Vaishya
वैश्य vaiśyaThe third varna: the class of farmers, herders, artisans, and traders, responsible for producing and circulating wealth. Together with Brahmins and Kshatriyas, Vaishyas are counted among the 'twice-born' varnas in the classical scheme.
Where this term appears
- The caste system: what Hinduism says Essentials
Kshatriyas are the rulers and warriors, charged with protection and justice. Vaishyas are the producers, farmers, herders, and traders.
- The Gayatri Mantra Worship
Manu 2.36 to 38 gives the age of initiation for brahmana, kshatriya and vaishya, and lists no fourth varna; 2.39 makes the man who misses it a vratya , fallen from the Savitri.
- What is bhakti? Essentials
Krishna says that those who take refuge in him reach the highest goal, and then names them: papa-yonayah , those of sinful birth, along with women, vaishyas and shudras.
- What is the Sri Yantra? Lineages
…ngs in that chakra by brahmins with milk, by kshatriyas with ghee, by vaishyas with honey and by shudras with mead.
- Samaya: the fetter and who was spared it Lineages
Manu 11.127 is explicit: a quarter of the brahmin-killing penance for killing a kshatriya, an eighth for a vaishya, a sixteenth for a virtuous shudra.
- The Nisvasa: the oldest tantra, and what it does not yet know Lineages
The Mulasutra sets it out at 8.6: a brahmin after three, four or five years, a Kshatriya after six, seven or eight, a Vaishya after ten or twelve, and a Shudra after twenty.
- The Svacchanda Tantra: the fight over what was in the cup Lineages
…ye sarve te samadharmāṇaḥ śivadharme niyojitāḥ "Brahmins, kshatriyas, vaishyas, shudras, or others besides, my dear: all of them have the same duties, being yoked to the observance of Shiva." — Svacchandatantra…
- Brahma, Brahman, Brahmin: one root, three worlds Journal
His thighs became the Vaiśya, from his feet the Śūdra was produced." The four varṇas issue from the body of the cosmic person: the priest from the mouth, the ruler from the arms, the producer from the thighs, t…