 Teli oil press (Russell, 1916) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 India,  Nepal,  Pakistan | |
| Languages | |
| Hindi • Bhojpuri • Odia [1] | |
| Religion | |
| Hinduism, Islam, Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Kandu, Sundhi |
Teli is a caste traditionally occupied in the oil pressing and trade in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Members may be either Hindu or Muslim; Muslim Teli are called Roshandaar or Teli Malik. [2]
In the Early Medieval period in some parts of south India, Teli community used to work on their own oil presses to produce oil to be supplied to the temples. The emergence of "Temple towns" in various parts of south India was instrumental in the improvement of social status of some of the communities who 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. [3]
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 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 hierarchy. In 1911, the Teli community adopted the surname, Rathore and started calling themselves Rathore Teli; while in 1931 they claimed themselves to be Rathore-Vaishya . 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. [4] The Arya Samaj 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 published a magazine "Telivarna Prakash" to prove the Teli caste to be of Vaishya varna. [5]
Despite of the later attempts to claim higher status Teli were initially considered as Shudra 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 their impure origin. [6]
The Telis of Bengal share their social position with communities like Suvarna Banik, Gandhabanik, Saha. [7] Further, the Ghanchi community of Gujarat have been described as a "counterpart" of the Telis. [8]
In the post Mandal 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, Kurmi, Koeri and Bania took over the erstwhile political elites namely Brahmin, Bhumihar, Rajput and Kayastha.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 and others are classified as lower OBC. [9] In the late 2000s, some among the Teli community of Bihar, 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 scheme, [10] with opposition coming from other groups who considered the Teli to be too populous and socio-economically influential to justify the change. [11] In April 2015, Bihar chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a decision to include the Teli caste in the list of Extremely Backward Class in Bihar. [12] [13] As per the report of Bihar caste-based survey 2022, the population of Teli in Bihar is 2.81%. [14] [15]
In 2018 the Bharatiya Janata Party 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. [16]
The Central Bureau of Statistics of Nepal classifies the Teli as a subgroup within the broader social group of Madheshi Other Caste. [17] At the time of the 2011 Nepal census, 369,688 people (1.4% of the population of Nepal) were Teli. The frequency of Telis by province was as follows:
The frequency of Telis was higher than national average (1.4%) in the following districts: [18]
The Other Backward Class (OBC) is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes that are educationally or socially backward. It is one of several official classifications of the population of India, along with general castes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs and STs). The OBCs were found to comprise 52% of the country's population by the Mandal Commission report of 1980 and were determined to be 41% in 2006 when the National Sample Survey Organisation took place. There is substantial debate over the exact number of OBCs in India; it is generally estimated to be sizable, but many believe that it is higher than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or the National Sample Survey.
Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tillage and manuring, and gender-neutral culture, bringing praise from Mughal and British administrators alike.
Bihari is a demonym given to the inhabitants of the Indian state of Bihar. Bihari people can be separated into three main Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic groups, Bhojpuris, Maithils and Magadhis. They are also further divided into a variety of hereditary caste groups. In Bihar today, the Bihari identity is seen as secondary to caste/clan, linguistic and religious identity but nonetheless is a subset of the larger Indian identity. Biharis can be found throughout India, and in the neighbouring countries of Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. During the Partition of India in 1947, many Bihari Muslims migrated to East Bengal. Bihari people are also well represented in the Muhajir people of Pakistan because of Partition.
The Mallaah are the traditional boatmen and fishermen tribes or communities found in North India, East India, Northeastern India and Pakistan. A significant number of Mallah are also found in Nepal and Bangladesh. In the Indian state of Bihar, the term Nishad includes the Mallah and refers to communities whose traditional occupation centred on rivers.
In India, a caste although it's a western stratification arrived from Portuguese word Casta and Latin word castus ,is a social group where membership is decided by birth. Broadly, Indian castes are divided into the Forward Castes, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes. Indian Christians and Indian Muslims are also function as castes. With castes separating individuals into different social groups, it follows that each group will have conflicting interests; oftentimes putting those with lower social standing in less favorable positions. An attempt to address this inequality has been the reservation system, which essentially acts as affirmative action to provide representation to caste groups that have been systematically disadvantaged. There have also been other cases where political parties, like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was formed to challenge the power of the upper castes.
