Nandini Rawal

Education
B.Tech. (Hons.) CEPT University, 2016
M.A. South Asian Studies, Columbia University, 2020
M.A. Religion, Columbia University, 2026

Research Interests
Nandini’s research interests lie in artisanship, traditional art and craft practices, and devotional material culture in South Asia. She is interested in studying what sustains artistic traditions over time, how skills and knowledge are transmitted, and how faith, devotion, patronage, and changing markets shape both the work of artisans and the objects they create. Her current research explores these questions through the rich artistic practices and the visual and material culture of Pushtimarg, a 16th-century Hindu devotional tradition centered on the deity Krishna.

Biography
Nandini holds a B.Tech. (Hons.) in Civil Engineering from CEPT University and an M.A. in South Asian Studies from Columbia University. Her subsequent entrepreneurial work with artisan communities in Patan and Kashmir, in India, led her to recognize the central role of religion and faith in the making of traditional art in India, prompting her to pursue an M.A. in Religion at Columbia. There, she developed an ethnographic approach to study the ritual paraphernalia of Pushtimarg through fieldwork with artisans, devotees, and religious communities in India and the United States. For her doctoral work, she aims to bring these strands together through the study of artisans, devotional material culture, and the continuity and transformation of traditional artistic practices.