Bau'ian

Bau'ian (from the Sansk. vanij, 'a merchant'), a member of a Hindu merchant-caste, most numerous in Bengal and the North-west Provinces of India. The name was originally applied more particularly to those from the province of Guzerat, many of whom had settled early in Arabian ports for purposes of trade; but was frequently extended by early writers to all Hindus in Western India. This class, which numbers somewhere between 3,000,000 and 4,000,000 souls, carries on an extensive trade, by means of caravans, with the interior of Asia, even to the borders of Russia and China. Contrary to the general custom of the Indian people, these merchants travel much, and the establishments and counting-houses of Indian Banians are to be found in almost every commercial town of any note in Asia, whilst in Africa they have recently become identified with the slave-trade. Generally speaking, those with sufficient capital subsist solely by money-lending, charging usurious rates of interest; the poorer classes open retail shops, or hawk their goods about the country villages. The members of the caste are mutually helpful, even advancing money to one another at reasonable interest.