His studies on privately owned objects—terracottas, ivories and small finds—have drawn attention to a wide range of ritual cultures and transcultural exchanges at an everyday, quotidian level.

A specific research contribution was his work on votive figurines and other imagery from the post-Mauryan period which brought to light a pantheon of Indian gods and goddesses that were irrevocably transformed after AD 200.

As fellow of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, he authored a comprehensive catalogue of their collections of ancient Indian statuary and archaeological material.

He has also held a curatorial position at the British Museum apart from curating several independent exhibitions in India and abroad on themes ranging from ancient to contemporary art.

On 18 March 2012 at the convention "Collecting Ancient Art in the 21st Century", Naman said that in many countries modern development proved as serious a threat to archaeological sites as looting.