Vaishya
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Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order.
Traditional duties
Hindu religious texts assigned Vaishyas to traditional roles in agriculture and cattle-rearing but over time they came to be landowners, traders and money-lenders.[1] The Vaishyas, along with members of the Brahmin and Kshatriya varnas, claim dvija status ("twice born", a second or spiritual birth) after sacrament of initiation as in Hindu theology.[2] Indian traders were widely credited for the spread of Indian culture to regions as far as southeast Asia.[3]
Historically, Vaishyas have been involved in roles other than their traditional pastoralism, trade and commerce. According to Ram Sharan Sharma, a historian, the Gupta Empire was a Vaishya dynasty that "may have appeared as a reaction against oppressive rulers".[4]
Modern communities
The Vaishya community consist of several jāti or subcastes, notably the Agrahari,[5] Agrawals,[6] Barnwals, Gahois, Kasuadhans, Khandelwals, Lohanas and Maheshwaris of the north; Oswals, Roniaurs, the Arya Vaishyas of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,[7] the Vaishya Vanis of Konkan and Goa, and the Modh and Patidars of the west.
References
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- ↑ The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia - Google Books
External links
Media related to Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. at Wikimedia Commons- Introduction to caste system of India
- All India Vaish Federation
