_Bania, Srimali._--This subcaste takes its name from the town of
Srimal, which is now Bhinmal in Marwar. They numbered 600 persons in
the Central Provinces in 1911, most of whom belonged to the Hoshangabad
District. More than two-thirds were Hindus and the remainder
Jains. Colonel Tod writes of Bhinmal and an adjoining town, Sanchor:
"These towns are on the high road to Cutch and Gujarat, which has given
them from the most remote times a commercial celebrity. Bhinmal is said
to contain about 1500 houses and Sanchor half that number. Very wealthy
_mahajans_ or merchants used to reside here, but insecurity both within
and without has much injured these cities." From Bhinmal the Srimalis
appear to have gone to Gujarat, where they are found in considerable
numbers. Their legend of origin is that the goddess Lakshmi created
from a flower-garland 90,000 families to act as servants to the
90,000 Srimali Brahmans, and these were the ancestors of the Srimali
Banias. [168] Both the Jain and Hindu sections of the Srimali Banias
employ Srimali Brahmans as priests. Like other classes of Banias, the
Srimali are divided into two sections, the Bisa and Dasa, or twenty
and ten, of which the Bisa are considered to be of pure and the Dasa of
somewhat mixed descent. In Gujarat they also have a third territorial
group, known as Ladva, from Lad, the old name of Gujarat. All three
subdivisions take food together but do not intermarry. [169] The two
highest sections of the Oswal Banias are called Sri Srimal and Srimal,
and it is possible that further investigation might show the Srimals
and Oswals to have been originally of one stock.