The Teli's oil-press is a very primitive affair. It consists of
a hollowed tree-trunk in which a post is placed with rounded lower
end. The top of this projects perhaps three feet above the hollow trunk
and is secured by two pieces of wood to a horizontal bar, one end of
which presses against the trunk, while the bullock is harnessed to the
outer end. The yoke-bar hangs about a foot from the ground, the inner
end resting in a groove of the trunk, while the outer is supported by
the poles connecting it with the churning-post. From the top of this
latter a rope is also tied to the bullock's horn to keep the animal
in position. The press is usually set up inside a shed, and it is
said that if the bullock were not blindfolded it would quickly become
too giddy to work. The bullock drags the yoke-bar round the trunk
and this gives a circular movement to the top of the churning-post,
causing the lower end of the latter to move as on a pivot inside the
trunk. The friction thus produced crushes the oil-seed, and the oil
trickles out through a hole in the lower part of the trunk. The oil
of _ramtilli_ or _jagni_ is commonly burnt for lighting in villages,
and also that of the mahua-seed. Linseed-oil is generally exported, but
if used at home it is mainly as an illuminant. It is mixed with food
by the Maratha castes but not in northern India. All the vegetable
oils are rapidly being supplanted by kerosene, even in villages;
but the inferior quality generally purchased, burnt as it is in small
open saucers, gives out a great deal of smoke and is said to be very
injurious to the eyesight, and students especially sustain permanent
injury to the sight by working with these lamps. This want is, however,
being met, and cheap lamp-burners can be bought in Bombay for about
twelve annas. Owing to their having until recently supplied the only
means of illumination the Telis sometimes call themselves _Dipabans_,
or 'Sons of the lamp.' Tilli or sesamum is called sweet oil; it is
much eaten by Brahmans and others in the Maratha country, and is
always used for rubbing on the hair and body. On the festivals of
Diwali and Til Sankrant all Hindus rub sesamum oil on their bodies;
otherwise they put it on their hair once or twice a week, and on their
bodies if they get a chill, or as a protective against cold twice or
thrice a month in the winter. The Uriya castes rub oil on the body
if they can afford it every day after bathing and say that it keeps
off malaria. Castor-oil is used as a medicine, and by some people
even as ordinary food. It is also a good lubricant, being applied
to cart-wheels and machinery. Other oils mentioned by Mr. Crooke are
poppy-seed, mustard, cocoanut and safflower, and those prepared from
almond and the berries of the _nim_ [673] tree. The Teli's occupation
is a dirty one, his house being filled with the refuse of oil and
oil-seed, and Mr. Gordon notes that leprosy is very prevalent in the
caste. [674]