The Bania (also spelled as Baniya, Banija, Banya, Vaniya, Vani, Vania and Vanya) is an occupational community of merchants, bankers, money-lenders, and (in modern times) owners of commercial enterprises. The community is composed of several sub-castes including the Agarwal Banias, Baranwal Banaa, Porwal Banias, oswal, Mehta and Wani Banias, among others. The term is used in a wider sense in Bengal than it is elsewhere in India, where it is applied to all money-lenders and indigenously developed bankers, irrespective of caste. Most Banias follow Hinduism and Jainism but a few have converted to Sikhism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism.
The etymological origin lays in the Sanskrit word vanik, and they are deemed to be India’s “pre-eminent” trading community, historically.
Bania women in British India. Image taken before 1860