In the Hindu caste system , Vaishya refers to the group of people who are traditionally tradesmen . In later day India the caste system has spread to other religions. Usually the caste/subcaste divides the Hindu community into groups which can intermarry, a person of a caste, subcaste,subsubcaste not usually marrying somebody outside his caste/.... An example can be found in this (http://www.shaadi.com/partner_search/matrimonial_search/profile.php?profileid=vvjpr ) matrimonial ad (look under the religion column, nadar -a traveller is a Vaishya community of south India)