Bania: Lad

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This article was written in 1916 when conditions were different. Even in 1916 its contents related only to Central India and did not claim to be true of all of India. It has been archived for its historical value as well as for the insights it gives into British colonial writing about the various communities of India. Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly on their online archival encyclopædia only after its formal launch. See examples and a tutorial.

From The Tribes And Castes Of The Central Provinces Of India

By R. V. Russell

Of The Indian Civil Service

Superintendent Of Ethnography, Central Provinces

Assisted By Rai Bahadur Hira Lal, Extra Assistant Commissioner

Macmillan And Co., Limited, London, 1916.

NOTE 1: The 'Central Provinces' have since been renamed Madhya Pradesh.

NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from the original book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot these footnotes gone astray might like to shift them to their correct place.

Bania: Lad

This subcaste numbers about 5000 persons in the Central Provinces, being settled in Nimar, Nagpur and all the Berar Districts. The Lad Banias came from Gujarat, and Lad is derived from Lat-desh, the old name for Gujarat. Like other Banias they are divided into the Bisa and Dasa groups or twenties and tens, the Dasa being of irregular descent.

Their family priests are Khedavval Brahmans, and their caste deity is Ashapuri of Ashnai, near Petlad. Lad women, especially those of Baroda, are noted for their taste in dress. The Lad Banias are Hindus of the Vallabhacharya ^ Mr. Crooke's Tribes and Castes, art. Khandelwal. 2 Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 209.

sect, who worship Krishna, and were formerly addicted to sexual indulgence/