Toil-Pal, Teli, Taili, Tailika, Tailka-Kara
This article is an extract from
THE TRIBES and CASTES of BENGAL. Ethnographic Glossary. Printed at the Bengal Secretariat Press. 1891. . |
NOTE 1: Indpaedia neither agrees nor disagrees with the contents of this article. Readers who wish to add fresh information can create a Part II of this article. The general rule is that if we have nothing nice to say about communities other than our own it is best to say nothing at all.
NOTE 2: While reading please keep in mind that all articles in this series have been scanned from a very old book. Therefore, footnotes have got inserted into the main text of the article, interrupting the flow. Readers who spot scanning errors are requested to report the correct spelling to the Facebook page, Indpaedia.com. All information used will be duly acknowledged.
Toil-Pal, Teli, Taili, Tailika, Tailka-Kara
In Eastern Bengal there are two great subdivisions of this caste, the Toil-pal, or Manuhar Pal, and the Teli, the former being the richer and more numerous. The Toil-pal are frequently distinguished by the epithet "Do-patti," from having adopted the Sudra marriage custom of carrying the bride and bridegroom on stools. The Teli, again, are known as "Ek-gachhi," from their planting a "Champa" tree, on which the bridegroom sits, while the bride is carried round him several times, as with the Gandha-baniks.
Originally, however, there were no divisions, and all oilmen belonged to one caste, but wealth having begot new objects of desire, the richer families, ashamed of their ancestral occupation, have adopted a new name to conceal their parentage. In Nadiya and Kishnaghar another separation has taken place, the Tilis affecting to be of a higher lineage than the Telis, although they still retain the old family titles. Wealth and prosperity have made them give up the manufacture of oil, and led them to become "Amdawalah," traders buying goods wholesale and selling them by retail.
In the northern parts of the Dacca district, beyond the limits of the Ballali country, the oilman caste has other divisions varying in almost every Parganah. In the Raipura jurisdiction there are four classes, the "Satrah," or seventeen families; the "Bais," or twenty-two; the "Chaubis," or twenty-four; and the "Char," or four, each taking rank in the order named, and large dowries being given by the last three for wives belonging to the first class.
In Dacca the Toil-pals and Telis intermarry, and are regarded as clean Sudras. The gotras common to both are Aliman, Sandilya, and Kasyapa. The Padavis, or family surnames, are�
Pal, De,
Nandi, Kundu. Chaudhari and Shiqdar, honorary titles bestowed by the native government, are common among them, while the headman is styled Mundle. In former days their unions (Dals) were notorious for the faction fights which broke out whenever differences of opinion were expressed. No "Dal" exists at the present day, but the Mundle summons a Panchait when required.
The degraded Kolu caste found in other parts of Bengal are not met with in Dacca. There are, however, two outcast classes of oilmen in Eastern Bengal, who have been excommunicated because they manufacture oil in a novel manner; he first, or Gachhua Teli, express the oil by crushing the seed between wooden rollers; the second, or Bhunja Teli, parch the seed, and then extract the oil.
The pure Telis only extract Til oil from the sesamum seed, and caste is forfeited if any other oil be manufactured. The "Ghani," or oil mill driven by bullocks, is never used, the oil being prepared in the following manner. The seeds are boiled, and given to the Muhammadan Kuti to husk. After being sifted, the Teli puts them into large vats (Jala), boiling water being poured in, and the seeds allowed to soak for twelve hours. In the morning the liquid is beaten with bamboo paddles (Ghotna) and left to settle, when the oil floating on the surface is skimmed off and stored, no attempts to purify it being made. The refuse (Khali) is given to cattle.
The Teli caste is found in all parts of the country, the Til oil being eaten by Hindus at every meal, but oilmen are chiefly massed on high lands, where the Til plant (Sesamum orientale) grows best. In 1872 the oilman caste, including the Teli, Tili, and Kolu throughout Bengal, numbered 572,659 persons, while in Dacca alone it comprised 5 Teli, 556 Kolu, and 13,150 Tilis, or a total of 13,711 individuals. It has been already pointed out that this repudiation of the primary name is not defended by the caste itself, nor attributed to any better motive than the pretension of the richer families. The Kolu, again, has probably been confounded with the Muhammadan "Kolu," engaged in expressing oil.
The Teli caste is a Vaishnava one. Their principal festivals are those in honour of Lakshmi, Sarasvati and Gandhesvari, the last being celebrated on the Dashara in Aswin (Sept.-Oct.), and not on the full moon of Baisakh (April-May) as with the Gandha-baniks. Many oilmen have given up the oil trade and become bankers, cloth-dealers, and shopkeepers, but, like other clean Sudras, will not sell spirits, or cultivate the soil.
Members of this caste have acquired historical renown. Krishna Kanta Nandi, better known as Kanta Baboo, the "Banyan" of Warren Hastings, immortalised by the eloquent invectives of Edmund Burke, was a Teli by caste, and did much to raise its position among the Hindus. On visiting Jagannath, he offered to provide an "Atka," or assignment of land for the maintenance of the poor, but the "Panda," or presiding priest, refused to accept it from the hands of such an unworthy person. Kanta Baboo successfully appealed to the Pandits of Nadiya and Hughli, who decided that the Teli, by using the balance (Tula) in his trade, must necessarily belong to the Bania, a clean Sudra caste. Kanta Babu died in 1780, and it is said that he first introduced the "Nath," or nose-ring, among the females of his caste, it having previously been only worn by Brahmans, and the higher Sudras. The present representative of his family, Maharani Sarnamayi of Kasimbazar, is renowned for her charity and munificence in support of works devised for the advancement of her countrymen and countrywomen.
Many of the wealthiest gentlemen of Bengal are members of the Teli caste, and the Kundu family of Baghyakul, and the Pal Chaudharis of Lohu-jang, in Dacca, are second to none of the merchants of Bengal.
