Teli

Clans and Kinship

Telis are divided into endogamous sub-castes, most named after places. William Crooke (1896) recorded the Byahut, Jaiswar, Jaunpuri, Kanaujiya, Mathuriya, Rathaur, Sribastab and Umare in the North-Western Provinces, with a Muslim branch apart, and 742 sections returned at the 1891 census. In the eastern districts, he writes, a man may not marry within his own kul, nor into the families of his mother's brother or father's sister until three generations have passed. In the Central Provinces Russell and Hira Lal (1916) found sub-castes such as the Halia, Jharia and Ekbahia of Chhattisgarh, the Ekbaile and Dobaile of the Nagpur country and the Sao Telis of Wardha, each divided into exogamous septs named after villages, titles or nicknames. Marriage within the sept and between first cousins was usually forbidden.

A few of the exogamous septs of the Central Provinces, as named by Russell and Hira Lal (1916), who say most sept names could not be identified and that the septs of the Rathor Telis of Mandla are named after villages. Crooke (1896) names the sections of most local importance in the North-Western Provinces (Kaithiya, Parnami, Surahiya, Batra, Mahur and others) without saying how they work in marriage. Sept names differ by region.

In the Official Lists

No listing is shown. Wikipedia, citing the central list of the National Commission for Backward Classes (as accessed in 2025), says the Teli are in the central OBC list, but it does not name the states, and the NCBC list could not be opened for this check. It also cites an NCBC finding from Odisha that the Telik Vaishya were not added. Check the central and state OBC lists for the current entries.

Checked on 2026-11-07 against the sources below. The lists are amended from time to time and can differ by district; for a certificate, the current order or the state's list is what counts.

Name and Origin

The name comes from the Sanskrit taila, oil (William Crooke, 1896; Russell and Hira Lal, 1916). Crooke found few traditions of origin among the Telis of the North-Western Provinces; at Mirzapur he recorded a story of three brothers who shared the produce of fifty-two mahua trees, from whom the Teli, the Kalwar and the Bharbhunja descend. In the Central Provinces Russell and Hira Lal recorded family traditions of landholding groups: the Rathor Telis of Mandla said their ancestors were Rathor Rajputs, and the Telis of Nimar that theirs were Modh Banias of Gujarat.

History

Russell and Hira Lal counted nearly 900,000 Telis in the Central Provinces in 1911, the fifth largest community there, most of them in Chhattisgarh and the Nagpur country, and found that by then most were traders and cultivators; in Raipur and Bilaspur Teli families owned more than 200 villages. They record Kawaji Teli, who received Ashti in Wardha by a grant of the emperor Jahangir, and the tradition that the Vishnu temple at Rajim is named after Rajan Telin, a Teli woman who found the image lying by the roadside. M. N. Srinivas, as summarised on Wikipedia, notes that the community returned itself as Rathore Teli at the 1911 census and as Rathore-Vaishya in 1931, and an Arya Samaj magazine from Farrukhabad, Telivarna Prakash, argued for its Vaishya standing. At Nepal's 2011 census 369,688 people, 1.4 per cent of the population, were recorded as Teli, most of them in Madhesh Province.

Faith and Worship

Crooke (1896) found Hindu and Muslim branches among the Telis of the North-Western Provinces; in the east of the province Hindu families honoured Mahadeva and Mahabir alongside the Panchon Pir. Russell and Hira Lal (1916) write that the Telis of the Central Provinces especially revere Mahadeo (Shiva), and that many Gujarati Telis of Nimar belonged to the Swami Narayan sect.

Customs

Crooke records three forms of marriage among the Telis of the North-Western Provinces: the full rite at the bride's house, the dola at the groom's house, and a simpler rite for widows. Widow remarriage was allowed in every sub-caste except the Byahut, who take their name from marrying only by the full rite. In Chhattisgarh Russell and Hira Lal describe the Binaiki, a farewell round of the village made by the bridegroom on the day before the wedding procession sets out, when neighbours give him presents.