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See also:BANYAN, or BANIAN (an Arab corruption, borrowed by the Portuguese from the See also:Sanskrit vanij, " See also:merchant ") , the Ficus Indices, or Bengalensis, a See also:tree of the fig genus . The name was originally given by Europeans to a particular tree on the See also:Persian Gulf beneath which some See also:Hindu " merchants " had built a See also:pagoda . In See also:Calcutta the word was once generally applied to a native See also:broker or See also:head clerk in any business or private See also:house, now usually known as sircar . Bunya, a corruption of the word See also:common in See also:Bengal generally, is usually applied to the native See also:grain-dealer . See also:Early writers sometimes use the See also:term generically for all See also:Hindus in western See also:India . See also:Banyan was See also:long Anglo-See also:Indian. for an undershirt, in allusion to the See also:body garment of the Hindus, especially the Banyan . Banyan days is a nautical See also:slang term, In the See also:British See also:navy there were formerly two days in each See also:week on which See also:meat formed no See also:part of the men's rations . These were called banyan days,, in allusion to the vegetarian See also:diet of the Hindu merchants . Banyan See also:hospital also became a slang term for a hospital for animals, in reference to the Hindu's humanity and his dislike of taking the See also:life of any See also:animal . |
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