The Probert Encyclopaedia of People

BANIAN

A Banian, or Banyan is an Indian trader or merchant, one engaged in commerce generally, but more particularly one of the great traders of Western India, as in the seaports who traditionally carried on a large trade by means of caravans with the interior of Asia, and with Africa by vessels. They form a class of the Vaisya caste, wear a peculiar dress, and are strict in the observance of fasts and in abstaining from the use of flesh. Hence the term - Banian days which were days in which sailors in the navy had no flesh meat served out to them. Banian days were abolished before the start of the 20th century , but the term is still applied to days of poor fare.
Research Banian