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Teli is a
caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
traditionally occupied in the oil pressing and trade in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
,
Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...
, and
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
. Members may be either Hindu or Muslim; Muslim Teli are called Roshandaar or Teli Malik. India's Prime minister
Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...
is from Teli caste. They are included in OBC category list by the Central government but the higher sub castes within Teli such as Telik Vaishya and Tili are considered as
Forward caste Forward caste (or General caste) is a term used in India to denote castes which are not listed in SC, ST or OBC reservation lists. They are on average considered ahead of other castes economically and educationally. They account for about 30.8% ...
s.


History

In the Early Mediaeval period in some parts of
South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...
, the Teli community used to work on their own oil presses to produce oil to be supplied to the temples. The emergence of "
Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
towns" in various parts of south India was instrumental in the improvement of social status of some of the communities that were associated with the supply of essential items for cultural activities. The communities like ''Malakar'' (garland makers) and ''Telikars'' (oil pressers) thus became important for the functioning of such towns. Some of them even became prosperous enough to make donations to the temples. In the first decade of the 20th century, upward mobilisation became the feature of Indian society when lower castes tried to move up in the socio-economic ladder by assuming the names and practices of "upper castes". Professor
M. N. Srinivas Mysore Narasimhachar Srinivas (16 November 1916 – 30 November 1999) was an Indian sociologist and social anthropologist. He is mostly known for his work on caste and caste systems, social stratification, Sanskritisation and Westernisation i ...
notes the attempts of Teli community to claim different surnames in different censuses in a bid to improve their position in '' Varna'' system and ''
Caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
'' hierarchy. In 1911, the Teli community adopted the
surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
, Rathore and started calling themselves '' Rathore Teli''; while in 1931 they claimed themselves to be ''Rathore-
Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Vedic Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of Varna hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, takin ...
''. According to Shankaragouda Hanamantagouda Patil, this was done in order to climb the social ladder. Such practices were common amongst the lower castes in India. The
Arya Samaj Arya Samaj () is a monotheistic Indian Hindu reform movement that promotes values and practices based on the belief in the infallible authority of the Vedas. Dayananda Saraswati founded the samaj in the 1870s. Arya Samaj was the first Hindu ...
movement also attempted to improve the status of lower castes. As in the case of Telis, Shri Satyavrat Sharma Dwivedi an Arya Samajist from
Farrukhabad Farrukhabad is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of the Farrukhabad tehsil. This city is on the banks of river Ganges is from the national capital Delhi and from the state capital Lucknow. His ...
published a magazine "''Telivarna Prakash''" to prove the Teli caste to be of ''
Vaishya Vaishya (Sanskrit: वैश्य, ''vaiśya'') is one of the four varnas of the Vedic Hindu social order in India. Vaishyas are classed third in the order of Varna hierarchy. The occupation of Vaishyas consists mainly of agriculture, takin ...
'' varna. Despite the later attempts to claim higher status Teli were initially considered as
Shudra Shudra or ''Shoodra'' (Sanskrit: ') is one of the four varnas of the Hindu class and social system in ancient India. Some sources translate it into English as a caste, or as a social class. Theoretically, Shudras constituted a class like work ...
and were thought to be lower in status. According to Anand Yang, the Telis worked with beast of burden in the oil pressers and for the purpose of obtaining the desired results from the animals, they were often blinded. This made them ritually impure but later many of them as Yang notes took up the occupation of trading and branched off as Bania in order to conceal the impurity of their origin.


Subdivisions

The Telis of Bengal share their social position with communities like Suvarna Banik, Gandhabanik, Saha. Further, the Ghanchi community of
Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...
have been described as a "counterpart" of the Telis.


Politics


Bihar

In the post
Mandal A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative c ...
phase the growing differences between upper castes and OBC due to tussle between the two groups over political power culminated into replacement of upper castes by the OBCs in the political circle. The Telis along with
Yadav Yadavs are a grouping of non-elite, peasant-pastoral Quote: "The Yadavs were traditionally a low-to-middle-ranking cluster of pastoral-peasant castes that have become a significant political force in Uttar Pradesh (and other northern states l ...
, Kurmi,
Koeri The Koeri (spelt as Koiry or Koiri), also referred to as Kushwaha and more recently self-described as Maurya in several parts of northern India are an Indian non-elite caste, found largely in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, whose traditional oc ...
and Bania took over the erstwhile political elites namely
Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...
,
Bhumihar Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, a Hindu Indian caste system, caste mainly found in Bihar (including the Mithila (region), Mithila region), the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya ...
,
Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...
and
Kayastha Kayastha (or Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the Chandraseniya Ka ...
.The OBCs in Bihar are divided into upper and lower OBC on the basis of socio-economic mobility and political representation. The trio of Yadav, Kurmi and Koeri are considered as upper OBC; Teli along with Kanu, Dhanuk, Kahar,
Kumhar Kumhar or Kumbhar is a Indian caste system, caste or community in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Kumhars have historically been associated with the art of pottery. Etymology The Kumhars derive their name from the Sanskrit word ''Kum ...
and others are classified as lower OBC. In the late 2000s, some among the Teli community of
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
, organised by the Teli Sena, were engaging in vote bank politics as they sought to achieve categorisation as a Most Backward Class in the state. Initially, they had failed to achieve this repositioning in India's official
positive discrimination Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...
scheme, with opposition coming from other groups who considered the Teli to be too populous and socio-economically influential to justify the change. In April 2015, Bihar chief Minister
Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...
announced a decision to include the Teli caste in the list of Extremely Backward Class in Bihar. As per the report of Bihar caste-based survey 2022, the population of Teli in Bihar is 2.81%.


