100 articles
List of Scheduled Castes in West Bengal
List of Scheduled Castes in West Bengal: the 60-entry state SC list under the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, Part XIX, from Bagdi, Duley to Chain, administered by the Backward Classes Welfare Department with certification under the 1994 Identification Act.
List of Telugu castes
List of Telugu castes: official caste lists of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, covering 59 Scheduled Castes, BC groups A-E, dominant castes like Kamma and Reddy, and 2024 caste survey figures.
Mahar
Mahar (महार), a Dalit untouchable caste-cluster of Maharashtra and the Deccan, known for military service at Koregaon (1818), exclusion after 1892, leadership by B. R. Ambedkar, the 1927 Mahad satyagraha, and mass conversion to Buddhism in 1956.
Mandal Commission
The Mandal Commission, formally the Second Backward Classes Commission, was set up on 1 January 1979 under Article 340, chaired by B.P. Mandal. Its 1980 report identified 3,743 OBC castes (52% of population) and recommended 27% reservation in central government jobs, implemented in 1990 and upheld in Indra Sawhney (1992).
Maratha (caste)
Maratha (caste): dominant caste cluster of Maharashtra formed from Kunbi, Lohar, Sutar, Bhandari, Thakar, and Dhangar families via Deccan military service from the 14th century; linked to Shivaji's empire and Maharashtra's reservation politics.
Mathurmohan Biswas (মথুর মোহন বিশ্বাস)
Mathurmohan Biswas (মথুর মোহন বিশ্বাস), also Mathur Nath Biswas or Mathur Babu (1817–1871), Bengali zamindar, son-in-law of Rani Rashmoni, manager of Dakshineswar Kali Temple, patron of Sri Ramakrishna; died July 1871 leaving widow Jagadamba.
Mudaliar (முதலியார்)
Mudaliar (முதலியார்), also Mudaliyar or Moodley, is a Tamil title meaning person of first rank, borne chiefly by Thondaimandalam Vellalar families and other Tamil castes, not a single caste name.
Mukkulathor (முக்குலத்தோர்)
Mukkulathor (Thevar), a consolidated caste formation of the Kallar, Maravar, and Agamudayar communities of central and southern Tamil Nadu, India; OBC-classified, unified by Muthuramalinga Thevar, and politically influential.
Nadar (caste)
Nadars, formerly called Shanar or Channar, are a Tamil-speaking caste of southern Tamil Nadu and southern Kerala, traditionally toddy tappers, now a prominent OBC business community with the Nadar Mahajana Sangam (1910) as its apex association.
Nagarathar (நகரத்தார்)
Nagarathar (Nattukottai Chettiar, Nakarattar), Tamil merchant-banking caste of Chettinad, Tamil Nadu; ran a hundi-based banking system across Burma, Ceylon, and Malaya, 1870–1930, with clan temples and Chettinad mansions on the UNESCO tentative list.
Nair
Nair (Nayar), a large matrilineal caste cluster of Kerala, historically martial landholders (jenmis) below the Namboodiri Brahmins, known for marumakkathayam taravads, sambandham unions, and the 1925 Travancore Nair Regulation ending taravad partition rules.
Nobility
Nobility: a hereditary legal status above commoners, distinct from aristocracy (the leading noble families). Covers origins, European consolidation 1300–1750, ministeriales, Chinese aristocracy's fall, and modern peerages.
Other Backward Class
Other Backward Classes (OBCs), or Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBCs), are Indian caste communities listed by the Central Government for 27 percent reservation in central government jobs and educational institutions, subject to creamy layer exclusion, overseen by the constitutional NCBC.
Paraiyar (பறையர்)
Paraiyar, also known as Parayar or பறையர், are a Tamil caste of southern India and northern Sri Lanka, historically treated as untouchable; "pariah" derives from their name.
