_Bania, Maheshri._--This important subcaste of Banias numbered
about 14,000 persons in the Central Provinces in 1911, of whom 8000
belonged to the Berar Districts, and the remainder principally to
Hoshangabad, Nimar, Wardha and Nagpur. The name is said to be derived
from Maheshwar, an ancient town on the Nerbudda, near Indore, and one
of the earliest Rajput settlements. But some of them say that their
original home is in Bikanir, and tell a story to the effect that their
ancestor was a Raja who was turned into stone with his seventy-two
followers by some ascetics whose devotions they had interrupted in
the forest. But when their wives came to commit _sati_ by the stone
figures the god Siva intervened and brought them to life again. He
told them to give up the profession of arms and take to trade. So the
seventy-two followers were the ancestors of the seventy-two _gotras_
or sections of the Maheshris, and the Raja became their tribal
_Bhat_ or genealogist, and they were called Maheshri or Maheswari,
from Mahesh, a name of Siva. In Gujarat the term Maheshri or Meshri
appears to be used for all Banias who are not Jains, including the
other important Hindu subcastes. [156] This is somewhat peculiar,
and perhaps tends to show that several of the local subcastes are
of recent formation. But though they profess to be named after Siva,
the Maheshris, like practically all other Hindu Banias, are Vaishnava
by sect, and wear the _kunti_ or necklace of beads of basil. A small
minority are Jains. It is to be noticed that both the place of their
origin, an early Rajput settlement of the Yadava clan, and their own
legend tend to show that they were derived from the Rajput caste;
for as their ancestors were attendants on a Raja and followed the
profession of arms, which they were told to abandon, they could be
none other than Rajputs. The Maheshris also have the Rajput custom of
sending a cocoanut as a symbol of a proposal of marriage. In Nimar the
Maheshri Banias say they belong to the Dhakar subcaste, a name which
usually means illegitimate, though they themselves explain that it is
derived from a place called Dhakargarh, from which they migrated. As
already stated they are divided into seventy-two exogamous clans,
the names of which appear to be titular or territorial. It is said
that at their weddings when the bridegroom gets to the door of the
marriage-shed, the bride's mother ties a scarf round his neck and
takes hold of his nose and drags him into the shed. Sometimes they make
the bridegroom kneel down and pay reverence to a shoe as a joke. They
do not observe the custom of the _pangat_ or formal festal assembly,
which is usual among Hindu castes; according to this, none can begin
to eat until all the guests have assembled, when they all sit down at
once. Among the Maheshris the guests sit down as they come in, and are
served and take their food and go. They only have the _pangat_ feast
on very rare occasions. The Maheshris are one of the richest, most
enterprising and influential classes of Banias. They are intelligent,
of high-bred appearance, cleanly habits and courteous manners. The
great bankers, Sir Kasturchand Daga of Kamptee, of the firm of Bansi
Lal Abirchand, and Rai Bahadur Seth Jiwan Das and Diwan Bahadur Seth
Ballabh Das, of Jubbulpore, belong to this subcaste.