Teli or Gandla: Deccan
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Teli or Gandla
This article is an extract from THE CASTES AND TRIBES OF H. E. H. THE NIZAM'S DOMINIONS BY SYED SIRAJ UL HASSAN Of Merton College, Oxford, Trinity College, Dublin, and Middle Temple, London. One of the Judges of H. E. H. the Nizam's High Court of Judicature : Lately Director of Public Instruction. BOMBAY THE TlMES PRESS 1920 Indpaedia is an archive. It neither agrees nor disagrees |
Gandla, Ganigaru, Tilwan, Teli, Tilghatak— a very large func- tional caste of oil-pressers and traders found almost in every village of the Hyderabad territory, but especially numerous in the Warangal District, whiqh produces oil-seeds in great abundance. The members of the caste call themselves Gandlas in Telingana, Ganigaru in the Carnatic and Tilwans in Ma/iarashtra, while the names Teli and Tilghatak are used by outsiders. It appears that the Telugu designa- tion 'gandla' is simply a variant of the Carnatic 'ganigaru,' both being derived from the Canarese ' ganiga,' the oil mill.
Origin
According to Manu, the Gandlas are the off-spring of a ' parashava ' father and an ' ugra ' mother. Other authorities make them the descendants of a Brahmin father by a Tamboli mother. Their own traditions bear mostly an imaginative character. One of these traces their o-jigin to Paulastya, a descendant of the king Kramaganth Manu of the lunar race. Another legend describes that the Gandlas werfe originally Kshatriyas of the solar race and, a» devout worshippers of the God Siva, visited his temple daily with their guru Kapil Mahamuni. Once upon a time Kapil Muni, being unable to pay his customary visit to the temple, desired them to offer sesame seeds to the god and bring him a portion of the offering. The • Kshatriyas made the offering but consumed the whole themselves reserving no share for the sage. The Mahamuni, much offended at this wilful disobedience of his disciples, cursed them and condemned them to a degraded existence on til produce. These legends are instructive for their attempt to show how the caste was recruited from the respectable members of the Hindu community.
Internal Structure
In Telingana the caste is divided into the following endogamous groups. Deva Gandla, Balija Gandla, Telkula Gandla, Reddi Gandla, Vanliyaddu Gandla, Siva Gandla, Lad Gandla, and Chalka Gandla. Deva Gandlas 3Se Shaivaits, acknow- ledging Aradhi Brahmins as their spiritual |guides. Like Lingayits they wear the lingam on their body but unlike them they iCtain their hair-locks. The Balija Gandlas are Lingayits in creed and have Jangams for their priests. They wear the Imgam but do not wear the hair lock. These two groups claim social precedence over the other Gandla sub-castes. Telkula Gandlas were origipally oil-pressers, but prosperity and weajth have bettered "their position and they have now exchanged their hereditary calling for shop-keeping and deal in oil and oil-cakes. Opinions differ regarding the origin of the Reddi Gandlas. The members of this sub-caste profess to be descended from Reddis, as the respectable members of the Kapu caste are styled; but by some authorities they are believed to be the same as the Randu-eddu sub-caste (Randu — two and Yeddu — bullock) of Madras, whose name has reference to their custom of using two bullocks to turn the oil-mill. Vanti-Yeddus (Vanti — one and Yeddu — bullock) are so called as they use only one bullock for their oil-press. Chetti Gandlas appear to have assumed the title 'chetti*,' or trader, to denote that they belong to the respectable class of traders. Shiva Gandlas are said to extract oil only from til seeds and consider it derogatory to use other seeds for the purpose.
The Telis of Maharashtra have three sub-divisions, Tilwan Telis, Lad Telis, and Mirje, or Lingayit, Telis. Tilwan Telis profess to trace their origin to the demon Tilasur, but the story appears to be a mere play upon the word til. The sub-caste is doubtless evolved ' from the Maratha Kunbis by reason of their having followed the humble occupation of oil-pressing. Tilwan Telis use both one or two bullocks, or even bull-buffaloes, to turn their mills. Lad Telis seem to have originally come from Lat Desh, or southern Gujerath, and are identical with the Lad Gandlas of Telingana. In their social standing they are inferior to other sub-castes of Telis. Mirje, or Lingayit Telis, are either immigrants from the Carnatic, or descendants of the local Telis who, in some past time, adopted the creed of Lingayitism.
In the Carnatic, where the predominant faith is Lingayitism, the majority of Telis are Lingawants and are designated as ganigam.
Their social rank in" the Lingayit community is determined by the test whether they are entitled to the Ashtawarna rites, or eieht-foW sacrament of the Lingayit sect (this is fully described in the report on that sect).
