In the eastern hills of Uttarakhand, amid forested ridges, high peaks, and shining mountain lakes, live the Kumaoni people, a Himalayan community whose homeland lies between the plains and the

High in the trans-Himalaya and the Karakoram, in a cold desert of towering peaks and deep river valleys, live the Ladakhi people, heirs to a Tibetan Buddhist civilisation in the

In the forested valleys of Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills, beneath the sacred snows of Kangchenjunga, live the Lepcha, the indigenous people of the eastern Himalaya. Calling themselves Mutanchi Rong

In the fertile plains of northern Bihar and the eastern Terai of Nepal lives the Maithil people, heirs to the ancient kingdom of Mithila. Speakers of the Maithili language, famed

Rising sheer from the plains of central India, a long flat-topped hill of yellow sandstone lifts the great fort of Gwalior high above the city that shares its name. Along

From the sand dunes and fortified towns of the Thar desert in western Rajasthan come the Marwari people, one of India’s most famous mercantile communities. Rooted in the arid land

In the far southeast of India, on steep and forested ridges between Bangladesh and Myanmar, live the Mizo people, the highlanders of Mizoram. A community of Tibeto-Burman origin, unified from

On the forested plateau of Chota Nagpur in eastern India live the Munda, one of the great tribal communities of the subcontinent and among its most ancient peoples. Speakers of

On the tropical islands of the Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal live the Nicobarese, the principal indigenous people of the islands. Unlike the ancient hunter-gatherers of the neighbouring

On the forested plateau of Chota Nagpur in eastern India live the Oraon, who call themselves Kurukh, one of the great tribal communities of the subcontinent. Speakers of a Dravidian