An early sramana (ascetic) sect led by Makkhali Gosala in the fifth century BCE, it was a nastika (heterodox) school of Indian philosophy. The members of the sect practised austerity and developed the doctrine of niyati (destiny or fate). The sect reached the height of its popularity in the second century BCE, before its gradual decline.
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The Hindi term for “cobbler,” it refers to a maker and mender of footwear who typically works with leather. It…
An artisanal community from the eastern states of the Indian subcontinent, primarily West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, as well…
Also known as the White Huns, they were a predominantly nomadic set of people living in Central and South Asia…
A Tibetan Buddhist monastic order, founded by Je Tsongkhapa in the early fifteenth century. Tsongkhapa along with his disciples founded…
A community, with historical roots in the precolonial Indian subcontinent and now predominantly based in India, consisting of merchants, bankers,…
Member(s) of any of the heterogenous Indigenous communities of India and Bangladesh, whose social formations, cultures and religions are distinct from…
A community of predominantly Kshatriya Hindus, as well as Muslims and Sikhs, whose origins can be traced to the Punjab…
A regional term used in parts of northern, central and western India to refer to artisans involved in several crafts,…