The Teli is considered a caste of bad omen. The proverb says,
'God protect me from a Teli, a Chamar and a Dhobi'; and the Teli is
considered the most unlucky of the three. He is also talkative: 'Where
there is a Teli there is sure to be contention.' The Teli is thought
to be very close-fisted, but occasionally his cunning overreaches
itself: 'The Teli counts every drop of oil as it issues from the
press, but sometimes he upsets the whole pot.' The reason given for
his being unlucky is his practice of harnessing and blindfolding
bullocks already mentioned, and also that he presses _urad_ [670]
a black-coloured pulse, the oil from which is offered to the unlucky
planet Saturn on Saturdays. '_Teli ka bail_,' or 'A Teli's bullock,'
is a proverbial expression for a man who has to slave very hard for
small pay. [671] The Teli is believed to have magical powers. A good
magician in search of an attendant spirit will, it is said, prefer
to raise the corpse of a Teli who died on a Tuesday. He proceeds
to the burning-_ghat_ with chickens, eggs, some vermilion and red
cloth. He seats himself near to where the corpse was burnt, and after
repeating some spells offers up the chickens and eggs and breaks the
cocoanut. Then it is believed that the corpse will gradually rise and
take shape and be at the magician's service so long as the latter may
desire. The following prescription is given for a love-charm: take
the skull of a Teli's wife and cook some rice in it under a _babul_
[672] tree on a Sunday. This if given to a girl to eat will make her
fall in love with him who gives it to her.