“_Sait._”—This is a Sanscrit word for a banker, and is pronounced
“Seth.” The word “Chetty” is derived from this, as applied to “Tamil”
traders in Burmah and the Straits Settlements. Those who take up purely
financial matters are astute men of business; lending money at
exhorbitant rates of interest they get many of the farmers into
complete subjection to them. They are wise enough to keep in with the
people generally, and often build masonry tanks and dig wells for
general use. Sometimes in the very hot weather they will employ a high
caste Brahmin to provide drinking water to passing travellers, and will
keep them in their pay for a whole hot season.
The natives of the district have their saying about this, as they have
about every class, and it runs as a proverb from mouth to mouth:
Paisah ourrâh cheez
Sub noo kurdhâh yar uzeez.