Straddling myriad worlds, this book looks beyond the anthropological adding a historical dimension to the groundbreaking People of India project. What results is an exploration into diversities—biological, ecological, linguistic, and ethnic—and affi nities among different communities in India.

The first few essays discuss indigenous traditions of ethnography as well as the ethnography of indigenous traditions. Looking at texts like the Mahabharata, Manu’s Dharmashastra, and the Varna Ratnakar, the essays reveal how the ethnic universe was constructed in the Indian tradition. Highlighting the Census of India and other ethnographic studies the following chapters deal with colonial explorations of tribes, castes, and races.