It was just a professional organization of any family or caste who adopted oil pressing profession, especially during the time East India Company and The Great Freedom Massacre of 1857, when oil-pressing was said to have become a profitable profession and business.

Teli Chauhans are found in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sahiwal Kashmir and Sialkot, Gujranwal, Lahore district of Western Punjab.  

Unai Sahu teli samaj history -  उनई साहू वैश्य

       The Unai Sahu or sometimes pronounced Unaya are a teli samaj Bania Vaishya sub-caste found in the Uttar Pradesh in India. They get their name from the towm of Unnao in Uttar Pradesh, and Unai literally means someone from Unnao.The community consist of two endogamous sub-groups, the Unai proper and the Unawa. They speak the Awadhi dialect, and are Hindus. The Unai Sahu teli samaj are found mainly in the districts of Barabanki, Faizabad and Gond.

They derive their name Sahu, or sometimes pronounced Sao and Sah, from their ancestral family business of bankers and money lending: from the Hindi word SAHUKAR, meaning, in a sense, persons dealing with money. Sahu Vaishya also have traditional business of oilseeds and oil milling. With the passage of time they have spread to many parts of India, particularly eastern India.

        Kannagi devi ( कण्णगि देवी ) is a legendary Tamil teli samaj (cast, community) vaishya woman who forms the central character of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram (100-300 CE). The story relates how Kannagi took revenge on the Pandyan King of Madurai, who had wrongfully put her husband to death, by cursing the city. Kannagi devi is from Vaniya chettiar Community.  

        Kovalan, the son of a wealthy teli merchant in Kaveripattinam, married Kannagi, a young woman of legendary beauty. They lived together happily in the city of Kaveripattinam, until Kovalan met the dancer Madhavi and fell in love with her. In his infatuation he forgot Kannagi and gradually spent all his wealth on the dancer. At last, penniless, Kovalan realised his mistake, and returned back to Kannagi. Their only asset was a precious pair of anklets (Chilambu - hence the name of the epic), filled with gems, which she gave to him willingly. With these as their capital they went to the city of Madurai, where Kovalan hoped to recoup his fortunes by trade.

        बूंदी - 26 जनवरी। राठौर तेली समाज छात्रावास एवं सामुदायिक भवन में मुख्य अतिथि पूर्व बैंक मेनेजर रामनारायण जी राठौर, अध्यक्षता राठौर तेली छात्रावास के अध्यक्ष गणेश जी नैणावां, विशिष्ठ अतिथि गणेश जी ने राठौर तेली समाज के छात्रावास में झंडा रोहण किया। इस मोके पर मुख्य अतिथि रामनारायण राठौर ने अपने गीत से सम्भोदित किया *आगे ही आगे बढना है* से शुरू देश में समाज के गौरव नरेंद्र जी भाई मोदी को नमन करते हुये कहा कि देश में समाज के बालक- बालिकाओ को शिक्षा के प्रति हर समाज के 

Vaniya Chettiar Teli is a subcaste of Chettiars prominently seen in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Their major professions are oil and groceries.

They are also known as Ganiga in Karnataka & Gandla & Teli samaj because of similarities in profession of these two castes Vaniyambadi (near Vellore-Ambur) was originally a Vaniya Chettiar town. Now most of the Chettiars have moved to neighboring towns.

This community is predominantly associated with Oil extraction, business and later to general business. From ancient time in India, vegetable oils were obtained by crushing oilseeds in village, using an oil-press - or Ghana or chekku