The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of India, Volume 2

25. The Bania as a landlord.

As landlords the Banias were not at first a success. They did not care to spend money in improving their property, and ground their tenants to the utmost. Sir R. Craddock remarks of them:¹³⁴ “Great or small they are absolutely unfitted by their natural instincts to be landlords. Shrewdest of traders, most business-like in the matter of bargains, they are unable to take a broad view of the duties of landlord or to see that rack-renting will not pay in the long run.”

Still, under the influence of education, and the growth of moral feeling, as well as the desire to stand well with Government officers and to obtain recognition in the shape of some honour, many of the Mārwāri proprietors are developing into just and progressive landlords. But from the cultivator’s point of view, residence on their estates, which are managed by agents in charge of a number of villages for an absent owner, cannot compare with the system of the small cultivating proprietor resident among tenants of his own caste, and bound to them by ties of sympathy and caste feeling, which produces, as described by Sir R. Craddock, the ideal village.

26. Commercial honesty.

As a trader the Bania formerly had a high standard of commercial probity. Even though he might show little kindliness or honesty in dealing with the poorer class of borrowers, he was respected and absolutely reliable in regard to money. It was not unusual for people to place their money in a rich Bania’s hands without interest, even paying him a small sum for safe-keeping. Bankruptcy was considered disgraceful, and was visited with social penalties little less severe than those enforced for breaches of caste rules. There was a firm belief that a merchant’s condition in the next world depended on the discharge of all claims against him. And the duty of paying ancestral debts was evaded only in the case of helpless or hopeless poverty. Of late, partly owing to the waning power of caste and religious feeling in the matter, and partly to the knowledge of the bankruptcy laws, the standard of commercial honour has greatly fallen. Since the case of bankruptcy is governed and arranged for by law, the trader thinks that so long as he can keep within the law he has done nothing wrong. A banker, when heavily involved, seldom scruples to become a bankrupt and to keep back money enough to enable him to start afresh, even if he does nothing worse. This, however, is probably a transitory phase, and the same thing has happened in England and America at one stage of commercial development. In time it may be expected that the loss of the old religious and caste feeling will be made good by a new standard of commercial honour enforced by public opinion among merchants generally. The Banias are very good to their own caste, and when a man is ruined will have a general subscription and provide funds to enable him to start afresh in a small way. Beggars are very rare in the caste. Rich Mārwāris are extremely generous in their subscriptions to objects of public utility, but it is said that the small Bania is not very charitably inclined, though he doles out handfuls of grain to beggars with fair liberality. But he has a system by which he exacts from those who deal with him a slight percentage on the price received by them for religious purposes. This is called Deodān or a gift to God, and is supposed to go into some public fund for the construction or maintenance of a temple or similar object. In the absence of proper supervision or audit it is to be feared that the Bania inclines to make use of it for his private charity, thus saving himself expense on that score. The system has been investigated by Mr. Napier, Commissioner of Jubbulpore, with a view to the application of these funds to public improvements.

Bania, Agarwāla

Bania, Agarwāla, Agarwāl.—This is generally considered to be the highest and most important subdivision of the Banias. They numbered about 25,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, being principally found in Jubbulpore and Nāgpur. The name is probably derived from Agroha, a small town in the Hissār District of the Punjab, which was formerly of some commercial importance. Buchanan records that when any firm failed in the city each of the others contributed a brick and five rupees, which formed a stock sufficient for the merchant to recommence trade with advantage. The Agarwālas trace their descent from a Rāja Agar Sen, whose seventeen sons married the seventeen daughters of Bāsuki, the king of the Nāgas or snakes. Elliot considers that the snakes were really the Scythian or barbarian immigrants, the Yueh-chi or Kushāns, from whom several of the Rājpāt clans as the Tāk, Haihāyas and others, who also have the legend of snake ancestry, were probably derived. Elliot also remarks that Rāja Agar Sen, being a king, must have been a Kshatriya, and thus according to the legend the Agarwālas would have Rājpūt ancestry on both sides. Their appearance, Mr. Crooke states, indicates good race and breeding, and would lend colour to the theory of a Rājpūt origin. Rāja Agar Sen is said to have ruled over both Agra and Agroha, and it seems possible that the name of the Agarwālas may also be connected with Agra, which is a much more important place than Agroha. The country round Agra and Delhi is their home, and the shrine of the tutelary goddess of some of the Agarwālas in the Central Provinces is near Delhi. The memory of the Nāga princess who was their ancestor is still, Sir H. Risley states, held in honour by the Agarwālas, and they say, ‘Our mother’s house is of the race of the snake.’¹³⁵ No Agarwāla, whether Hindu or Jain, will kill or molest a snake, and the Vaishnava Agarwālas of Delhi paint pictures of snakes on either side of the outside doors of their houses, and make offerings of fruit and flowers before them.

