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After his B.A. in Indian Studies at the University of Denver, Huyler received his doctorate at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies. His thesis was entitled "The Production and Use of Ritual Terracottas in India", a survey of Indian potters and their products in 76 districts within 14 Indian states conducted during 32 months of independent field research over a ten year period. In 1985, Dr. Huyler published "Village India" with Abrams (NY), the first and, as yet, only book that surveys rural Indian life and cultures throughout the subcontinent. His second book, "Painted Prayers: Women's Art in Village India" documents women's ritual wall and floor decoration, and was published by Rizzoli International in 1994, as well as in British, French, and German editions. Based upon interviews with hundreds of Indian women, it portrays how the women of India create sacred art as a means to bring balance into their lives. Huyler's third book, drawn from his thesis and entitled: "Gifts of Earth: Terracottas and Clay Scuptures of India" was released in India in 1996 by Mapin Press, Ahmedabad. His fourth book: "Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion" was published by Yale University Press in 1999. An intimate and insightful portrayal of Hinduism as it affects mainstream India, it was voted one of the top ten books in religion in 1999 by Publisher’s Weekly. Responding to the demand for its use by many university courses as a textbook on Hinduism, Meeting God was released in paperback in 2001. Aside from these major publications, Dr. Huyler has written numerous articles and separate chapters on terracottas, women's ritual painting, rural India arts and cultures, and aspects of daily Hindu devotion.

In his last three books, Huyler credits Babu Mohapatra as one of his primary sources of information and as the assistant who facilitated his access to communities and individuals that might otherwise have been difficult to contact.

Stephen Huyler has served as a consultant for several museum exhibitions of Indian art. Among these, two were for the Festival of India in 1986: The Brooklyn Museum's "From Indian Earth: Four Thousand Years of Terracotta Art" and Mingei International Folk Art Museum's "Forms of Mother Earth: Contemporary Terracottas of India". He co-curated an exhibition of Indian folk art at the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe entitled "Mud, Mirror and Thread" (with an accompanying book of the same title published by Mapin [1993]), and has been appointed a research associate of that museum. From 1996 until 2000 the Smithsonian Institution's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington D.C hosted an award-winning exhibition conceived and co-curated by Dr. Huyler entitled "Puja: Expressions of Hindu Devotion". In response to the success of that show, Huyler curated a traveling exhibition about the same subject, also entitled "Meeting God: Elements of Hindu Devotion", that opened in at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 1999, then traveled to museums and public galleries in eight major Indian cities in 2000, finally opening in a greatly expanded form at New York’s American Museum of Natural History in September, 2001., The critical reviews of this exhibition could not have been more positive in Texas, India and New York. Based upon its popularity, Huyler created a second exhibition of the same title which opened at the Leicester Museum in the UK in April, 2002. That show is now scheduled to open in Bradford, England, in late September, 2003.

The Puja show and each of the Meeting God exhibitions has acknowledged Babu Mohapatra for his invaluable aid in facilitating their creation.

Stephen Huyler has also led many tours to India. Several have been for the prestigious Smithsonian Institution, one of New York’s Whitney Museum, and several he organized privately.

In each of his tours, Huyler insists that Babu Mohapatra been employed as local guide. He values his expertise and ablilties highly and finds him easy to work with.

Huyler spends several months each winter in India and during the rest of the year frequently travels to lecture in universities and museums in the U.S. and the U.K.Next...