In the District of Adilabad is found a community of oil-pressers by name 'San' Telis, who have a tradition that they were originally residents of Berar and the Central Provinces, but were compelled by famine and irftestine disputes to abandon their country and seek a new home. Thejr heme speech is jMarathi and their customs and usages are haijflly distinct from thf Khaira and Dhanojya Kunbis, to whom they are inferior in social rank.
The Telis of the Dominions might, therefore, be more appro- priately described as a collection of castes than as one caste. There is, for instance, nothing in common, beyond occupation, between the Tilwan Telis of Maharashtra and the Deva Gandlas of Telingana. These several sub-castes neither eat together nor intermarry.
It is said that the Gandlas have, in all, one thousand exogamous sections, of which nearly four hundred are known at the present day. It is curious to notice that these section names all end in the termination 'nulla which means gingelly seed in Telugu. The sections are mostly of the eponymous type, a few of them only being totemistic. The totems are not reverenced by the members of the caste holding their names. No member of the caste can marry within the section or outside the sub-caste to which he belongs. Marriage with the daughter of a father's or mother's sister is not allowed. It is allowed with the daughter of a maternal uncle.
Marriage
Except among the San Telis of Adilabad, who recog- nise adult marriage, girls are manied before they attain the age of puberty. Among Gandlas sexual intercourse before puberty is enjoined on pain of social degradation, a special ceremony called Nashika being performed on the occasion. By other sub -castes it is tacitly tolerated. Polygamy is permitted without any restriction being imposed on the number of wives a man may have.
The Gandla marriage ceremony is of the orthodox type and conforms closely to that of the higher caste Hindus of the locality. ■ After a suitable bride has been selected and the betrothal or chttpavidam has been performed, a maniage booth, made of salai leaves (BosWellia thmijera) with a salai post planted in its centre, is erected at the girl's house. Round the central post is dug a circular pit in which are ceremonially thrown pearls, flowers, and other auspicious articles (fcajj). On the wedding day the bridegroom, riding usually on a oullock and sometimes on a horse, is escorted in proc&sion to the bride's house where, on arrival, the bride's people welcome Wm and wave rice and curds round his face to avert the evil eye. He is then taken to the wedding pandal where the bride joins him and both are made to stand face to face screened from each other by a curtain held between them. The officiating Brahmin recites mantras and throwii grains of rice, coloured with turmeric, on their heads. This is followed iDy Kanyadan, Jiragudam, Padghaianam, Pvstiftnetalu, and Kankaflbandhanam, the first being regarded by the caste as the essential and binding portion of the ceremony. On the fourth day the Nagbali is celebrated, when the bride and bride- groom are seated side by side on two wooden stools, facing the east, and surrounded by conical heaps of rice crested with lighted lamps. The parents of the young couple, with five other married couples, march five times round them and make them presents of clothes, money and o'.her jrticles. After the bride and bridegroom have retired inside the house, the bah is claimed by a Dhobi, who re- moves the rice Aid cleanses the ground. The Gandlas do not allow their widows to marry again ; but it is observed that the Gandla widows of the Nirmal Taluka are permitted to remarry by the rite current among other Telugu castes of the same social standing. Divorce is recognised, a divorced woman being simply turned out of her husband's house and subsequently forbidden to marry again.
The maniage ceremony of the Maratha Telis differs little from that of the Maratha Kunbis, except that the wedding procession of the former is made on a bullock and that their marriage guardian deity, or Devaka, is represented by a beam of scales with a wheaten or jawari cake tied to it. Widows are allowed to marry again and divorce is recognised by the caste.
The San Telis of the Adilabad District perform their marriage ceremony at midnight, on the model furnished by the Khaira oi Dhanojya Kunbis. Widow-marriage is permitted and divorce is recognised by the members of the caste.
Religion
Almost all Gandlas, except those who are brought within the fold of Lingayitism, are Vibhatidharis, or devotees of the God Siva, whom they worship every day v^ith a variety*of offerings. All Gandlas, male and female, are invested before marriage with the Lingam by Aradhi Bjahmins, who 3ct as their gurus, or spiritual advisers. Special reverence is paid by the whole caste to their tutelary deity Veerbhadra, to whom offerings of flowers and sweetmeats are made every Monday in the month, of Shravana (July-August). Raj Rajeshwar, Narsinh • Swami and other Hindu gods are also reverenced by the caste. On Ganesh Chcmlh, or the fourth of the light half of Bhadra, they worship oil mills, wooden rollers and other implements of their trade. A man of the Tamadi caste daily visits their houses, offers puja to the oil mill and claims as his due eight tolas of oil from them. The patron deity of the Gandla females is Gauramma, the consort of Mahadeva, to whom clothes, flowers and other sacred objects are presented in the month of Kartika (October-November). Telugu Brahmins are employed as priests for the performance of marriage and other «reIigious ceremonies. The priests of Balija, or Lingayit Gandlas, are Jangams, "under whose presidency all their sectarian and ceremonial obsmances are con- ducted. The Maratha Telis pay devotion to Mahadeva, whose sacred shrine is at Shinganapur in the Satara District of the Bombay Presi- dency. Deshastha Brahmins are engaged for religious and ceremonial purposes.
