Also 9 veisya. [Skr. vaiṡya peasant, laborer, etc.
In Sir T. Herbert’s Trav. (1634), 38 the form wyses occurs, and Bice from Urdū has had some currency.]
The third of the four great Hindu castes, comprising the merchants and agriculturists; a member of this caste. Also attrib.
1794. Sir W. Jones, Inst. of Menu, i. § 31. He [Brahma] caused the Bráhmen, the Cshatriya, the Vaisya, and the Súdra … to proceed from his mouth, his arm, his thigh and his foot.
1800. Asiat. Ann. Reg., 53/2. Born of a Vaisya woman.
1801. R. Patton, Asiat. Mon., 123. The functions of the vaisya tribe.
1841. Elphinstone, Hist. Ind., I. 31. The practical knowledge required from a veisya is more general than that of the other classes.
