Bania caste

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Bania (also spelled Baniya, Banija, Banya, Vaniya, Vani, Vania, and Vanya)[1] is a mercantile caste primarily from the Indian states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, with significant diasporic communities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra (particularly Mumbai) and northern states of India.[2][3][4]

Traditionally, the Bania community has been associated with occupations such as trade, banking, and money-lending. In modern times, many members of the community are involved in various business and entrepreneurial ventures.[5][6]

Etymology

The Hindi term baniyā is derived from Sanskrit vaṇija ("trader"), whereas the Marwari bā̃ṇyõ and Gujarati vāṇiyo are derived from Sanskrit vāṇija ("trader").[7] The community is also known by the term "vanik".Template:Sfn

In Bengal the term Bania is a functional catch-all for moneylenders, indigenously developed bankers, readers of grocery items and spices, irrespective of caste.[2] In Maharashtra, the term vani is used for traders/usurers who tended to rather be Kunbis by caste. Europeans used the term banyan loosely to mean "trader", whether regardless if the individual was a member of the Baniya caste or simply a trader who could be a Brahmin, Muslim, or Parsi.Template:Sfn

Society

File:Codice Casanatense Gujarati Merchant.jpg
16th century Portuguese painting of a Baneane merchant man and woman from Cambay.

The community is composed of several sub-castes including the Agarwal, Khandelwal, Maheshwari, Oswal, Porwad and Shrimali Baniyas.[3][8][9][10] Traditionally (dating to at least the 15th century), the Gujarati Baniyas had 84 divisions (as did Gujarati Brahmins), although many were simply formulaic. Subcastes are also divided into Visa and Dasa divisions, which are also centuries old, and prohibit intermarriage.Template:Sfn

The Baniyas as a caste are either Jains or Hindus (mostly Vaishnava of the Vallabha sampradaya), and are native inhabitants of Gujarat and Rajasthan. In Rajasthan in particular, higher status Baniyas preferred to call themselves mahajans. Outside of Rajasthani, those Baniyas were known as "Marwaris" although technically a Marwari could be of any caste. The Gujarati and Rajasthani Baniyas have served as the prototypical Indian merchant, resulting in other non-Baniya mercantile communities sometimes also being called Baniyas. Scholars have noted that Baniyas however have certain cultural traits that distinguish them from other traders, such as nonviolence/pacifism. Lohanas and Bhatias of Saurashtra and Sindh (who are also mercantile and Pushtimarga Vaishnavas) although sometimes called baniyas are sharply distinguished from the Baniya caste due to their martial ethos. Daudi Bohras whose business practicies are nearly identical to Baniyas and who consider Diwali as the start of the financial year are not considered part of the Baniya caste due to their nonvegetarianism, beards, and clothing traditions.Template:Sfn[11][12]

It is hypothesized by historians that the Vaishnav Vaniyas of Gujarat are the descendants of the now-extinct Buddhist merchants who were formerly present in the region.[11]

Banias are composed of caste in the mercantile and business fields, which have delineated the Baniya identity.Template:Sfn The term baniya has historically been applied to various mercantile communities who belong to diverse castes.[11]

File:Banians of Surat, Gogo, and Ahmedabad.jpg
Bania men of Surat, Gogo, and Ahmedabad, Gujarat, British India.
File:KITLV 87170 - William Johnson - Bania women in British India - Before 1860.jpeg
Bania women in British India. Image taken before 1860.

Baniyas are vegetarians, and some groups have greater restrictions on the foods that can be consumed. They also take care not to kill insects when preparing and eating food.[13]

Baniyas were known to be hard working and frugal. Only minimum expenses would be made on clothing, food, and furniture.[13]

During the day, Baniya boys were sent to schools called patshalas where they would learn business skills and habits. They learned how to read and write, as well as in secret merchant scripts that were hidden from non-Baniyas. They also learned ciphers, accounting, and arithmetic. The correctness of mathematical calculations was extremely important to Baniyas, and they learnt various methods and tricks so they could perform advanced mental arithmetic. A mercantile ethos was also instilled in the boys, as they learned the chief aim of life was to acquire wealth and only profitable transactions were worthwhile. After school hours, boys would spend time in the family shop and learn the business. After education was complete boys would try to start their own businesses and if successful, would be allowed to manage the family business.[13]

