From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This is a list of famous and notable people from India. This would include persons who are known to a large number of people and is not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief, what matters is that they were well-known during the peak of their popularity. For important Native Americans, formerly also known as Indians, see List of Native Americans
Arts
Business and Industry
Literature
See also: Indian writing in English
- Mulk Raj Anand
- Arundhati Roy - Booker Prize for God of Small Things
- Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Hindi poet
- Kalidasa, playwrite, creator of Shakuntalam
- Khushwant Singh, novelist
- Mahadevi Verma, poetess
- Mirza Ghalib, Urdu poet
- Munshi Premchand, Hindi novelist
- Rabindranath Tagore - Nobel Prize in Literature, composer of Indian national anthem
- R.K. Narayan, English short-story writer
- Salman Rushdie - Booker Prize for ''Midnight's Children
- Vikram Seth, English novelist, poet
- V.S. Naipaul - Nobel Prize 2001 (of Indian descent, never an Indian citizen)
Mass Media
- Aniruddha Bahal, writer and Tehelka journalist
- Deepak Chaurasia, consulting editor and anchor, Doordarshan News
- M J Akbar, chief editor, Asian Age
- Prannoy Roy, president, NDTV
- Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, research coordinator, Doordarshan
- Sanjay Pugalia, director, STAR News
- Veer Sanghvi, editor, Hindustan Times
Movies
See also: Dadasaheb Phalke Award winners
Directors
Actors
A-K
M-R
S-V
Actresses
A-K
M-R
S-Z
Music
Royalty
Politics
See also: President of India
- Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister
- Indira Gandhi
- Jawaharlal Nehru
- Mahatma Gandhi
- Mulayam Singh Yadav, chief minister, Uttar Pradesh
- P. V. Narasimha Rao
- Rajiv Gandhi
- Lal Krishna Advani
- Bal Thackeray
- Chakravarti Rajagopalachari
Sciences
- Aryabhatta
- Bhaskaracharya
- Sir C.V.Raman
- Hargobind Khorana
- Homi Jehangir Bhabha
- Raja Ramanna
- Srinivasa Ramanujan
- Satyendra Nath Bose
- Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
- Vikram Sarabhai
- A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
- Birbal Sahni
- Acharya P.C. Roy
- S. Bhagvantam
- Sir Jagdish Chandra Bose
- P.K. Sent
- Jagjit Singh
- Meghnad Saha
- E.C. George Sudarshan
- J.J. Rawal
- Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
- Jayant Narlikar
- Harish Chandra
- Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan
Religion
- Adi Sankara
- Mata Amritanandamayi
- Sri Aurobindo
- Gautama Buddha
- Guru Nanak
- Jiddu Krishnamurti
- Lord Mahavir
- Osho Shree Rajneesh
- Ramakrishna Paramhansa
- Sai Baba of Shirdi
- Sathya Sai Baba
- Samartha Ramdas Swami
- Sant Tukaram
- Sant Namdeo
- Swami Vivekananda
Sports
- Anil Kumble, Cricket
- Baichung Bhutia, Football
- Dhanraj Pillay, Hockey
- Dhyan Chand, Hockey
- Kapil Dev, Cricket
- Karnam Malleswari, Weight-lifting
- Leander Paes, Tennis
- Mahesh Bhupathi, Tennis
- Milkha Singh, Athelete
- Mohammed Azharuddin, Cricket
- Pargat Singh, Hockey
- Prakash Padukone, Badminton
- P. T. Usha, Athlete, Asian Games medallist
- Sachin Tendulkar,Cricket
- Sania Mirza, Junior Wimbledon Girls champion
- Sunil Gavaskar, Cricket
- Viswanathan Anand, Chess
Others
- Basava Premanand, Skeptic and debunker of gurus
- Amartya Sen, Economist
- Rakesh Sharma, first Indian astronaut
- Kalpana Chawla, first Indian woman astronaut (Born Indian, later American citizen)
