Bania (caste) explained

Bania (also spelled Baniya, Banija, Banya, Vaniya, Vani, Vania and Vanya)^[1] is a mercantile caste mainly from the Indian states of Gujarat and Rajasthan, with strong diasporic communities in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra (mainly Mumbai) and other northern states.^[2] Traditionally, the main occupations of the community are merchants, bankers, money-lenders, and (in modern times) owners of commercial enterprises.^{[3] [4]}

Etymology

The Hindi term baniyā is derived from Sanskrit vaṇija ("trader"), whereas the Marwari bā̃ṇyõ and Gujarati vāṇiyo are derived from Sanskrit vāṇija ("trader").^[5] The community is also known by the term "vanik".

In Bengal the term Bania is a functional catch-all for moneylenders, indigenously developed bankers, readers of grocery items and spices, irrespective of caste.^[6]

Society

The community is composed of several sub-castes including the Agarwal, Khandelwal, Maheshwari, Oswal, Porwad and Shrimali Baniyas, among others.^{[7] [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.

Banias as a caste are either Jains or Hindus, and other mercantile groups while having some overlap in business and cultural practices were sharply dilineated from Baniya identity. However, the term baniya has historically been applied to other mercantile communities who belong to other religions or castes. Most or all Hindu Banias are Vaishnavas and are followers of Vallabhacharya's Pushtimarg since the 16th century.^{[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.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.

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.

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 a debt repayments. They were also known for being well spoken when speaking to others, but were not confrontatious. 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.

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.

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.

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.

Baniyas were very religious, with the Jain and 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, as it Lakshmi would be considered to bestow wealth and welfare on the family.

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".

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

Notable people

• Thakkar Pheru (early 14th century), treasurer, mint director, and numismatics author in the court of Alauddin Khalji^[15]
• Jhaveri family
  • Shantidas Jhaveri (1584–1659), Indian jeweller, bullion trader, and moneylender^[16]
  • Khushalchand Jhaveri (1680–1748), Indian jeweller and financier^[17]
  • Lalbhai Dalpatbhai (1863-1912), Gujarati industrialist
• Jagat Seth family, merchant, banker and money lender family in Bengal^[18]
• Girdhar (1787–1852), Gujarati poet^[19]
• Gandhi family^[20]
  • Karamchand Gandhi (1822-1885)
  • Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948), Indian independence activist.
  • Kasturba Gandhi (1869-1944)^[21]
• Premchand Roychand (1832–1906), 19th century Indian businessman and founder of Bombay Stock Exchange.^[22]
• Karsandas Mulji (1832-1871), Gujarati writer and social reformer^[23]
• Mangaldas Nathubhai (1832-1890), Gujarati merchant in Bombay^[24]
• Hargovinddas Kantawala (1844-1930), Gujarati writer
• Birla family, a prominent Business and Industrialist family.^[25]
• Lala Lajpat Rai (1865-1912), Indian independence activist.^{[26] [27]}
• Krishnalal Jhaveri (1868-1957), Indian scholar and judge
• Seth Hukumchand (1874-1959), Indian industrialist^[28]
• Walchand Hirachand (1882-1953), Indian industrialist and founder of Walchand group^{[29] [30]}
• Maithili Sharan Gupt (1886-1964), Hindi poet.^[31]
• Sarabhai family, a prominent Business family.^[32]
  • Anasuya Sarabhai (1885-1972)^[33]
  • Ambalal Sarabhai (1890-1967)
  • Vikram Sarabhai (1919-1971), Indian scientist and founder of ISRO.^[34]
• Ram Manohar Lohia (1910-1967), Indian independence activist.^[35]
• Dalmia and Sahu Jain families, industrialist families^[36]
• Dhirubhai Ambani (1932-2002), 20th century Indian businessman.^[37]
• Amit Shah (1964-present), Indian politician.^{[38] [39]}
• Arvind Kejriwal (1968-present), Indian politician and current Chief Minister of Delhi.^[40]
• Brij Behari Prasad, former Science and Technology minister in Lalu Prasad Yadav's cabinet.^[41]

See also

• Vaishya

Further reading

• 'The Omnipresent Bania:' Rural Moneylenders in Nineteenth-Century Sind . David . Cheesman . Modern Asian Studies . 16 . 3 . 1982 . 445–462 . 10.1017/S0026749X00015262 . 312116. 145722413 . 0026-749X .
• The British and the Moneylender in Nineteenth-Century India . Thomas R. . Metcalf . Thomas R. Metcalf . The Journal of Modern History . 34 . 4 . December 1962 . 390–397 . 10.1086/239182 . 1880056. 145246030 .

