BANIA

also spelled Baniya, (from Sanskrit vanijya, trade), Indian caste consisting generally of moneylenders or merchants, found chiefly in northern and western India; strictly speaking, however, many mercantile communities are not Banias, and, conversely, some Banias are not merchants. In the fourfold division of Indian society, the innumerable Bania subcastes, such as the Agarwala (q.v.), are classed as members of the Vaisya, or commoner, class. In religious affiliation they are generally Vaisnavas (worshippers of the Hindu god Vishnu) or Jainas and tend to be strict vegetarians, teetotallers, and orthodox in observing ceremonial purity. The Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi belonged to a Gujarati Bania caste.