Shakya (Sanskrit: Śākya, Devanagari: शाक्य, Pāli: Sākya) was an ancient tribe (janapada) of the Indian Subcontinent in the 1st millennium BCE. In Buddhist texts the Shakyas, the inhabitants of Shakya janapada, are mentioned as a Kshatriya clan of Gotama gotra.

The most famous Shakya was Gautama Buddha, a member of the ruling Gautama clan of Lumbini, who is also known as Shakyamuni Buddha, "sage of the Shakyas", due to his association with this ancient (Kirat) kingdom.

The Puranas mention Shakya as a king of Ikshvaku dynasty, son of Sanjaya and father of Shuddhodana.

The Hindu Puranas mention Shakya as a king of Ikshvaku dynasty, son of Sanjaya and father of Shuddhodana.

The Shakyas are mentioned in the Buddhist texts, which include the Mahāvastu (ca. late 2nd century BCE), Mahāvaṃsa and Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, mostly in the accounts of the birth of the Buddha, as a part of the Adichchabandhus (kinsmen of the sun) or the Ādichchas (solar race) and as descendants of the legendary king Ikṣvāku (Pāli: Okkāka):

Ani Choying Drolma (born June 4, 1971, in Kathmandu, Nepal), also known as Choying Drolma and Ani Choying (Ani, "nun", is an honorific), is a Buddhist nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa nunnery in Nepal. She is known in Nepal and throughout the world for bringing many Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences.

Ani Choying was born in 1971 in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Tibetan exiles. She entered monastic life as a means of escape from her physically abusive father, and she was accepted into the Nagi Gompa nunnery at the age of 13. For a number of years, the monastery's resident chant master (who was trained directly by the wife of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche) taught Ani Choying the music that she is famous for performing.

In 1994, guitarist Steve Tibbetts visited the nunnery and eventually recorded much of the Tibetan music with Ani Choying on two albums. The recordings, titled Chö and Selwa, were released to critical acclaim. Tibbetts and Ani Choying embarked on small performance tours, which included shows at several historical Tibetan monasteries.

Pawan Kumar Bansal (born 16 July 1948) is a member of the 15th Lok Sabha of India. He is currently the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. He was also Minister of State, Ministry of Finance (Expenditure, Banking & Insurance) and Minister of state for Parliamentary Affairs in the First Manmohan Singh Cabinet. He is also the Union Cabinet Minister of Water Resources in the current cabinet.

He represents the Chandigarh constituency and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party.He studied in Government College, Sector 11, Chandigarh.