BANYAN, a well-known tree of which the scientific name is Ficus benghalensis. It belongs to the mulberry family (Moraceae) and is notable for the aerial roots which grow from the branches and on reaching the soil thicken and form supporting pillars. By this means the tree may cover a very great area. The tree is considered sacred throughout India. The name was originally given by Europeans to a tree on the Persian Gulf beneath which some Hindu "merchants" had built a pagoda. In Calcutta the word was generally applied to a native broker or head clerk in any business or private house, now known as sircar. Bunya, a corruption of the word common in Bengal, is usually applied to the native grain-dealer. Early writers sometimes use the term generically for all Hindus in western India. Banyan was Anglo Indian for an undershirt, in allusion to the body garment of the ' Hindus, especially the Banyans.
In the British navy Banyan days were formerly the two days in each week on which meat was excluded from the men's ra tions, in allusion to the vegetarian diet of the Hindu merchants. Banyan hospital was a slang term for a hospital for animals, in reference to the Hindu's dislike of taking animal life as a principle of their religion.