Jharkhand

In 2018 the
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
led government in Jharkhand tried to include castes like Teli and Kurmi in the category of Scheduled Tribes, which was welcomed by protests from tribals of Jharkhand under the banner of ''Jai Adivasi Yuvashakti'' (JAY) a local organisation which organised "Adivasi Akrosh Maharally", a gathering of all principal tribal groups of the state to protest against the same.


Maharashta

Teli form as a major caste in Vidarbha. They are found in every district of Maharashtra.


Chhattisgarh

Teli are known as Sahu in Chhattisgarh.


Telis in Nepal

The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Teli as a subgroup within the broader social group of
Madheshi Madheshi people () is a term used for several ethnic groups in Nepal living in the Terai region of Nepal. It has also been used as a political pejorative term by the Pahari people (Nepal), Pahari people of Nepal to refer to Nepalis with a no ...
Other Caste. At the time of the
2011 Nepal census Nepal conducted a widespread national census in 2011 by the Nepal Central Bureau of Statistics. Working in cooperation with the 58 municipalities and the 3,915 Village Development Committees at a district level, they recorded data from all the m ...
, 369,688 people (1.4% of the population of Nepal) were Teli. The frequency of Telis by province was as follows: *
Madhesh Province Madhesh Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal in the Terai region with an area of covering about 6.5% of the country's total area. It has a population of 6,126,288 as per the 2021 Nepal census, making it Nepal's most densely po ...
(5.1%) *
Koshi Province Koshi Province () is an autonomous Provinces of Nepal, province of Nepal adopted by the Constitution of Nepal on 20 September 2015. It covers an area of , about 17.5% of the country's total area. With the industrial city of Biratnagar as its cap ...
(0.9%) *
Lumbini Province Lumbini Province () is a Provinces of Nepal, province in western Nepal. The country's Provinces of Nepal, third largest province in terms of area as well as List of Nepalese provinces by population, population, Lumbini is home to the World Herita ...
(0.9%) *
Bagmati Province Bagmati Province (, ''Bāgmatī pradēśa'') is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. Bagmati is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest province by area. It is bordered ...
(0.2%) *
Gandaki Province Gandaki Province ( ) ), is one of the seven federal provinces established by the current constitution of Nepal which was promulgated on 20 September 2015. Pokhara is the province's capital city. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region in Southw ...
(0.1%) * Karnali Province (0.0%) *
Sudurpashchim Province Sudurpashchim Province () is one of the seven Provinces of Nepal, provinces established by the Constitution of Nepal, new constitution of Nepal which was adopted on 20 September 2015. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China to the north, ...
(0.0%) The frequency of Telis was higher than national average (1.4%) in the following districts:2011 Nepal Census, District Level Detail Report
/ref> *
Saptari Saptari (), is Located in the easternmost part of Madhesh Province, is one of the List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal. Its district headquarter is Rajbiraj. Saptari is an Terai#Outer Terai, Outer Terai district. This dist ...
(7.3%) * Rautahat (5.6%) * Sarlahi (5.4%) * Dhanusha (5.2%) *
Siraha Siraha ( Nepali: , ) is the headquarters and municipality of Siraha District, a part of Madhesh Province, Nepal. Siraha had a population of 28,442 according to the census of 2011. and a population of 82,531 as of 2015. The current population of Si ...
(4.8%) * Parsa (4.2%) * Bara (4.1%) * Mahottari (4.1%) * Parasi (3.3%) * Sunsari (2.3%) * Kapilvastu (1.9%) * Morang (1.6%)


See also

* Other Backward Class * Ghanchi (Muslim)


References


Further reading

*
Bene Israel The Bene Israel (), also referred to as the "Teli, Shanivar Teli" () or "History of the Jews in India, Native Jew" caste, are a community of Jews in India. It has been suggested that they are the descendants of one of the Ten Lost Tribes via t ...
* * *{{cite book , title=Class, Status, and Power: Social Stratification in Comparative Perspective , first1=Reinhard , last1=Bendix , first2=Seymour Martin , last2=Lipset , publisher=Taylor & Francis , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVUVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA29 Punjabi tribes Bania communities Oil pressing castes Surnames Social groups of Gujarat Social groups of Rajasthan Social groups of Uttar Pradesh Social groups of Haryana Social groups of Punjab, India Social groups of Bihar Social groups of Odisha