SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

system oflending or through an infonnal arrangement This is OUe in the
case of E N Pura as well as in Seripura. Some of the established
sericulturists in Seripura show greater interest in joining the Chit
funding within the village though the group does not exclude the nonsericulturists.
Intra-village Interaction: The villages generally exhibit a caste
togetherness rather than a village identity. In Seripura, for instance, each
of the major communities has its own caste leader called 'Oor Gounder',
the succession of which is by inheritance. Any dispute at the family
level is taken to the leaders of the respective communities for solution.
There is hardly any instance which bring people of different
communities in the village to have intensive social interaction.
In Seripura, some political alignments are visible along caste
lines. Most of the non-SC communities have been supporting the
dominant KVGs and participating in the caste-based celebrations and
worship while the Vanniars maintain a separate identity. As for
sericulture, the place for rearing is one of the major problems, most of
the sericulturists face in the village. Even if they could manage this
within their household premises, they need space for the mounting of the
worms and for aeration for the worms to carry out their spinning
activity. As a majority of the sericulturists are the K VGs, the caste as a
whole had decided to rent out their hall C chaavadi') for the activity,
without baning the sericulturists of other communities. It is being hired
for R.s 50/- at a time and the sericulturists belonging to any caste (all
sericulturists belong to non-SCs) are allowed to hire it. In times of rush,
even more than one or two engage the hall for carrying out the activity.
229