Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s2.27

c48.s2.27

§ 41. **Oil-pressers** (4,517,600). Wherever oil-yielding seed or nut is grown there is an oil-press in every village of average size. The material most extensively used in the interior is sesame, with linseed and the castor-bean for burning. Along the coast the coco-nut is the chief oil-producing material. The castes engaged in oil-pressing do not everywhere take the same social position. Generally, their rank is low, because the occupation is undeniably a dirty one; but there are degrees even in impurity. In most parts those who only press sesame, or oil used in cookery, are higher than those who prepare the oils used for burning or lubrication. But sometimes a distinction is drawn between those who get out the oil by boiling the seed and the majority, who use the press. Amongst the latter, in turn, those who yoke two bullocks to the press take precedence over those who use only one, and the subdivisions are named accordingly. In the present day, however, the single bullock is the rule, and this blindfolded and unfortunate agent is everywhere the proverbial type of dull and endless toil. Finally, the oil may be allowed to drip through a hole in the press or may be baled out of the receiver with a little rag-mop. In parts of Bengal the latter process alone is honourable, the reason being that when oil procured by the former was presented to the goddess Bhagvatī, she drew a trenchant and celestially outspoken analogy between the form of press and the human body, in token of her disapproval of the method adopted. Hence, the Tēlī who mops out his oil will have no intercourse with the Kalu, though both are subdivisions of the same caste. In the Panjāb the Tēlī is Muslim, and one of the divisions has separated into a distinct body, the Qaṣāb or butcher, both ranking with the Julāhā. In other parts of upper India, the Brāhmanist Tēlī is respectable, but on a low plane, and some, including those of Bihār, are served only by Brāhmans who are out of communion with their fellows. In Bengal, Gujarāt and the Dekkan, the oil-presser is often a grain-dealer or shop-keeper, and in the first named province attains to considerable wealth and importance. In the Dravidian country the caste is known by the name of the oil-press, Sekkān or Vāṇiyan, in the Tamil districts, and Gāṇḍla, Gāṇiga, or Jōtipan, in Telugu and Kanarese. The Telugu and Tamil castes employ Brāhmans, wear the thread and generally follow the customs of the upper castes of cultivators. The Kanarese castes are more subdivided, but employ Havika Brāhmans when available. Some are Liṅgāyats. The oil-presser in Malabar stands on a different footing to the rest. In the northern region he is ranked with the impure, and kept down. In the south of the tract, however, he is one of the castes which has crept under the comprehensive title of Nāyar. In neither case do the oil-pressing castes wear the sacred thread as they do above the Sahyādri, nor do they employ Brāhmans. The trade is one which has suffered considerably of late from the competition of mineral oil for burning purposes, and numbers of the Tēlī are taking to cultivation for a living.