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Vaishya

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Title: Vaishya  
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Subject: Caste system in Nepal, Newar caste system, Hinduism, Yuyutsu, Balinese Kshatriya
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Vaishya

Part of a series on
Hinduism
A Vaishya

Vaishya is one of the four varnas of the Hindu social order.

Contents

  • Traditional duties 1
  • Modern communities 2
  • References 3
  • External links 4

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

  1. ^ Boesche, Roger (2003-03-01). The First Great Political Realist. p. 24.  
  2. ^ Madan, Gurmukh Ram (1979). Western Sociologists on Indian Society: Marx, Spencer, Weber, Durkheim, Pareto. Taylor & Francis. p. 112.  
  3. ^  
  4. ^  
  5. ^  
  6. ^ Bhanu, B. V.; Kulkarni, V. S. (2004).  
  7. ^ The New Wind: Changing Identities in South Asia - Google Books

External links

  • Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
  • Introduction to caste system of India
  • All India Vaish Federation
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