banyas

In India there were several elements such as the Parsis and the Hindu "banyas," or money-lenders, whose previous activities in commerce or usury predisposed them to financial and industrial activity in the modern sense.

The New World of Islam Lothrop Stoddard 1916

"banyas," or village money-lenders, lowering the rate of interest from its former crushing range of 20 to 75 per cent. to a range averaging from 9 to 18 per cent.

The New World of Islam Lothrop Stoddard 1916

The new villas for the New Russians all had to have banyas, or Russian saunas ( "" like the Arabs with the bidets, '' says the real-estate agent).

Moscow's Money Island 2008

There were no showers, but the soldiers could wash once a week in Russian-style saunas known as banyas.

A Russian Soldier’s Story 2006

There were no showers, but the soldiers could wash once a week in Russian-style saunas known as banyas.

A Russian Soldier’s Story 2006

There were no showers, but the soldiers could wash once a week in Russian-style saunas known as banyas.

A Russian Soldier’s Story 2006

Traditional Russian banyas, or bathhouses, in Moscow now make themselves available at night as rendezvous points for anonymous sex, prompting inevitable comparisons to the San Francisco bathhouse scene of the early '80s (though most banyas cater to heterosexual men and their prostitutes).

The Crisis To Come 2008

There were no showers, but the soldiers could wash once a week in Russian-style saunas known as banyas.

A Russian Soldier’s Story 2006

On the outskirts of Almaty, in Kazakhstan, we had picnics in the mountains, attended parties where we danced until dawn, bathed in banyas fired up in our honor and traveled by train across the steppes.

HAVE EXPERIENCE AND WISDOM, WILL TRAVEL 2007

There are about five to seven banyas already in the New York, area according to Kizenko, who considered opening one in London until he saw how expensive the rents are.

BusinessWeek.com -- Top News 2012