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Definition 2024
Bannian
Bannian
See also: bannian
English
Noun
Bannian (plural Bannians)
- (archaic) A member of the vanika in the Indian caste system; a trader or merchant belonging to the business class.
- 1749 — Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book III ch ii
- This species of men, from the great severity with which they revenge the death of a hare or partridge, might be thought to cultivate the same superstition with the Bannians in India; many of whom, we are told, dedicate their whole lives to the preservation and protection of certain animals; was it not that our English Bannians, while they preserve them from other enemies, will most unmercifully slaughter whole horse-loads themselves; so that they stand clearly acquitted of any such heathenish superstition.
- 1749 — Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book III ch ii