Bania, Kasaundhan
Bania, Kasaundhan.—This subcaste numbers about 5500 persons in the Central Provinces and is returned principally from the Bilāspur, Raipur and Jubbulpore Districts. The name is derived[1] by Mr. Crooke from kānsa, bell-metal, and dhana, wealth, and it would appear that the Kasaundhans like the Kasārwanis are an occupational group, made up of shopkeepers who dealt in metal vessels. Like them also the Kasaundhans may have originally been constituted from the metal-working castes, and indeed they may be only a local branch of the Kasarwānis, though no information is available which would decide this point. In the United Provinces both the Kasarwānis and Kasaundhans are divided into the Pūrbia or eastern and Pachhaiyān or western subcastes. Dharam Das, the great disciple of Kabīr, who founded the Kabīrpanthi sect in the Central Provinces, was a Kasaundhan Bania, and the Kabīrpanthi Mahants or high-priests of Kawardha are of this caste. It is probable that a good many of the Kasaundhan Banias in Bilāspur and Raipur belong to the Kabīrpanthi sect. The remainder are ordinary Hindus.
[1] Tribes and Castes, art. Kasaundhan.
Bania, Khandelwāl
Bania, Khandelwāl.—This subcaste numbers about 1500 persons in the Central Provinces; they are most numerous in the Hoshangābād and Amraoti Districts, but are scattered all over the Province. They take their name from the town of Khandela in the Jaipur State of Rājputāna, which was formerly the capital of the Shekhāwati federation. There is also a Khandelwāl subcaste of the Brāhman caste, found in the United Provinces.[1] Mr. Bhattachārya says of them:[2] “The Khandelwāl Banias are not inferior to any other division of the caste either in wealth or refinement. There are both Vaishnavites and Jains among them, and the Vaishnavite Khandelwāls wear the sacred thread. The millionaire Seths of Mathura are Khandelwāl Banias.”
[1] Mr. Crooke’s Tribes and Castes, art. Khandelwāl.
[2] Hindu Castes and Sects, p. 209.