ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on embodied gods (murthi) 1 of the Sanskritic Hindu tradition. I describe briefly the techniques by which specially produced stone statues (mainly anthropomorphic, but also aniconic) are transformed into named deities and worshipped and the techniques by which an embodied god is separated into two distinct ontological entities (god-power and 'just a stone Statue') and explore the dilemmas raised by this kind of separation. By means of these descriptions, I achieve two goals. First, I implement Tim Ingold's (2007) eloquent appeal for a renewed focus on materials (the constituents of objects/things). Second, I question his antipathy to the concept of materiality and his attempt to replace a focus on materiality with a focus on materials. Ingold himself does not define the term materiality, 2 but by materiality, I mean the state or quality of being material. 3 A focus on materiality means being attentive to the ways in which the state of being material is achieved or caused.
