The Kesarwani or Kesharwani or Kesarvani are a Bania sub-caste found in India. While in Bihar and Bengal, they are also known as Kesari or Keshri.
History and origin
There are various traditions as to the origin of the community. According to one of the traditions, they originated in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While according to other sources, they were cultivators or traders of saffron, kesar in Hindi, and originated from Kashmir. According to another tradition they have a still more ancient origin.‹See TfD›
They use the surnames Gupta and Kesarwani in western Uttar Pradesh, while those of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar use Keshri, Kesari and in Bengal use the surnames Shaw, Shah, Saha, Sah or Saw. The Kesarwani speak various dialects of Hindi such as Awadhi, Bundeli, Bengali and Bhojpuri. They have two sub-divisions, the Purbi or eastern and Paschami or western branch.