The religion of San Telis is animism combined with ancestor worship. Kurbhan (a form of Tuljapur Bhavani) and Waghoba (the deity presiding over the^tiger demon) are their principal deities, represented by small slabs of stone set up generally outside the villaae. Before the celebration of the marriage ceremony the souls of departed ancestors are propitiated, in the form of wheaten flour balls bedaubed with vermilion, with various offerings and sacrifices.
Disposal of the Dead
The Gandlas bum their dead and throw the ashes in a sacred stream that is handy. Children dying before they have cut their teeth, persons dying of cholera and small- pox and those that die unmarried, are buried in a lying posture. A tomb is usually erected on the spot where the dead body is buried or burnf. On the thirteenth day after death Sradha is perfonned and rice b^lls are offered for the benefit of the departed sqjjl. Lingayat. Gandlas bury their dead in a sitting posture wfth the lice turned towards the north. After the corpse has been seated in the nichs made in the side of the grave, Bilava leaves and a Lingam are placed in the left hand, which is closed by the right hand. The grave is then filled in and a Jangam priest, standing on it, announces, wifli the blowing of his conch, that the departed spirit has reached Kailas, the blessed abode of Siva.
The Marafha Tells, both San and Tilwan, usually burn the dead *bodies; but when rfiey cannot afford to bear the expenses of cremation they bury them. Sradha is performed on the thirteenth day after death and subsequently in the months of Vaishakha and Bhadrapad. Brahmins attend their funeral obsequies.
Social Status. — The social status of the caste varies in different parts of the country and for different sub-castes. The Gandlas, for instance, rank higher than Kapus, Welmas, Gollas, Sales and Munnurs, and eat cooked food (kachi) only from the hands of Aradhi Brahmins and sweetmeat prepared by the Komati and Balija castes. They abstain from liquor and from all kinds of animal food and it is for this abstinence that Kapus, Gollas and other low castes will take cooked food from their hands. The Deva Gandlas claim to be of higher social standing than other Gandla sub-castes. The Tilwan and San Telis stand on a lower social level than Kunbis, Malis, Hatkars, Wanjaris and Dhangars, eating goats, sheep, fowl, deer, hare and fish and drinking fermented and spirituous liquors. Lingayit Gandlas, or Telis, do not eat food cooked even by a Brahmin but they take it when prepared by Lingayit Vanis or Balijas. They are vegetarians and consider it a blessing to eat Prasad, or the leavings of their priests or Jangams. No members of the caste wear the sacred thread.
Occupation
The traditional occupation of the caste is to express oil from oil-seeds, the chief seeds being Til, (Sesamum indicum), Bhuimug, ground-nuts, (Arachis hypogaca), Karad, safflower (Carthamus tindorius). Ram Til, (Guizotia ab})sssorica), Karanj (Pongamia glabra), Arandi, castor seeds (Ricinus commanh), Ambadi, brown hemp, (Hibiscus cannabimis)f and Moha (Bassia latifolia). The oil press consists of ^a wooden mortar and a heavy pestle to crush the seeds and is driven by bullocks or bull-buffaloes with blinkers to blind their eyes. It is of two kinds, the one, known as Kolhu with a hole at the bottom thrifugh which the oil trickles out and the other of primitive pattern having no hole for the removal of the oil, wfjich is taken OTit by a cocoanut shell or a small metal cup on the pestlr being withdrawn The increase of oil traffic, since the introduction of railways, is bringing the former machine into extensive use at the present day. To extract the oil from safflower the seeds are ground and husked and, after being sifted, thrown into the press. The castor seeds yield the castor oil in use for burning and medicinal purposes. This oil is obtained by roasting the seeds and thoroughly pounding them in a hand-mill. The Arad or crushed product is put in a pan containing boiling water and the whole is boiled slowly over the fire until the straw-coloured oil has risen to the surface. The oil refuse, Khalli or Penda, is used in feeding cattle.
The pressing of oil is one of the most important industries in the Hyderabad Territory, vast quantity of oil being annually exported from the Dominions, and has given occupation to numerous families of oil-pressers. The Deva Gandlas use two bullocks to turn their mills while other sub-castes practically observe no restrictions. A few members of the caste have given up their original profession and become traders and shop-keepers. Some have taken to agriculture and are occupancy and non-occupancy raiats and farm labourers. They have a caste Panchayat, the headman of which is called a Chaudhari. The sight of a Teli, when starling on a journey or at the outset of any undertaking, is popularly regarded as an evil omen causing failure in the business.