When Baniyas made transactions, they often had dubious qualities that allowed the accumulation of many small profits. These include short-weighing, adulteration of products, and regular undervaluation of debt repayments. They were also known for being well-spoken and not confrontational. They were very secretive about their business accounts, and would use secret scripts or illegible handwriting. Often two sets of account books were kept, one for showing officials if needed, and one only for family. Business dealings were kept within the family, and in cases of dispute other Baniyas would arbitrate in order to keep business deals secret from non-Baniyas. Their preference for compromises instead of confrontations often led non-Baniyas to think of them as cowardly.[13]

In order to prepare for further business success, Baniyas also had to have high levels of information access. They had messengers, intelligence networks, and postal services in order to make sure that they knew about any important knowledge as early as possible. Such information was often used in speculation in futures exchanges, which in turn sometimes turned into gambling.[13]

File:Baniyas of Delhi.jpg
Baniyas of Delhi

Honour was very important to Baniyas, which they called abru. Their honour was tied to their credit worthiness, which were valued higher than their lives. A bankrupt Baniya was stigmatised, and those who were caught to be dishonest with another Baniya were boycotted, bankrupted, and stigmatised. Honour was also tied to socioreligious conduct, as maintaining marital relations within the community, having a strong patriarch, and adherence to religious principles were all highly valued.[13]

Wealthy Baniyas only spent large sums of money for specific purposes: hosting feasts, buying jewellery (mainly for women), construction of havelis, and the most honourable being donating to religious causes such as temples or religious festivals. Such displays of wealth allowed Baniyas to show their status and high honour.[13]

Baniyas historically are very religious, with the Jain and Hindu Vaishnavs' beliefs, rituals, prayers, and ceremonies being often very similar. Pushtimarg Vaishnavs would perform emotional seva to Krishna, and Jains would be austere and follow the Jain vows. Lakshmi Puja was performed by Baniyas, for Lakshmi to bestow wealth and welfare on the family.[13]

According to Basu, the culture of Gujarati Baniyas is viewed ambivalently by outsiders, stating "on the one hand, it is associated negatively with usury and commercial calculation, and on the other, it carries positive connotations of Jaina and Vaiṣṇava religious traditions that place special emphasis upon values of vegetarianism, nonviolence ( ahiṃsā ), and purity".[11]

They are described as belonging to the Vaishya varna.[14]

