n group of Banias or an aristocratic one of Telis. In Nimar
the Gujarati Telis, who have now grown wealthy and prosperous, claim,
as already seen, to be Modh Banias, and the same pretension is put
forward by their fellow-castemen in Gujarat itself. "The large class of
oilmen known in Gujarat as Modh-Ghanelis were originally Modh Banias,
who by taking to making and selling oil lost their position as Banias";
[668] it seems doubtful, however, whether the reverse process has not
really taken place. The Umre Telis also have the name of a subcaste
of Banias. The landholding Rathor Telis of Mandla, who now claim to
be Rathor Rajputs, will be more fully noticed later. There are also
several local subcastes, as the Mattha or Maratha Telis, who say
they came from Patan in Gujarat, the Sirwas from the ancient city of
Sravasti in Gonda District, and the Kanaujia from Oudh.

4. Exogamous divisions

Each subcaste is divided into a number of exogamous groups for the
regulation of marriages. The names of the groups appear to be taken
either from villages or titles or nicknames. Most of them cannot be
recognised, but the following are a few: Baghmare, a tiger-killer;
Deshmukh, a village officer; Vaidya, a physician; Bawankule,
the fifty-two septs; Badwaik, the great ones; Satpute, seven sons;
Bhajikhaya, an eater of vegetables; Satapaise, seven pice; Ghoremadia,
a horse-killer; Chaudhri, a caste headman; Ardona, a kind of gram;
Malghati, a valley; Chandan-malagar, one who presented sandalwood;
and Sanichara, born on Saturday. Three septs, Dhurwa, Besram, a hawk,
and Sonwani, gold-water, belong to the Gonds or other tribes. The clans
of the Rathor Telis of Mandla are said to be named after villages in
Jubbulpore and Maihar State.

5. Marriage customs

The marriage of persons of the same sept and of first cousins is
usually forbidden. A man may marry his wife's younger sister while
she herself is alive, but never her elder sister. An unmarried girl
becoming pregnant by a man of the caste is married to him by the
ceremony used for a widow, and she may be readmitted even after a
_liaison_ with an outsider among most Telis. In Chanda the parents of
a girl who is not married before puberty are fined. The proposal comes
from the boy's side and a bride-price is usually paid, though not of
large amount. The Halia Telis of Chhattisgarh, like other agricultural
castes, sometimes betroth their children when they are five or six
mo