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 Vaisyacaste, 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
Vaisya is the third or ordinary class in ancient Hindu society. Described in the Rig-Veda as sprung from the thighs of Purusha, it comprised the free commonalty, the ordinary folk engaged in providing the Aryan community with the necessities of life. To them were entrusted the material interests of agriculture, cattle-raising, handicraft, and trade, apart from those menial occupations which were allotted to the servile Sudras. Their peaceful penetration of the Dravidianpopulation in southern India proceeded for centuries before the Kshattriya class undertook military dominion in that region, and their commercial intercourse with other lands led to much racial admixture. Research Vaisya
The Vellala are an Indian caste of Tamil-speaking Hindu farmers in the Tamil country. They are a long-headed, frugal, industrious, and peaceable people. Traditionally they are descended from Vaisya cultivators who came from the north into the ancient Pandya kingdom. Research Vellala
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Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Banian