In the Central Provinces, like other Bania subcastes, they are divided into the Bīsa and Dasa or twenty and ten subdivisions, which marry among themselves. The Bīsa rank higher than the Dasa, the latter being considered to have some flaw in their pedigree, such as descent from a remarried widow. The Dasas are sometimes said to be the descendants of the maidservants who accompanied the seventeen Nāga or snake princesses on their marriages to the sons of Rāja Agar Sen. A third division has now come into existence in the Central Provinces, known as the Pacha or fives; these are apparently of still more doubtful origin than the Dasas. The divisions tend to be endogamous, but if a man of the Bīsa or Dasa cannot obtain a wife from his own group he will sometimes marry in a lower group.

The Agarwālas are divided into seventeen and a half gotras or exogamous sections, which are supposed to be descended from the seventeen sons of Rāja Agar Sen. The extra half gotra is accounted for by a legend, but it probably has in reality also something to do with illegitimate descent. Some of the gotras, as given by Mr. Crooke, are as a matter of fact named after Brāhmanical saints like those of the Brāhmans; instances of these are Garga, Gautama, Kaushika, Kasyapa and Vasishtha; the others appear to be territorial or titular names. The prohibitions on marriage between relations are far-reaching among the Agarwālas. The detailed rules are given in the article on Bania, and the effect is that persons descended from a common ancestor cannot intermarry for five generations. When the wedding procession is about to start the Kumhār brings his donkey and the bridegroom has to touch it with his foot, or, according to one version, ride upon it. The origin of this custom is obscure, but the people now say that it is meant to emphasise the fact that the bridegroom is going to do a foolish thing. The remarriage of widows is prohibited, and divorce is not recognised. Most of the Agarwālas are Vaishnava by religion, but a few are Jains. Intermarriage between members of the two religions is permitted in some localities, and the wife adopts that of her husband. The Jain Agarwālas observe the Hindu festivals and employ Brāhmans for their ceremonies. In Nimār the caste have some curious taboos. It is said that a married woman may not eat wheat until a child has been born to her, but only juāri; and if she has no child she may not eat wheat all her life. If a son is born to her she must go to Mahaur, a village near Delhi where the tutelary goddess of the caste has her shrine. This goddess is called Mohna Devi, and she is the deified spirit of a woman who burnt herself with her husband. After this the woman may eat wheat; but if a second son is born she must stop eating wheat until she has been to the shrine again. But if she has a daughter she may at once and always eat wheat without visiting the shrine. These rules, as well as the veneration of a snake, from which they believe themselves to be descended on the mother’s side, may perhaps, as suggested by Sir H. Risley, be a relic of the system of matriarchal descent. It is said that when Rāja Agar Sen or his sons married the Nāga princesses, he obtained permission as a special favour from the goddess Lakshmi that the children should bear their father’s name and not their mother’s.¹³⁶

In Nimār some Agarwālas worship Goba Pīr, the god of the sweepers. He is represented by a pole some 30 feet long on which are hung a cloth and cocoanuts. The sweepers carry this through the city almost daily during the month of Shrāwan (July), and people offer cocoanuts, tying them on to the pole. Some Agarwālas offer vermilion to the god in token of worship, and a few invite it to the compounds of their houses and keep it there all night for the same purpose. When a feast is given in the caste the Agarwālas do not take their own brass vessels according to the usual practice, but the host gives them little earthen pots to drink from which are afterwards broken, and leaf-plates for their food. The Agarwālas will take food cooked without water (pakki) from Oswāl, Maheshri and Khandelwāl Banias. The Agarwālas of the Central Provinces hold some substantial estates in Chhattīsgarh; these were obtained at the first settlements during 1860–70, when considerable depression existed, and many of the village headmen were unwilling to accept the revenue assessed on their villages. The more enterprising Banias stepped in and took them, and have profited enormously owing to the increase in the value of land. Akbar’s great minister, Todar Mal, who first introduced an assessment of the land-revenue based on the measurement and survey of the land, is said to have been an Agarwāla.

Bania, Agrahari

Bania, Agrahari. ¹³⁷—This subcaste numbered nearly 2000 persons in 1911, resident principally in Jubbulpore, Raipur and Bilāspur, and some of the Feudatory States. Mr. Crooke states that they claim partly a Vaishya and partly a Brāhmanical descent, and wear the sacred thread. Like that of the Agarwāla Banias their name has been connected with the cities of Agra and Agroha. There is no doubt that they are closely connected with the Agarwālas, and Mr. Nesfield suggests that the two groups must have been sections of one and the same caste which quarrelled on some trifling matter connected with cooking or eating, and have remained separate ever since. The Agrahari Banias are Hindus, and some of them belong to the Nānakpanthi sect. They are principally dealers in provisions, and they have acquired some discredit as compared with their kinsfolk the Agarwālas, through not secluding their women and allowing them to attend the shop. They also retail various sweet-smelling woods which are used in religious ceremonies, such as aloe-wood and sandalwood, besides a number of medicines and simples. The richer members of the caste are bankers, dealers in grain and pawnbrokers.