Notes and References

1. Book: Haynes, Douglas E. . Rhetoric and Ritual in Colonial India: The Shaping of a Public Culture in Surat City, 1852-1928 . 30 October 1991 . University of California Press . 978-0-520-06725-7 . en.
2. Other citations for native and diaspora region
   • Book: Anthony Webster . Commodities, Ports and Asian Maritime Trade Since 1750 . Ulbe Bosma . Jaime de Melo . 13 October 2015 . Palgrave Macmillan . 9781137463920 . 161 . By the late eighteenth century, a large number of Bania and Parsi merchants had relocated to Bombay..
   • Book: Genetically Modified Democracy: Transgenic Crops in Contemporary India. 187. Yale University Press. 2021. Aniketh Aga. 9780300262582.
   • Book: Jeffery . Roger . Jeffrey . Craig . Lerche . Jens . Development Failure and Identity Politics in Uttar Pradesh . 31 March 2014 . . 978-93-5150-428-3 . 74.
   • Book: Home Away from Home: Inland Movement of People in India. Mahavir Singh. 2005. 61. John Malcolm, a British traveller, wrote in 1829, 'almost every businessman in Madhya Pradesh is a Baniya. Most of them are Marwaris from Rajasthan and some from Gujarat'. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies. 9788179750872.
3. Hardiman . David . 1996b . Usury, Dearth and Famine in Western India . Past & Present . 152 . 113–156 . 10.1093/past/152.1.113 . 651058 . 0031-2746.
4. Cheesman . David . 1982 . 'The Omnipresent Bania:' Rural Moneylenders in Nineteenth-Century Sind . Modern Asian Studies . 16 . 3 . 445–462 . 10.1017/S0026749X00015262 . 312116 . 145722413 . 0026-749X.
5. Book: Turner, Ralph Lilley . A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages . Oxford University Press . 1962–1985 . 655, 670.
6. Book: Schrader, Heiko. Changing financial landscapes in India and Indonesia: sociological aspects of monetization and market integration. LIT Verlag Münster. 1997. 978-3-8258-2641-3. 68.
7. Book: Hanks . Patrick . Dictionary of American Family Names . 8 May 2003 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-977169-1 . xcvi, 103 . The Banias of northern India are really a cluster of several communities, of which the Agarwal Banias, Oswal Banias, and Porwal Banias are mentioned separately in connection with certain surnames.
8. Book: Pradesh (India) . Madhya . Krishnan . V. S. . Madhya Pradesh District Gazetteers: Supplement . 1971 . Government Central Press . 142 .
9. Book: Kotani, Hiroyuki . The Making of History: Essays Presented to Irfan Habib . Anthem Press . 2002 . Panikkar . K.N. . 196 . Rural and Urban Caste Structure in Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century India: The Deccan and Gujarat . Byres . Terence J. . Patnaik . Utsa.
10. Book: Shah, A.M. . The Family in India: Critical Essays . Orient Longman . 1998 . 136 . For example, just as there were Modh Vanias, there were Modh Brahmins, and similarly Khadayata Vanias and Khadayata Brahmins, Shrimali Vanias and Shrimali Brahmins, Nagar Vanias and Nagar Brahmins, and so on..
11. Book: Multiculturalism, Liberalism, and Democracy. 228. Rajeev Bhargava. Amiya Kumar Bagchi. R. Sudarshan. Oxford University Press. 1999. 978-0-19-564824-9 . Most of the Hindu banias of Gujarat in the nineteenth century were followers of Vallabhcharya of the Vaishnava sect; the rest were Jains or Shravaks..
12. Book: Tambs-Lyche, Harold . Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online . Brill . Jacobsen . Knut A. . Trade and Merchants . Basu . Helene . Malinar . Angelika . Narayanan . Vasudha.
13. Book: Hardiman, David . Feeding the Baniya: Peasants and Usurers in Western India . Oxford University Press . 1996 . 62–92.
14. Citations mentioning vaishya caste:
    • Book: Lawrence A. Babb . The Divine Hierarchy: Popular Hinduism in Central India . Columbia University Press . 1975 . 9780231038829 . 15 . The term Bania is used generally for mercantile castes in North and Central India, and these castes are accorded Vaishya status in the varna system..
    • Book: Irawati Karve . Kinship Organization in India . Munshiram Manoharlal . 1990 . 9788121505048 . 7 . Vaishya generally go by various names : Vaishya, Bania, Vani, Sethi and Shetti..
    • Book: Luis Cabrera . The Humble Cosmopolitan: Rights, Diversity, and Trans-state Democracy . Oxford University Press . 2020 . 978-0-19-086950-2 . 27 . Baniya, also written as bania, is a merchant caste or community within the Vaishya occupational varna..
    • Book: Clara Neary . Gandhi's Autobiographical Construction of Selfhood: The Story of His Experiments with Truth . Springer International Publishing . 2023 . 9783031227868 . 87 . The Bania is a sub-caste (or jati) of the Vaishya caste (or varna). Vaishyas are tradition-ally the merchant class and are placed third in the hierarchical ordering of the four varnas of traditional Hinduism..
