Mahawar Vaish is the best class of Baniya /Vaishya (Business class) as evident from name MAHA + WAR which indicated Great + Businessman.
Mahawar Vaish is a category of Marwari Bania caste of the Hindu religion.
Mahawars has history as old as Lord Krishna, as there are many historic evidence exists for the existence of Mahawars during Lord Krishna's time both while in Mathura UP and in Dwarika Gujarat.
Some of the famous Mahawars in the History includes Great donor Mr. BhamaShah without whose help Proud of Rajasthan, great emperor Maharana Pratap could not win the war against Mughal king Akbar.
Mostly based in:
They believe in Hinduism, Vaishnav and Sanatan Dharma and called Vaishnav Bania.
They are devotees of Krishna and other Hindu gods.
They are strict vegetarian in food habit and avoid consuming alcohol.
They generally use Gupta as their surname; other surnames include Bachlas, Mawal, Data, Gigras, Soni, Mahajan, Modi & other clan names and sometimes Mahawar also.
The name Gupta is derived from Sanskrit word Goptri, meaning ‘protector’ or ‘governor’.
Gupta is a common surname has been adopted by different communities across India (Northern and Eastern) irrespective of their caste. In Northern part of India, Vaish communities mainly use the surname Gupta, who are particularly belonging to below listed sub castes
Also, in other parts of India, some other communities had adopted and use the surname Gupta, they are as below:
There is another community which also used surname as Mahawar and known as Mahawar Koli. The Mahawar Koli are mainly found in Rajasthan in cities like