Tamboli, Tamoli.—(A seller of the prepared betel-leaves.) Synonym for Barai.
Tandan.—A subdivision of Sāraswat Brāhmans in Hoshangābād, perhaps so called from their being priests of the Tandan Khatris.
Tānkiwāla.—(A sharpener of grindstones.) Subcaste of Dhimar.
Tānti.—(Tanta, weaver’s loom.) A caste. A subcaste of Bhulia and Mahli.
Tānti, Tātwa (from Sanskrit tantu, a fibre).—The great weaver caste of Bengal and Bihār. A few Tāntis were enumerated in Raipur District in 1911. Sir H. Risley is of opinion that the Tāntis are probably a functional group developed under the pressure of the natural demand for fine woven cloth.[100] One tradition of their origin is that the first ancestor of the caste was begotten by the celestial architect Viswakarma on a low Sūdra woman. Viswakarma is regarded as the tutelary deity of the caste, and is worshipped twice a year with offerings of flowers, rice and sugar. Images are sometimes made of him, but more commonly the weaver’s loom or some of the tools of the craft are regarded as the dwelling-place or symbol of the god. In past times the Tāntis made the famous fine cotton cloth, known as abrawān or ‘running water,’ which was supplied only to the imperial zenāna at Delhi. Sir H. Risley relates the following stories illustrating its gossamer texture. On one occasion a daughter of Aurāngzeb was reproached on entering the room for her immodest attire, through which her limbs could be seen, and excused herself by the plea that she had on seven folds of cloth over her body. Again in the reign of Alīvardi Khān (1742–56), a Dacca Tānti was flogged and banished from the city for not preventing his cow from eating up a piece of abrawān cloth which had been laid out to bleach on the grass. The famous female spinners who used to wind the fine native thread were still to be found in 1873, but their art has now died out. In illustration of their delicate touch it is told that one of them wound 88 yards of thread on a reel, and the whole weight of the thread was only one rati or two grains. Nowadays the finest thread spun weighs 70 yards to the rati. The best cloths were woven by the Dacca Tāntis, to whom the Koshtis of Burhānpur in the Central Provinces stood second. The Bamanmāra tank in the old village of Dhanpur in Pendra zamīndāri of Bilāspur is so named from the fact that about a century ago some Brāhman traders were murdered on its bank for the sake of the fine cloths they were carrying rolled up in hollow bamboo sticks. In Bengal the Tāntis are included among the castes from whom a Brāhman can take water. Sir H. Risley is of opinion that they have to some extent raised themselves to this position by their own influence, their trade being prosperous and lucrative, and having long ago attained to the development of an urban industry. The ordinary status of the weaving castes being at the bottom of the social scale, the superior position of the Bengal Tāntis is an interesting exception. It is analogous to that of the Koshtis in the Central Provinces, also a class of urban weavers, who rank above the impure castes, though they have not attained to the position of the Tāntis, as Brāhmans will not take water from them.
Tanwar.—A subcaste of Kawar, to which zamīndārs belong.
Tanwat, Tanwatkari.—A synonym for Panchāl Sunār.
Tarane.—Synonym of Dobaile Teli.
Tasa.—Synonym of Chasa.
Tātwa.—Synonym for Tanti. (From Sanskrit tantu, a fibre.)