_Bania, Nema._--This subcaste numbers nearly 4000 persons, the bulk of
whom reside in the Saugor, Damoh, Narsinghpur and Seoni Districts. The
Nemas are most largely returned from Central India, and are probably
a Bundelkhand group; they will eat food cooked without water with
Golapurab Banias, who are also found in Bundelkhand. They are
mainly Hindus, with a small minority of Jains. The origin of the
name is obscure; the suggestion that it comes from Nimar appears
to be untenable, as there are very few Nemas in that District. They
say that when Parasurama was slaying the Kshatriyas fourteen young
Rajput princes, who at the time were studying religion with their
family priests, were saved by the latter on renouncing their Kshatriya
status and declaring themselves to be Vaishyas. These fourteen princes
were the ancestors of the fourteen _gotras_ of the Nema subcaste,
but the _gotras_ actually bear the names of the fourteen Rishis or
saints who saved their lives. These sections appear to be of the
usual Brahmanical type, but marriage is regulated by another set of
fifty-two subsections, with names which are apparently titular or
territorial. Like other Bania groups the Nemas are divided into Bisa
and Dasa subdivisions or twenties and tens, the Bisa being of pure
and the Dasa of irregular descent. There is also a third group of
Pacha or fives, who appear to be the offspring of kept women. After
some generations, when the details of their ancestry are forgotten,
the Pachas probably obtain promotion into the Dasa group. The Bisa
and Dasa groups take food together, but do not intermarry. The
Nemas wear the sacred thread and apparently prohibit the remarriage
of widows. The Nemas are considered to be very keen business men,
and a saying about them is, "Where a sheep grazes or a Nema trades,
what is there left for anybody else?"