Abstract
This article is based on research among potters in Tamilnadu, south India, who make and enliven clay images of gods for worship in Hindu temples. It explores the ways in which the showing of a DVD of a ritual event to participants at one such temple image consecration opened up new understandings and new lines of enquiry for the author. Key among these is the way in which the craftsman both cuts himself out of a project when his work is done while nevertheless seeking to keep open channels for new projects. This in turn reveals the way in which craftsmen work with and understand competition from other kinds of expert with different skills and competencies. I suggest that controversies that may not be visible during a ritual event may reveal themselves at other moments when people are engaging with visual depictions of such events and retrospectively comment on them or describe choices they have made after the event.
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