung and Asahi Shimbun galleries. The British Museum has conserved all the Amaravati sculptures and then mounted them on steel frames supported by treated rubber cushions.
Bilingual intelligentsia? Linguistic exchange in 19th Century Bengal
Research on the diffusion of English language and the rise of the bilingual intelligentsia of 19th century Bengal, at the British Library and other UK institutions
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.
Archaeological Molluscan Research
For training in scientific techniques for application in archaeological molluscan research, at the University of Cambridge
Caring for Textiles
Research on textiles, including their proper maintenance and display, in UK museums
Pioneers of the Indian pottery movement
In this visit I concentrated on the 19th century and used the National Art Library at the V&A and the British Library as well as studying museum and archival collections in Alton, Nottingham, Brighton, Swansea, Stoke-on-Trent, Osborne House etc. On both my two visits to the UK under the auspices of the NTICVA I had a simply charged time, absorbing everything, particularly the intense discussions with the Indian section at the V&A Museum as to how to present objects in a historical framework, and in the wider perspective of a post-colonial setting.
Heritage Metals: Care and Conservation
Training in the conservation of metals at the V&A museum, London, and at the National Museums, Liverpool
