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This article is an extract from <br/>

PANJAB CASTES <br/>

SIR DENZIL CHARLES JELF IBBETSON, K.C. S.I. <br/>

Being a reprint of the chapter on <br/>
The Races, Castes and Tribes of <br/>
the People in the Report on the <br/>
Census of the Panjab published <br/>
in '''1883''' by the late Sir Denzil <br/>
Ibbetson, KCSI <br/>

Lahore: <br/>

Printed  by the Superintendent, Government Printing, Punjab, <br/>

1916. <br/>
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[[Category:India|B]]
[[Category:Communities|B]]

==The divisions of the Banya Caste==   

The divisions of the Banya caste with which 
we are coucerned in the Panjab are shown in the margin. 
The Aggarwals or north-eastern division of Banyas include 
the immense majority of the caste in every district throughout 
the Province. They have, according to sherring, a tradition of 
of a far distant origin on the banks of Godavery. But the 
place to which all Aggarwals refer the origin of the sectior, 
and from which they take their name, is Agroha in tfte Hissar 
district, once the capital of a Vaisya Raja of the name of 
Agar Sen, and whence they are said to have spread over 
Hindustan after the taking of that place by Shahab-ul-din 
Ghori in 1195; and Elliott points out that the fact that 
throughout the North-Western Provinces the Aggarwal Banyas 
are supposed to be specially bound to make offerings to Guga 
Pir, the great saint from the neighbourhood of Agrolia, bears 
testimony to the truth of the tradition. The eighteen sons of 
Agar Sen are said to have married the eighteen snake-daughters of Raja Basak, and Guga Pfr is 
the greatest of the snake-gods. The Aggarwals are often Jain, especially in Dehli and among 
the more wealthy classes of the cities; and when .Tains, are generally of the Digauibara sects (see 
section 259, Chapter IV). But the great mass of them are Hindus, and almost invariably of the 
Vaisbnava sect. 
Banya 

 [[File:   494.png   | |frame|500px]]   
The Oswals or south -western section of the caste trace their origin from Osia or Osnagar, a 
town in !Marwar. Their distribution in the 
Panjab is shown in the margin; their real. 
home is in Gujarat and South-Western 
Rajputana, where they are exceedingly 
numerous. They are very generally Jains, 
and when Jains, almost .always of the Swe
tambara sect. 
 [[File:   495.png   | |frame|500px]]  

The third or north-western section is 
Mahesri who are most numerous in Bikaner. 
Mr. Wilson says that those of Sirsa claim 
Rajput origin, and still have sub-divisions 
bearing Rajput names. They say that 
their ancestor was turned into stone for 
an outrage upon a faqir, but was restored 
to life by Mahesh or Mahadeo hence their 
name. Their distribution in the Panjab 
is shown in the margin. They are for the 
most part Vaishnava Hindus, though 
occasionally .Tains. Their relations with the 
Aggarwals are much closer than are those of 
the Oswals. 

The Saralia Banyas are returned in the 
localities shown in the margin. They are a 
branch of the Aggarwals, but owing to 
some dispute left Agroha and settled in 
Sarala, a town not far from Agroha, from 
which they take their name. They are as 
strict as other Aggarwals, and not in any 
way data or impure. They do not inter
TOTAL 11,899 marry with other Aggarwals. I have been 

I able to discover nothing regarding their origin or the distinction lietween them and 
the other sections of the caste. 
The Dasa Banyas are not properly a distinct section of the caste. The word means  hybrid
and is used for members of other castes who have departed from the custom of the caste or 
whose descent is not pure. The Dasa  Banyas are said to be descendants of an illegitimate son of 
an Aggarwal. To the figures given for them above should be added 1,664 in Ambala who have 
returned themselves as Gata, which is a synonym for Dasa. 

Little appears to be known of the minor sub-divisions. It is to be hoped that the detailed 
tables of sub-divisions of castes now in course of preparation from the papers of the Panjab 
Census will tell us something about them. The three great sections, Agarwal, Oswal and 
Mahesri, are said not to intermarry. The Banyas possess the Brahminical cjotras, but it appears 
that they also have other sub-divisions of the main sections of the caste.

See[[The Dhunsar ]]