Bania, Ajudhiabāsi

Bania, Ajudhiabāsi, Audhia.—A subcaste of Bania, whose name signifies a resident of Ajodhia, the old name of Oudh. Outsiders often shorten the name to Audhia, but, as will be seen, the name Audhia is regularly applied to a criminal class, who may have been derived from the Ajudhiabāsi Banias, but are now quite distinct from them. The Ajudhiabāsis numbered nearly 2000 persons in 1911, belonging chiefly to the Jubbulpore, Narsinghpur and Hoshangābād Districts. This total includes any persons who may have returned themselves as Audhia. The Ajudhiabāsis are nearly all Hindus with a small Jain minority. Though Oudh was their original home they are now fairly numerous in Cawnpore and Bundelkhand as well, and it may have been from this last locality that they entered the Central Provinces. Here they form a separate endogamous group and do not marry with their caste-fellows in northern India. They have exogamous sections, and marriage is prohibited within the section and also between first cousins. They permit the remarriage of widows, but are said not to recognise divorce, and to expel from the caste a woman guilty of adultery. It may be doubted, however, whether this is correct. Brāhmans serve as their priests, and they invest boys with the sacred thread either at marriage or at a special ceremony known as Gurmukh. The dead are either buried or burnt; in the case of burial men are laid on the face and women on the back, the body being first rubbed with salt, clarified butter, turmeric and milk. A little earth from the grave is carried away and thrown into a sacred river, and when the dead are burnt the ashes are similarly disposed of. Their principal deity is the goddess Devi, and at the Dasahra festival they offer a goat to her, the flesh of which is distributed among members of the caste.

The Audhias are a well-known criminal tribe, whose headquarters is in the Fatehpur District. They say that they are Banias, and use the name Ajudhiabāsi in speaking of themselves, and from their customs and criminal methods it seems not unlikely that they may originally have been an offshoot from the Ajudhiabāsi Banias. They are now, however, perfectly distinct from this group, and any confusion between them would be very unjust to the latter. In northern India it is said that the Audhias deal largely in counterfeit coin and false jewellery, and never commit crimes of violence;¹³⁸ but in Bombay they have taken to housebreaking, though they usually select an empty house.¹³⁹ From their homes in the United Provinces they wander over Central India, the Central Provinces, Bengal and Bombay; they are said to avoid the Punjab and Sind owing to difficulties of working, and they have made it a caste offence to commit any crime in the Ganges-Jumna Doāb, probably because this is their home. It is said also that if any one of them is imprisoned he is put out of caste. They wander about disguised as religious mendicants, Brāhmans or Bairāgis. They carry their bedding tied on their back with a cloth, and a large bag slung over the shoulders which contains food, cooking-vessels and other articles. Sometimes they pretend to be Banias and hawk about sweets and groceries, or one of the gang opens a shop, which serves as a rendezvous and centre for collecting information.¹⁴⁰ In the Districts where they reside they are perfectly well-behaved. They are well-to-do and to all appearance respectable in their habits. Their women are well-dressed with plenty of ornaments on their persons. They have no apparent means of support; they neither cultivate land nor trade; and all that appears on the surface is that most of the men and boys go off after the rains and return at the end of the cold weather. If asked how they support themselves they reply by begging. Their marriage rules are those of high-caste Hindus. They are divided into two classes, Unch or high and Nīch or low, the former being of pure blood, and the latter the descendants of kept women. These are practically endogamous. A man may not have more than two wives. If a girl is detected in immorality before marriage, she is permanently excommunicated, and a married woman can be turned out by her husband on proof of adultery. A bridegroom-price is usually paid, the father of the bride visiting the bridegroom and giving him the money in secret. The dead are burnt, and Brāhmans are duly fed. If a man has died through an accident or from cholera, smallpox, poison or leprosy, the corpse, if available, is at once consigned to the Ganges or other river, and during the course of the next twelve months a Mahābrāhman is paid to make an image of the deceased in gram-flour, which is cremated with the usual rites. As in the case of the Ajudhiabāsi Banias, the tribal deity of the Audhias is the goddess Devi.¹⁴¹

Bania, Asāthi

Bania, Asāthi.—This subcaste numbers about 2500 persons in the Central Provinces, belonging principally to the Damoh and Jubbulpore Districts. They say that their original home was the Tīkamgarh State in Bundelkhand. They do not rank very high, and are sometimes said to be the descendants of an Ahīr who became a Bania. The great bulk are Hindus and a small minority Jains. It is told of the Asāthis that they first bury their dead, in accordance presumably with a former practice, and then exhume and burn the bodies; and there is a saying—

 
Ārdha jale, ārdha gare
Jinka nām Asāthi pare,
 

or, ‘He who is an Asāthi is half buried and half burnt.’ But this practice, if it ever really existed, has now been abandoned.

