Nema community belongs to an Indian subcaste of Bania, a merchant and trading community in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.

Nema surname - Usage and Origin

Community commonly use Nema as a surname or second name. Some families of Nema community also uses other surnames based on their titles or regions.

A large part of the community uses the surname Neema around the Indore region, they identify themselves as the Bisa group of Nema community.

As per commonly believed myth among the community, Nema surname comes from their ancestor, King Nimi, Nimi is considered to be the first king of the Videha kingdom and belonged to the Janaka lineage of Mithila. Nimi was the grandson of Manu and son of Ikshwaku.

It is because of this lineage Nemas in the past were believed to be Rajputs, though converted to traders of Vaishya (Bania) community to avoid war with Lord Parsuram thousands of years ago.

Word Nema more accurately means "one who lives in accordance with Niyama" (codes of conducts), these codes were prescribed by the sage Bhrigu, though these codes are only available in the form of verbal legends.

History

Recorded history cite big presence was first observed in Sagor, Damoh, Narsinghpur and Seoni Districts of the state of Madhya Pradesh in India in the early 20th century. At that time Nemas were largely concentrated in Central India.
They started getting identified as Bundelkhandi after settling in the region by the same name but had also acclimatized themselves to Malwa region.

This resulted in Nemas splitting into two distinct groups based on their occupational settlement in Bundelkhand and Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh.

Today elders of community track their history back to region around the border of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in India. It is believed that somewhere in the 18th and 19th century community got split due to occupational needs and current Nemas migrated to Madhya Pradesh while another group migrated to Gujarat. Today legends can trace verbal history to Rajasthan in places like Banswada; also mentioned in some books published by the community.

Religion and Marriages

They are Hindus who worship Lord Vishnu in his Krishna incarnation and are pure vegetarian.

They observe all Hindu festivals and participate in religious gatherings and pilgrims.

Marriage is regulated based on the two prominent Groups and Gotras, with names that are apparently titular or territorial.

Caste

Like other Bania groups the Nemas are further divided into Bīsa, Dasa and Pacha. The Bīsa and Dasa groups take food together but do not intermarry with some exceptions. And they observe their distinct ritual and cultural practices according to Bisa and Dasa group.

Nemas are divided into following Gotras -

SN	Branch	Rishi
1	Seth	Mordhwaj
2	Patwari	Kailrishi
3	Malak	Raghunandan
4	Bhoriya	Vasantan
5	Khira	Balanandan
6	Dyodiya	Shandilya
7	Chanderha	Santany, Tulsinandan
8	Dyodhar	Garg
9	Rawat	Nandan
10	Bhandari	Vijaynandan
11	Khaderha	Sanatnandan
12	Chousha	Shivnandan
13	Kirmania	Kaushal
14	Ooman	Vashishtha
15	tetwals	Hindu

Occupation 

The Nemas are considered to be keen at business, and a saying about them is,

"Where a sheep grazes or a Nema trades, what is there left for anybody else?"

Nemas are stereotyped for their intellect, honesty and hard-work. They work as lawyers, bankers, doctors, engineers, software professionals and entrepreneurs. Though in small number Nemas in the past and even today are known for their acumen in accountancy and book-keeping, today many Nemas lead the profession of Charterred Accountants in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur region.

Some Nemas have ventured into politics and were quite successful in Malwa and Bundelkhand region, though now they mainly focus on business and professional services.

Presence

The towns and villages where Nema families live include Narsinghpur, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Indore, Satna, Sagar, Balaghat, Chhindwara, Seoni, Bhilai, Raipur, Kareli, Gadarwara, Amarwara, Aadegaon, Bedu, Mekh, Sighpur, Gotegaon, Dhamna, Naadia and Udaipura. In Vidharbha region, Jain nema are found in Amravati, Akola and Nagpur in smaller numbers.

Nationally presence is noted in: Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad. Mostly because of the young population in IT industry.

Outside India: In US: Newyork, New Jersey, Chicago, Stamford, Hartford city, California state is noted. Nemas are now present in UK, Europe, Australia and New-Zealand.

If you want to correct or add any information to the history of the Nema community please provide details in the comment section below.