Kirti, a little Modh Bania girl, stood petrified beside her devout mother. With eyes closed, the woman chanted slokas to the Hindu deity with 18 hands. In the imagination of little Kirti, the idol took on life, and its piercing eyes seemed to follow them as her mother walked around the temple.
On their way home Kirti was a different person. Shedding her frightened demeanor, she skipped and hopped beside her mother. "Why were you not praying in the temple, Kirti?" asked her mother. Referencing the idol the little girl replied, "The face of Modheshwari Mata frightens me." "Hush! You will anger the gods, and we will encounter misfortune if you speak like that," chided her distraught mother, who herself was always on edge. She was worried that the health and well-being of her family depended on the whim of the gods.

The wealthy Modh people deal in real estate and jewelry. They once lived only in the northern part of Gujarat state in a small town called Modhera, which derived its name from the Modheshwari Mata temple and the community around it. The Modh are now dispersed throughout India and other countries.
Some of the more famous Modhs are Mohandas Ghandi, popularly known as the Mahatma Ghandi, and Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and managing director of the Reliance Conglomerate, whom Forbes identifies as one of the wealthiest men in the world.

* Scripture Prayers for the Bania Modh in India.

Pray that the Modh Banias would acknowledge Christ Jesus as the source of hope and provision for humanity.

Some information from "The Scheduled Castes" K. S. Singh, ed. Oxford University Press, USA (1994)