Vaisya

from WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006)

Vaisya
    n 1: a member of the mercantile and professional Hindu caste;
         the third of the four main castes
    2: the third of the four varnas: the commoners or yeoman farmers
       or mercantile and professional category

from The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

Vaisya \Vais"ya\, n. [Skr. vai[,c]ya.]
   The third of the four great original castes among the Hindus,
   now either extinct or partially represented by the mercantile
   class of Banyas. See the Note under {Caste}, 1.
   [1913 Webster]

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