Affinity Bloc:
South Asian Peoples
Overview:
Bania is a cluster of related communities distributed widely across northern and western India. A majority of these communities are notified as schedule castes. Bania derives from a Sanskrit word meaning "trading" and the various Bania communities are typically involved in trade. Almost all Bania communities are endogamous.
-- K. S. Singh, People of India, Volume IV. India's Communities A-G. Delhi: Oxford University Press (1998), pp. 261-267
Peoples within this cluster:
Bania; Bania, Agarwal; Bania, Agarwal, Awadhi; Bania, Agarwal, Haryanvi; Bania, Agarwal, Magahi; Bania, Agarwal, Marathi; Bania, Agarwal, Punjabi; Bania, Agarwal, Rajasthani; Bania, Agarwal, Telugu; Bania, Angika; Bania, Assamese; Bania, Awadhi; Bania, Banik; Bania, Bhojpuri; Bania, Bundelkhandhi; Bania, Chhattisgarhi; Bania, Dhusar; Bania, Dogri; Bania, Gandha Banik; Bania, Gujarati; Bania, Hanayavi; Bania, Kannada; Bania, Kashmiri; Bania, Khandelwal; Bania, Konkani; Bania, Magahi; Bania, Mahesri; Bania, Mahur; Bania, Maithili; Bania, Malayalam; Bania, Marathi; Bania, Marwadi; Bania, Nima; Bania, Oriya; Bania, Pahari; Bania, Panjabi; Bania, Rajasthani; Bania, Saraogi; Bania, Tamil; Bania, Trivarnika Vaisya
Countries where they are found:
India; Nepal
People groups:
41
Population:
30,447,000
Unreached people groups:
41
UPG population:
30,447,000
Unengaged UPGs:
10
UUPG population:
1,618,500
Number of countries:
2