Religion. 8. Their chief deity, in Mirzapur, is the Vindhyabâsini Devi, of Bindhâchal, whom they worship on the ninth day of Chait, with hogs, goats, cakes (pûri), and pottage (lapsi). They honour the village gods (dih) with a sacrifice of a hog or goat; butter, barley, and treacle are burnt in a fire offering. On the fifth of Sâwan they lay milk and parched rice near a snake’s hole. They respect the pîpal tree, and will not cut or injure it. In Gorakhpur they worship Kâlika and Samai. The former is worshipped at marriages, child-birth, etc., with an offering [[172]]of a young pig, one-and-a-quarter jars of liquor, flowers, and ground rice boiled in treacle and milk (pithi). To Samai is offered a yearling pig. Maidens and widows married by the Sagâi form are not permitted to join in this worship, which takes place in a corner of the house set apart for the purpose. They do not employ Brâhmans in their domestic ceremonies, which are carried out by some old man (syâna) of the family. In Hardoi their tribal deity is Kâla Deo, whose image is painted on the wall of the house, and worshipped at any event, such as marriage, birth, etc., in the family. They also sometimes sacrifice a goat or sheep to Devi, and the worshippers consume the offerings. Their holidays are the Phagua or Holi, at which they get drunk and eat choice food; the Râmnaumi, on the ninth of Chait, when they worship the Vindhyabâsini Devi; the Tîj, on the third of Sâwan, when women pray for the long life of their husbands, and the Kajari, on the third of Bhâdon, when women get drunk, and all rules of sexual morality are ignored. In Hardoi, on the Karwa Chauth feast, the women fast and worship the moon by pouring water out of an earthen pot (karwa), whence the name of the festival. At the Guriya feast girls make dolls of rags, which are beaten with sticks by boys on the banks of a tank. The dolls are believed to represent snakes, and the feast is in commemoration of the destruction of serpents by Garuda. They worship the dead by laying out food in seven leaf platters and letting the children or crows eat it. They have a great respect for the village shrine, and never dare to tread on the pieces of earthenware horses, etc., with which it is decorated. They also, as is shown in the birth ceremonies, worship wells. The sainted dead specially delight in the savour of pork, and give trouble if not honoured with this sacrifice.
Social customs. 9. Women wear in the ears the ornaments known as utarna and karnphûl, bead necklaces (dharkauwa), and bangles (chûri) on the arms: anklets (pairi), brass rings on their fingers. Boys and girls have two names, one for ordinary use and one kept secret. They swear on the sun or the heads of their children. Those who break an oath become smitten with leprosy or lose their property. Disease, generally due to demoniacal possession, is treated by the Ojha, who also prescribes in cases of the Evil-eye. They will not eat beef, nor touch a Dom, Dhobi, the wife of a younger brother, the wife of the elder brother-in-law, or the wife of their sister’s son. They will not mention their eldest son by his name. To do so is regarded as a sin. They eat [[173]]pork, fowls, goats, and other animals, but not the cow, monkey, alligator, snake, lizard, jackal, or rat. Men eat before women. They salute their castemen in the form Râm! Râm!
Occupation. 10. Some work as ordinary day-labourers, but their business is making fans, baskets, and boxes of bamboo. Some work as sweepers and remove night-soil. No other caste will touch food or water from their hands.
Distribution of Bânsphors according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Dhânuk. | Others. | Muhammadans. | Total. |
| Dehra Dûn | … | 156 | … | 156 |
| Sahâranpur | … | 5 | 87 | 92 |
| Farrukhâbâd | … | 94 | … | 94 |
| Mainpuri | … | 19 | … | 19 |
| Bareilly | … | 7 | … | 7 |
| Morâdâbâd | … | … | 20 | 20 |
| Shâhjahânpur | … | 66 | … | 66 |
| Pilibhît | … | 353 | … | 353 |
| Cawnpur | … | 44 | … | 44 |
| Banda | … | 4 | … | 4 |
| Lalitpur | … | 4,360 | … | 4,360 |
| Mirzapur | … | 64 | … | 64 |
| Ghâzipur | … | 28 | … | 28 |
| Ballia | … | 447 | … | 447 |
| Gorakhpur | … | 466 | 1 | 467 |
| Basti | … | 7 | … | 7 |
| Azamgarh | … | 67 | … | 67 |
| Lucknow | 1,102 | 729 | … | 1,831 |
| Unâo | … | 36 | … | 36 |
| Râê Bareli | 422 | 7 | … | 429 |
| Sîtapur | 308 | 853 | … | 1,161 |
| Kheri | … | 6 | … | 6 |
| Gonda | 295 | 327 | … | 622 |
| Bahrâich | 1,534 | 728 | 3 | 2,265 |
| Partâbgarh | 4,467 | 218 | 1 | 4,686 |
| Total | 8,128 | 9,093 | 112 | 17,333 |
[[174]]
Banya.—(Sanskrit, banija, vanija.)—The great trading class of Northern India. Pedantically the Banya is known as Baqqâl—a term applied in Arabia and Persia to greengrocers. When he becomes a large merchant he is known as Mahâjan. Banya is, in fact, a generic term including a large number of endogamous sub-castes, of whom some account has been given in separate articles. The Banya has rather an indifferent reputation in the country-side, where he is hated and despised for his habits of money-grubbing, meanness, and rapacity. But at the same time he is an indispensable element in the social life of the people whose trade and business he finances. The modern Banya does not seem to have changed much since the time of Tavernier,[79] who writes:—“Those of this caste are so subtle and nimble in trade that the Jews may be their ’prentices. They accustom their children betimes to fly idleness, and instead of suffering them to lose their time by playing in the streets, as we generally do, they teach them arithmetic, which they are so perfect at, that without making use either of pen or ink or counters, but only of their memories, they will in a moment cast up the most difficult account that can be imagined. They always live with their fathers, who instruct them in trade, and do nothing but what they show them. If any man in the heat of passion chafe at them, they will hear him patiently without making any reply, and parting coldly from him will not see him again till three or four days, when they think their passion may be over. They never eat anything that has life, nay, they would rather die than kill the smallest animal or vermin, being in that point above all things the most zealous observers of the law. They never fight nor go to war, neither will they eat or drink at the house of a Râjput.”
2. The current proverbs abound with chaff at the Banya:—Na Banya mît na besva sati—“A Banya is as little a friend as a prostitute is chaste”; Banya mârê jan, thag mârê anjân—“The Banya cheats his friends, and the rogue, strangers,” and so on.
3. At the same time some of the Banya sub-divisions, like the Agarwâla and Oswâl, are perhaps some of the purest races in Northern India.
4. In his social habits the Banya is very precise in the matter of food. In religion he is either a Hindu or Jain, or, as he calls himself, a Sarâogi, a word derived from the Sanskrit srâvaka, “a disciple of the Buddha.”