Affinity Bloc: South Asian Peoples

Overview: Bania is a cluster of related communities distributed widely across northern and western India. A majority of these communities are notified as schedule castes. Bania derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "trading" and the various Bania communities are typically involved in trade. Almost all Bania communities are endogamous.

   -- K. S. Singh, People of India, Volume IV. India's Communities A-G. Delhi: Oxford University Press (1998), pp. 261-267

Peoples within this cluster: Bania; Bania Agarwal; Bania Agarwal, Awadhi; Bania Agarwal, Haryanvi; Bania Agarwal, Magahi; Bania Agarwal, Marathi; Bania Agarwal, Panjabi; Bania Agarwal, Rajasthani; Bania Agarwal, Telugu; Bania Dhusar; Bania Gandha Banik; Bania Khandelwal; Bania Mahesri; Bania Mahur; Bania Trivarnika Vaisya; Bania, Angika; Bania, Assamese; Bania, Awadhi; Bania, Bhojpuri; Bania, Bundelkhandhi; Bania, Chhattisgarhi; Bania, Dogri; Bania, Gujarati; Bania, Haryanvi; Bania, Kannada; Bania, Kashmiri; Bania, Konkani; Bania, Magahi; Bania, Maithili; Bania, Malayalam; Bania, Marathi; Bania, Oriya; Bania, Pahari; Bania, Panjabi; Bania, Rajasthani; Bania, Tamil

Countries where they are found: India; Nepal