liquor from them became a Kalar; while the third took the kernels
or fruit and crushed the oil out of them, and was the founder of the
Teli caste. The country spirit generally drunk is distilled from the
flowers of the mahua tree, and a cheap vegetable oil in common use
is obtained from its seeds. The Telis and Kalars are also castes of
about the same status and have other points of resemblance; and the
legend connecting them is therefore of some interest Some groups
of Telis who have become landed proprietors or prospered in trade
have stories giving them a more exalted origin. Thus the landholding
Rathor Telis of Mandla say that they were Rathor Rajputs who fled from
the Muhammadans and threw away their swords and sacred threads; and
the Telis of Nimar, several of whom are wealthy merchants, give out
that their ancestors were Modh Banias from Gujarat who had to take to
oil-pressing for a livelihood under Muhammadan rule. But these legends
may perhaps be considered a natural result of their rise in the world.

3. Endogamous subcastes

The caste has a large number of subdivisions. The principal groups
in Chhattisgarh are the Halia, Jharia and Ekbahia Telis. The Halias,
who perhaps take their name from _hal_, a plough, are considered to
be the best cultivators, and are said to have immigrated from Mandla
some generations ago. Probably the bulk of the Hindu population of
Chhattisgarh came from this direction. The name Jharia means jungly
or savage, and is commonly applied to the oldest residents, but the
Jharia Telis are the highest local subcaste. They require the presence
of a Brahman at their weddings, and abstain generally from liquor,
fowls and pork, to which the Halias are not averse. They also bathe
the corpse before it is burnt or buried, an observance omitted by
the Halias. The Jharias yoke only one bullock to the oil-press,
and the Halias two, a distinction which is elsewhere sufficient
of itself to produce separate subcastes. The Ekbahia (one-armed)
Telis are so called because their women wear glass bangles only
on the right hand and metal ones on the left. This is a custom of
several castes whose women do manual labour, and the reason appears
to be one of convenience, as glass bangles on the working arm would
be continually getting broken. Among the Ekbahia Telis it is said
that a woman considers it a point of honour to have these metal
bangles as numerous and heavy as her arm can bear; and at a weddin