Notable people

Template:Main

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rhetoric and Ritual in Colonial India: The Shaping of a Public Culture in Surat City, 1852-1928{{#if:Haynes|, Haynes}. University of California Press(30 October 1991). ISBN 978-0-520-06725-7
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Changing financial landscapes in India and Indonesia: sociological aspects of monetization and market integration{{#if:Schrader|, Schrader}. LIT Verlag Münster(1997). ISBN 978-3-8258-2641-3
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dictionary of American Family Names{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(8 May 2003). ISBN 978-0-19-977169-1
  4. ↑ Other citations for native and diaspora region
    • Commodities, Ports and Asian Maritime Trade Since 1750{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Palgrave Macmillan(13 October 2015). ISBN 9781137463920
    • Genetically Modified Democracy: Transgenic Crops in Contemporary India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Yale University Press(2021). ISBN 9780300262582
    • Development Failure and Identity Politics in Uttar Pradesh{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications(31 March 2014). ISBN 978-93-5150-428-3
    • Home Away from Home: Inland Movement of People in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies(2005). ISBN 9788179750872
  5. ↑ Usury, Dearth and Famine in Western India. Past & Present({Template:Date).
  6. ↑ 'The Omnipresent Bania:' Rural Moneylenders in Nineteenth-Century Sind. Modern Asian Studies({Template:Date).
  7. ↑ A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages{{#if:Turner|, Turner}. Oxford University Press(1962–1985)
  8. ↑ Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Supplement{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Government Central Press(1971)
  9. ↑ The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib{{#if:Kotani|, Kotani}. Anthem Press(2002)
  10. ↑ The Family in India: Critical Essays{{#if:Shah|, Shah}. Orient Longman(1998)
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online{{#if:Tambs-Lyche|, Tambs-Lyche}. Brill
  12. ↑ Multiculturalism, Liberalism, and Democracy{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(1999). ISBN 978-0-19-564824-9
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 Feeding the Baniya: Peasants and Usurers in Western India{{#if:Hardiman|, Hardiman}. Oxford University Press(1996)
  14. ↑ Citations mentioning vaishya caste:
    • The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Columbia University Press(1975). ISBN 9780231038829
    • Kinship Organization in India{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Munshiram Manoharlal(1990). ISBN 9788121505048
    • The Humble Cosmopolitan: Rights, Diversity, and Trans-state Democracy{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2020). ISBN 978-0-19-086950-2
    • Gandhi's Autobiographical Construction of Selfhood: The Story of His Experiments with Truth{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Springer International Publishing(2023). ISBN 9783031227868
    • Census of India, 1961 Volume 19, Issue 6, Part 6{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Office of the Registrar General, India(1964)
  15. ↑ Forging a Region: Sultans, Traders, and Pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200–1500{{#if:Sheikh|, Sheikh}. Oxford University Press(2010). ISBN 978-0-19-908879-9
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Bankrolling Empire: Family Fortunes and Political Transformation in Mughal India{{#if:Sheth|, Sheth}. Cambridge University Press(2024). ISBN 9781009330268
  17. ↑ Towns and Cities of Medieval India{{#if:Ray|, Ray}. Routledge(2017)
  18. ↑ A Business History of India: Enterprise and the Emergence of Capitalism from 1700{{#if:Roy|, Roy}. Cambridge University Press(2018)
  19. ↑ गिरधर-कृत रामायण{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Vāṇī Presa
  20. ↑ Gandhi before India{{#if:Guha|, Guha}. Penguin Books Limited(15 October 2014). ISBN 978-93-5118-322-8
  21. ↑ Gandhi Before India{{#if:Guha|, Guha}. Alfred A. Knopf(2014). ISBN 978-0-385-53229-7
  22. ↑ Three Merchants of Bombay{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin Books Limited(15 January 2016). ISBN 9788184757217
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Ideas in history; proceedings.{{#if:Prasad|, Prasad}. Asia Publishing House(1968). ISBN 9780210268643
  24. ↑ Template:Cite thesis
  25. ↑ Social Change in Gujarat: A Study of Nineteenth Century Gujarati Society{{#if:Desai|, Desai}. Vora & Co.(1978)
  26. ↑ The concise Oxford history of Indian business{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2007). ISBN 978-0-19-568429-2
  27. ↑ Landscapes of Hope: Anti-Colonial Utopianism in America{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2 March 2009). ISBN 978-0-19-971569-5
  28. ↑ A Memoir of Pre-Partition Punjab: Ruchi Ram Sahni, 1863–1948{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(15 February 2018). ISBN 978-0-19-909130-0
  29. ↑ Being Hindu, Being Indian: Lala Lajpat Rai's Ideas of Nationhood{{#if:Bhargar|, Bhargar}. Penguin Books(2024). ISBN 978-93-5708-583-0
  30. ↑ Indian Business and Nationalist Politics 1931-1939: The indigenous capitalist class and the rise of the Congress Party{{#if:Markovits|, Markovits}. Cambridge University Press(1985)
  31. ↑ Changing Financial Landscapes in India and Indonesia{{#if:Schrader|, Schrader}. Lit(1997)
  32. ↑ India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation{{#if:Damodaran|, Damodaran}. Hachette(2018). ISBN 978-93-5195-280-0
  33. ↑ Maithilīśaraṇa Gupta kā kāvya: Saṃskr̥ta srota ke sandarbha meṃ{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Hindī Vibhāga, Kocina Viśvavidyālaya(1984)
  34. ↑ Entrepreneurship and Industry in India, 1800-1947{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(1992). ISBN 978-0-19-562806-7
  35. ↑ Vikram Sarabhai: A Life{{#if:Shah|, Shah}. Penguin Limited
  36. ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
  37. ↑ Template:Cite encyclopedia
  38. ↑ The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India: Thought, Movements and Development{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Taylor & Francis(15 November 2021). ISBN 978-1-000-46280-7
  39. ↑ Merchants of the Raj: British Managing Agency Houses in Calcutta Yesterday and Today{{#if:Jones|, Jones}. Macmillan Press(1992)
  40. ↑ The Changing Face of Corruption in the Asia Pacific: Current Perspectives and Future Challenges{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Elsevier(3 May 2017). ISBN 978-0-08-101230-7
  41. ↑ Vision for a Nation: Paths and Perspectives{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Penguin Random House India Private Limited(18 December 2019). ISBN 978-93-5305-722-0
  42. ↑ West Bengal polls: BJP manifesto promises women safety, jobs, free transport, health care. The Economic Times(22 March 2021). Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  43. ↑ Kejriwal makes common cause with traders: I'm Baniya too. The Indian Express(29 March 2014). Retrieved 15 June 2023.
  44. ↑ Template:Cite magazine

References

Further reading

  • 'The Omnipresent Bania:' Rural Moneylenders in Nineteenth-Century Sind. Modern Asian Studies({Template:Year).
  • The British and the Moneylender in Nineteenth-Century India. The Journal of Modern History({Template:Date).
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