    • Book: Census of India, 1961 Volume 19, Issue 6, Part 6 . Office of the Registrar General, India . 1964 . 9 . Baniya The Baniyas who belong to Vaishya Varna carry on trade in the village . They also do money - lending business . In fact it is the only community in the village which is following its traditional occupation..
15. Book: Sheikh, Samira . Forging a Region: Sultans, Traders, and Pilgrims in Gujarat, 1200–1500 . Oxford University Press . 2010.
16. Book: Sheth, Sudev . Bankrolling Empire: Family Fortunes and Political Transformation in Mughal India . Cambridge University Press . 2024 . 9781009330268 . 6, 296.
17. Book: Sheth, Sudev . Bankrolling Empire: Family Fortunes and Political Transformation in Mughal India . Cambridge University Press . 2024 . 6.
18. Book: Ray, Aniruddha . Towns and Cities of Medieval India . Routledge . 2017 . 508.
19. Book: Sāṭhe . Gajānana Narasiṁha . गिरधर-कृत रामायण . Bhaṭṭa . Dīneśa Harilāla . Vāṇī Presa . 17–18 . hi . hi:Giradhara-Kr̥ta Rāmāyaṇa.
20. Book: Guha, Ramachandra . Gandhi before India . 15 October 2014 . Penguin Books Limited . 978-93-5118-322-8 . 42 . en . The subcaste the Gandhis belonged to was known as Modh Bania, the prefix apparently referring to the town of Modhera, in Southern Gujarat.
21. Book: Gandhi, Arun and Sunanda . The Forgotten Woman . Zark Mountain Publishers . 1998 . 1-886940-02-9 . Huntsville, AR . 314.
22. Book: Subramanian . Lakshmi . Three Merchants of Bombay . 15 January 2016 . Penguin Books Limited . 9788184757217.
23. Book: Prasad, Bibeshwar . Ideas in history; proceedings. . Asia Publishing House . 1968 . 124. 9780210268643 .
24. Book: Desai, Neera . Social Change in Gujarat: A Study of Nineteenth Century Gujarati Society . Vora & Co. . 1978 . 442.
25. Book: The concise Oxford history of Indian business. Dwijendra Tripathi. Jyoti Jumani. 2007. 88. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-568429-2 . One of them was Ghanshyamdas Birla, whose family symbolized more than any other Marwari, the transition of the community from trade to industry . Maheshwari Bania by caste, the Birlas originated from Pilani in the Shekhavati region of Rajasthan, which had been the original homeland of Marwari migrants..
26. Book: Ahmad . Dohra . Landscapes of Hope: Anti-Colonial Utopianism in America . 2 March 2009 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-971569-5 . 221 . en.
27. Book: Burra . Neera . A Memoir of Pre-Partition Punjab: Ruchi Ram Sahni, 1863–1948 . 15 February 2018 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-909130-0 . en.
28. Book: Markovits, Claude . Indian Business and Nationalist Politics 1931-1939: The indigenous capitalist class and the rise of the Congress Party . Cambridge University Press . 1985 . 32.
29. Book: Schrader, Heiko . Changing Financial Landscapes in India and Indonesia . Lit . 1997 . 130.
30. Book: Damodaran, Harish . India's New Capitalists: Caste, Business, and Industry in a Modern Nation . Hachette . 2018. 978-93-5195-280-0 .
31. Book: Sunītā . Ela . Maithilīśaraṇa Gupta kā kāvya: Saṃskr̥ta srota ke sandarbha meṃ . 1984 . Hindī Vibhāga, Kocina Viśvavidyālaya . 20 . hi.
32. Book: Entrepreneurship and Industry in India, 1800-1947. 44. 1992. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-562806-7 . The Sarabhais and the Lalbhais, the town's two most prominent entrepreneurial families, were Jain Banias prominent as shroffs..
33. Book: Kochanek, Stanley A. . Business and Politics in India . University of California Press . 1974 . 346.
34. Book: Shah, Amrita . Amrita Shah - Vikram Sarabhai - A Life . Penguin . 2007 . 9780670999514 . 97 . en.
35. Book: Somanaboina . Simhadri . Ramagoud . Akhileshwari . The Routledge Handbook of the Other Backward Classes in India: Thought, Movements and Development . 15 November 2021 . Taylor & Francis . 978-1-000-46280-7 . en.
36. Book: Jones, Stephanie . Merchants of the Raj: British Managing Agency Houses in Calcutta Yesterday and Today . Macmillan Press . 1992 . 411.
37. Book: Rowley . Chris . Rama . Marie dela . The Changing Face of Corruption in the Asia Pacific: Current Perspectives and Future Challenges . 3 May 2017 . Elsevier . 978-0-08-101230-7 . 210 . en.
38. Book: Rathore . Aakash Singh . Vision for a Nation: Paths and Perspectives . Nandy . Ashis . 18 December 2019 . Penguin Random House India Private Limited . 978-93-5305-722-0 . en.
39. News: Venugopal . Vasudha . Nag . Jayatri . 22 March 2021 . West Bengal polls: BJP manifesto promises women safety, jobs, free transport, health care . The Economic Times . 23 July 2023 . 0013-0389.
40. News: Kejriwal makes common cause with traders: I'm Baniya too . 15 June 2023 . The Indian Express . 29 March 2014 . I come from a Baniya family. Most of my relatives are businessmen. I know that it is not easy to do business in this country..
41. Gupta . Smita . PTI . 15 October 2007 . Pinned Lynch . Outlook . 27 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150924132556/https://www.outlookindia.com/article/pinned-lynch/235751 . 24 September 2015.