Kushwaha is a community of the Indo-Gangetic Plain that has traditionally been involved in agriculture, including beekeeping. The term has been used to represent different sub-castes of the Kachhis, Kachhvahas, Koeris and Muraos. Under the Indian governments system of positive discrimination, the Kushwahas are classified as a "Backward" or Other backward class. The Kushwaha had worshipped Shiva and Shakta, but beginning in the 20th century, they claim descent from the Suryavansh (Solar) dynasty via Kusha, one of the twin sons of Rama and Sita. At present, it is a broad community formed by coming together of several caste groups with similar occupational backgrounds and socio-economic status, who, over the time, started inter-marrying among themselves and created all India caste network for caste solidarity. The communities which merged into this caste cluster includes Kachhi, Kachhwaha, Kushwaha, Mali, Marrar, Saini, Sonkar, Murai, Shakya, Maurya, Koeri and Panara.
Bhumihar, also locally called Bhuinhar and Babhan, is a Hindu caste mainly found in Bihar, the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, the Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, and Nepal.
Bihari Mauritians are the descendants of mainly Bhojpuri speaking migrants to Mauritius. A majority of Indo-Mauritians are of Bihari descent, and the majority of Mauritians are Indo-Mauritian. Castewise, most Bihari Mauritians are Vaishyas with significant Bhumihars, Brahmins, Rajputs, Koeris, Chamars, Yadavs, Kurmis, Banias and Kayasthas. All but one Mauritian Prime Ministers have been of Bihari Vaishya descent. The community includes a Hindu majority with a Muslim minority. About 65.7 % of the 1.3 million population of Mauritius is of Indian origin, most of them from Bihar, with Bhojpuri as their ancestral tongue.
Yadav, Jadam, or Jadav refers to a grouping of traditionally non-elite, peasant-pastoral communities or castes in India that since the 19th and 20th centuries have claimed descent from the mythological king Yadu as a part of a movement of social and political resurgence. The term Yadav now covers many traditional peasant-pastoral castes such as Ahirs of the Hindi belt and the Gavli of Maharashtra.
Kandu or Kanu is a social group or caste that belongs to the Vaishya varna of the Hindu religion. The community is also referred to as Madheshia Vaishya. They are also identified with the term Bania of the Tirhut and Madhesi region, representing a community that has been historically associated with smaller trading activities, business, shop-keeping, grain -parching etc. in the eastern parts of India.
The Koeri, 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 occupation was agriculture. According to Arvind Narayan Das they were horticulturist rather than agriculturists. They are also recorded as performing the work of Mahajan in credit market of rural parts of Bihar and Bengal in 1880s. Koeris have attempted Sanskritisation— as part of social resurgence. During the British rule in India, Koeris were described as "agriculturalists" along with Kurmis and other cultivating castes. They are described as a dominant caste in various opinions.
The Paswan, also known as Dusadh, are a Dalit community from eastern India. They are found mainly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Urdu word Paswan means bodyguard or "one who defends". The origin of the word, per the belief of the community, lies in their participation in the battle against Siraj-ud-daulah, the Nawab of Bengal at the behest of British East India Company, after which they were rewarded with the post of Chowkidars and lathi wielding tax collector for the Zamindars. They follow certain rituals such as walking on fire to assert their valour.
Rajputs in Bihar are members of the Rajput community living in the eastern Indian state of Bihar. They traditionally formed part of the feudal elite in Bihari society. Rajputs were pressed with the Zamindari abolition and Bhoodan movement in post-independence India; along with other Forward Castes, they lost their significant position in Bihar's agrarian society, leading to the rise of Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Triveni Sangh was a caste coalition and political party established in Shahabad District of Bihar in pre-independence India to voice the political solidarity of "middle peasant castes" as well as to carve a space in democratic politics for the lower castes. The date of formation of the Triveni Sangh has been variously stated. Some sources have said it was the 1920s but Kumar notes recently discovered documentation that makes 1933 more likely, while Christophe Jaffrelot has said 1934. The leaders associated with the formation of this front were Yadunandan Prasad Mehta, Shivpujan Singh and Jagdev Singh Yadav.
