The customer asked politely, "How do the accounts stand?" Chaturth looked through his record book and replied, "They are up to date. You have no payment due until next month." The customer paid for his groceries and left the family store.

Chaturth is of the Kasarwani subgroup of the Bania caste. Kasar means "saffron" and wani means "tradesman." His people were originally sellers of saffron. Today most of them are money-lenders and grocers. They are noted for their light complexion, and are believed to have come from Mesopotamia near the location of Nebuchadnezzar's palace during the height of the Babylonian Empire.
Because they moved so often in the early days, they carried pots of soil from the place they came from in order to maintain their identity and remember their origin. They worship these pots. Some carry the soil from many lands, gathered as they moved along trade routes. Since settling in northern India, Hindi has become their main language, and Hinduism is the religion of all but about .06 percent of these nearly 400,000 people.

Although there is a plethora of Christian outreach tools available in Hindi such as audio recordings, films, videos, tracts, and Bible translations, the Kasarwani hearts have remained closed to the gospel.

* Scripture Prayers for the Bania Kasarwani in India.

* Pray that the Holy Spirit will woo these unreached people.
* Pray that God will cast down the principalities and powers that are the gatekeepers to their souls, and that Jesus will reveal Himself in power and glory to multitudes of precious Kasarwani people.

Some information from "The Scheduled Castes" K. S. Singh, ed. Oxford University Press, USA (1994)