Bania, Charnāgri

Bania, Charnāgri, Channāgri, Samaiya.—The Charnāgris are a small Jain subcaste which numbered about 2500 persons in 1911, residing principally in the Damoh and Chhīndwāra Districts. They are the followers of one Taran Swāmi, who is said to have lived about five centuries ago. He preached against the worship of the images of the Jain Tirthakārs, and said that this should be abandoned and only the sacred books be revered. The chief sacred place of the sect is Malhārgarh in Gwalior State; here the tomb of their prophet is situated and there is also a large temple in which the Jain scriptures are enshrined. In the month of Phāgun (February) a fair is held here, and Charnāgris dance in the temples, holding lighted lamps in their hands. Nowadays the Charnāgris also visit the ordinary Jain temples when their own are not available. They are practically all derived from Parwār Banias, and formerly would sometimes give their daughters to Parwārs in marriage, but this practice is said to have stopped. Like other Bania subcastes, they are divided into Bīsa and Dasa, or twenty and ten sections, the Dasa being of irregular descent. Intermarriage between the two sections occasionally occurs, and the Dasa will take food from the Bīsa section, but the latter do not reciprocate except at caste feasts.

Bania, Dhūsar

Bania, Dhūsar, Bhārgava Dhūsar.—The origin of this group is much disputed. They are usually classed as a subcaste of Bania, but claim to be Brāhmans. They take their name from a hill called Dhūsi or Dhosi, near Narnaul on the border of Alwar State. The title Bhārgava signifies a descendant of Bhrigu, one of the famous eponymous Rīshis or Brāhmanical saints, to whom Manu confided his institutes, calling him his son. If this was their original name, it would show that they were Brāhmans, but its adoption appears to be somewhat recent. Their claim to be Brāhmans is, however, admitted by many members of that caste, and it is stated that they perform the functions of Brāhmans in their original home in Rājputāna. Mr. Burn wrote of them:¹⁴² “In his book on castes published in 1872 Mr. Sherring does not refer to any claim to kinship with Brāhmans, though in his description of Dhūsar Banias he appears to include the people under consideration. Both the Dhūsar Bhārgavas and Dhūsar Banias assert that Himu, the capable Vazīr of Muhammad Shāh Suri, belonged to their community, and such a claim by the former is if anything in favour of the view that they are not Brāhmans, since Himu is variously described by Muhammadan writers as a corn-chandler, a weighman and a Bania. Colonel Dow in his history of Hindustān calls him a shopkeeper who was raised by Sher Shāh to be Superintendent of Markets. It is not improbable that Himu’s success laid the foundation for a claim to a higher position, but the matter does not admit of absolute proof, and I have therefore accepted the decision of the majority of the caste-committees and considered them as a caste allied to Brāhmans.” In the Punjab the Dhūsars appear to be in some places Brāhmans and in others Banias. “They take their food before morning prayer, contrary to the Hindu rule, but of late years they have begun to conform to the orthodox practice. The Brāhman Dhūsar marries with his caste-fellows and the Bania with Banias, avoiding always the same family (gotra) or one having the same family deity.”¹⁴³ From the above accounts it would appear that the Dhūsars may have originally been a class of Brāhmans who took to trade, like the Palliwāl Brāhmans of Mārwār, and have lost their position as Brāhmans and become amalgamated with the Bania caste; or they may have been Banias, who acted as priests to others of the community, and hence claimed to be Brāhmans. The caste is important and influential, and is now making every effort to recover or substantiate its Brāhman status. One writer states that they combine the office aptitude and hard-heartedness to a debtor characteristic of the Bania. The Dhūsars are rigid in the maintenance of the purity of their order and in the performance of Hindu ceremonies and duties, and neither eat meat nor drink any kind of spirit. In Delhi they were distinguished for their talent as singers, and cultivated a peculiar strain or measure, in which they were unsurpassed.¹⁴⁴ In the Central Provinces the Dhūsars are a flourishing body, their leaders being Rai Bahādur Bihāri Lāl Khizānchi of Jubbulpore and Rai Sāhib Seth Sundar Lāl of Betūl. They have founded the Bhārgava bank of Jubbulpore, and shown considerable public spirit; to the latter gentleman’s generosity a large part of the success of the recent debt-conciliation proceedings in the Betūl District must be attributed.