The Backward Caste movement in Bihar can be traced back to the formation of Triveni Sangh, a caste coalition and political party, in the 1930s, which was revived after the introduction of land reforms in the 1950s aimed at removing intermediaries from agrarian society. But, this drive could not succeed in bringing long-lasting changes in the condition of lower strata of society, as they lacked political representation and economic power. The period since land reform included caste conflicts and the class struggle which eventually led to a transfer of absolute political power in the hands of Backward Castes, who had been kept away from it earlier. The class struggle succeeded the struggle of some of the Upper Backward Castes against the sacerdotal authorities for improvement in their ritual status. By the 1990s, the conflict between upper-castes and the lower-castes continued, with nearly 17 massacres taking place during this time period. But with the advent of politics of social justice and the Janata Dal in the 1990s, the lower caste became more active politically.
The Upper Backward Caste is a term used to describe the middle castes in Bihar, whose social and ritual status was not very low and which has traditionally been involved in the agricultural and animal husbandry related activities in the past. They have also been involved in low scale trade to some extent. The Koeri, Kurmi, Yadav and Bania are categorised as the upper-backwards amongst the Other Backward Class group; while the various other caste groups which constitutes the OBC, a group comprising 51% of the population of state of Bihar, has been classified as lower backwards. The upper-backwards also called upper OBC represents approximately 20.3% of the population of Bihar. These agricultural caste were the biggest beneficiaries of the land reform drive which was undertaken in the 1950s in the state and they strengthened their economic position by gaining a significant portion of excess land under the ceiling laws, which prohibited the ownership of land above a certain ceiling.
The Luv-Kush equation is a political term used in the context of the politics of Bihar, to denote the alliance of the agricultural Kurmi and the Koeri caste, which was assumed to be approximately 15% of the state's population The alliance of these two caste groups has remained the support base of Nitish Kumar, as against the MY equation of Lalu Prasad Yadav, which constitutes Muslims and the Yadavs. Caste consciousness and the quest for political representation largely drive the politics of Bihar. The political alliance of the Koeri and the Kurmi castes, termed the "Luv-Kush equation" was formed when a massive Kurmi Chetna Rally was organised by members of the Kurmi community in 1994 against the alleged casteist politics of Lalu Yadav, who was blamed by contemporary community leaders for promoting Yadavs in politics and administration.
A dominant caste is one which preponderates numerically over other castes and also wields preponderant economic and political power. A large and powerful caste group can be more easily dominant if its position in the local caste hierarchy is not too low. The concept of dominant caste was introduced in 1959 by sociologist M. N. Srinivas.
Dalits in Bihar are a social group composed of many Scheduled Castes, placed at the bottom of the "caste-based social order". The Dalits also include some of the erstwhile untouchable castes, who suffered various forms of oppression in the feudal-agrarian society of Bihar. Some of the Dalit castes have specific cultural practices, which differ from those of orthodox Hinduism.
The 2022 Bihar Caste Based Survey was notified by the Government of Bihar on 6 June 2022 by gazette notification after a Supreme Court ruling. The survey was conducted in two phases, house listing and caste and economic enumeration. The data collection for the survey began on 7 January 2023 and the data was released on 2 October 2023. The responsibility to conduct the survey was given to the General Administration Department (GAD) of the Government of Bihar. The government planned to collect the data digitally by mobile application named Bijaga- Bihar Jaati Adharit Ganana. BELTRON, a Government of Bihar agency provided IT support, hired the services of a Maharashtra-based private firm Trigyn Technologies to develop the mobile app.
Often oil presser is referred as Teli , " Telikar or Tailyakar ( Sanskrit - Tailikakar ) etc . The reference of ... Obviously oil industry , whether on small or large scale was important and the telikaras i.e. the oil pressers assumed importance in the rural and urban life . ... It appears from the inscriptions that some part of the oil production was donated to the Temples , for the worship of the diety ( in the temples ) .