Page:Castes and Tribes of Southern India.djvu/253

 India, who have settled down in the southern bazars, where they carry on a lucrative business, and wax sleek and wealthy. Bania also occurs as a synonym for the South Indian trading caste, the Komatis.

It may be noted, as a little matter of history, that, in 1677, the Court of Directors, in a letter to Fort St. George, offered "twenty pounds reward to any of our servants or soldiers as shall be able to speak, write, and translate the Banian language, and to learn their arithmetic."  Bānjāri.— A synonym of Lambādi.  Banka (gum). — An exogamous sept of Motāti Kāpu.  Bannagara (a painter). — A synonym of Chitrakāra.  Bannān.— A synonym of Vannān or Mannān, recorded at times of census. In like manner Bannata occurs as a Canarese form of the Malayālam Veluttēdan or Vannattān.  Banni or Vanni (Prosopis spicigera). — An exogamous sept of Kuruba and Kurni. The tree is worshipped because on it "the five Pāndava princes hung up their arms when they entered Virāt Nagra in disguise. On the tree the arms turned to snakes, and remained untouched till the owners returned." (Lisboa.)  Bant.— For the following account of the Bants I am mainly indebted to Mr. H. A. Stuart's description of them in the Manual of South Canara. The name Bant, pronounced Bunt, means in Tulu a powerful man or soldier, and indicates that the Bants were originally a military class corresponding to the Nāyars of Malabar. The term Nādava instead of Bant in the northern portions of South Canara points, among other indications, to a territorial organisation by nāds similar to that described 