Patel
Patel is a Gujarati surname from the title for village headman (Sanskrit pattakila), carried above all by the Patidar landowning caste of Charotar, Gujarat, formerly called Kanbi, and by many other groups worldwide.
Patidar (પટેલ)
Patidar (પટેલ), formerly Kanbi, is a dominant land-owning agrarian caste of Gujarat with Leuva and Kadva sub-castes, about 15% of the state's population, prominent in trade, the diamond business, BJP politics, and the 2015 OBC reservation agitation led by Hardik Patel.
Periyar
Periyar, born Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, was an Indian social reformer and rationalist from Tamil Nadu who founded the Self-Respect Movement in 1925 and led the Dravidar Kazhagam.
Prabodhankar Thackeray (केशव सीताराम ठाकरे)
Prabodhankar Thackeray (Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, 1885-1973), Marathi social reformer, journalist, and Samyukta Maharashtra leader; father of Bal Thackeray, founded Prabodhan magazine, coined Shiv Sena's name.
Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen
Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen (Ragnhild Alexandra, 1930–2012), eldest child of King Olav V of Norway, sister of Harald V; married Erling Lorentzen 1953, lost Royal Highness style, lived in Rio de Janeiro from 1953.
Rajput
Rajput, member of a Hindu warrior-ruling caste of northern, western, and central India organized in patrilineal clans; rose 7th–12th centuries, allied with the Mughals under Akbar, and ruled Rajputana princely states into the modern era.
Reddy (రెడ్డి)
Reddy (రెడ్డి), also spelled Reddi, is a Telugu-speaking dominant landowning caste of southern India, historically village headmen and medieval chiefs under the Kakatiyas; distinct from the tribal Reddis of the Eastern Ghats.
Reservation in India
Reservation in India, or the quota system for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and EWS, sets aside legislative seats, government posts, and educational places, capped at 50 percent for caste quotas under Indra Sawhney with a separate 10 percent EWS quota.
Reservation policy in Tamil Nadu
Reservation policy in Tamil Nadu is a system of caste-based quotas in education and public services, reserving 69 percent of seats and posts for specific communities since 1990.
Russian nobility
Russian nobility (dvoryanstvo, дворянство), the privileged legal estate of the Russian Empire; open to commoners via Peter I's Table of Ranks (1722); serf-owning until the 1861 emancipation; abolished with the Empire after 1917.
Saini
Saini (सैनी/ਸੈਣੀ), a northern Indian community of Punjab and adjoining regions claiming Yaduvanshi Rajput (Shoorsaini/Surasena of Mathura) descent; OBC-listed in Haryana, Delhi, and Rajasthan; distinct from Mali-Saini groups elsewhere; Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini is a prominent member.
Scheduled castes in Karnataka
Scheduled castes in Karnataka are 101 communities listed in the 1950 Constitution, representing 17.15 percent of the population, and hold 18 percent of Gram Panchayat positions.
Scheduled castes in Punjab
Scheduled castes in Punjab: 37 constitutionally listed Dalit communities, India's highest SC population share (31.9% in 2011), including Ad-Dharmis, Mazhabhis, Valmikis and Ravidasis, with Punjab-specific sub-categorised reservation and cultural assertion through deras.
Shudra
Shudra (शूद्र): fourth varna of the classical Hindu fourfold order, associated with labour and service. Covers Vedic origins, textual disabilities, regional variation where Shudras could be kings, and modern anti-caste politics.
Suraj Yengde
Suraj Milind Yengde, Indian Dalit scholar from Nanded, Maharashtra, author of Caste Matters (2019) and Caste: A Global Story (2025), co-editor of The Radical in Ambedkar, Harvard Kennedy School and University of Pennsylvania academic.
Tamil Brahmin
Tamil Brahmins, also called Tamil Brahmans, are the Brahmin community of Tamil Nadu, India. Historically the apex caste with colonial-era educational dominance, they became an urban middle-class caste prominent in IT, medicine, and law amid anti-Brahmin Dravidian politics.