Socio-cultural Processes and Livelihood Patterns at Tirurangadi - CDS

away from their homes. They were also among a large number of children brought up in
the same household, and often suffered neglect as their parents could never find the
means to feed so many children. As the households stayed back in the native place itself,
their original position in the social hierarchy, as tenants, laborers, traders or whatever,
was not disturbed The income coming from outside became an additional remittance, that
helped the household to tide over real periods of crisis.
Other forms of Labor
Another solution was obviously making use of the opportunities provided by the
emerging capitalist society. We have already seen the growth of modern traders in the
area. For the ordinary people the other serious option was the cultivation of cash crops,
the main features of which was also outlined earlier. The available information shows
that a number of people took up minor trading of various kinds, and also were starting
retail shops by bringing their goods from major wholesale centers such as Valiangadi in
Calicut. The possibility of being absorbed into industrial labor was another major option.
We have already seen the early recruitment into railways. As the tile factories came up in
Feroke and Cheruvannur, a number of people from places like Vallikkunnu and
Thenhippalam became laborers there. In the background of the economic crisis of the
thirties, such opportunities were also few and far between. There was no major industrial
establishment developing in Tirurangadi region itself. The first industrial concern was the
tile factory that was established during the middle of 20 th century by a certain Natarajan
Chettiar at Parakkadavu, and this factory had an interesting history which we will
examine later. However, the available population statistics shows another feature, that
the number of people without any specific occupation was also large. According to the
1931 census, for every 1000 persons in the Malabar District, there were 355 earners, 33
working dependents and 612 non-working dependents.(Census report,1931). The
situation in Tirurangadi corresponded to the general pattern. The structure of the
households, and very strong bonds that existed within the households, helped contain the
growth of visible forms of unemployment, and it is this feature that resulted in the