Of Thieves and Theris, Potters and Pativratas celebrates Kumkum Roy s contributions as a scholar and teacher of history. Best known for her research on the history of early India, Kumkum Roy has worked on sources as diverse as the Vedic corpus, the Therigatha, the Rajatarangini and the Mahabharata. A crucial feature of her scholarship has been her emphasis on the significance of gender in the reconstruction of India s pasts. She has enriched our understanding of social history through essays and edited volumes examining institutions and processes, including monarchy, urbanism, caste, the household and renunciatory traditions. While her primary source materials have been Sanskrit and Pali texts, she has also integrated insights from epigraphy and archaeology into her work. Her contribution as a teacher has been immense, and in recent years her pedagogical engagements have expanded to include writing textbooks for the Delhi State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) and the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), as well as interventions on the teaching of history at the school level. The essays in this volume in honour of Kumkum Roy draw attention to various aspects of early Indian social history.