Culture at Hand: The Anthropology of Creativity and the Making of a Divine Craftsman in India

Professor Kirin Narayan of the School of Culture, History, and Language at Australian National University will give a public lecture on Vishwakarma, a Hindu deity traditionally associated with the creative processes of making the material world. Elaborated through very different iconographies, genealogies, and rituals in different regions of India, his worship was once confined to craftsmen who view him as a primordial ancestor, honor him through tools, and pray to him for inspiration and success. Today, factory workers worship Vishwakarma in machines; institutes of technology and industrial areas carry his name; politicians invoke him for manufacturing initiatives. This paper seeks to understand Vishwakarma’s multiplicity of forms amid the identity politics of caste, class, and the building of contemporary India. What insights can a focus on a creator god like Vishwakarma bring to the anthropology of creativity? Sponsored by the Department of History of Art and Architecture and the Johnson Enrichment Fund. Free