Narikuravas’ beads ornament business adds colour to over 2,000 families in Chengam
A tiny settlement of ‘narikuravas’ has made a difference in the lives of at least 2,000 families in the villages in Chengam in Tiruvannamalai district. The State’s own nomadic tribe, in the last two decades, has been providing a source of income for hundreds of women by engaging them in their traditional enterprise of making ornaments out of beads.
Rajapalayam is no less than a non-descript village. Located at least 50 kilometres away from Tiruvannamalai, it is home to 150 families of ‘narikuravas’. Many of them have turned employers for women from other communities in at least 20 villages in and around Chengam.
It was during the reign of former chief minister Kamaraj that `narikuravas’ were given permanent houses in Rajapalayam in Mel Ravanthavadi panchayat. Until two decades ago, their primary source of livelihood was hunting for meat and skin. As restrictions curtailed them, they soon turned to beads, making it their fulltime enterprise in the years to come.
“It was during the 90s that we started making different kinds of ornaments using beads. We used to sell them during festivals and at pilgrim spots in Tamil Nadu and neighbouring states. We found a demand for our products. So, we gradually built our business. Today, it is more like a cottage industry,” R. Thangarasu, a 47-year-old narikurava.
Over the last two decade, they have spread their wings, expanding their business by leaps and bounds. Take Thangarasu for instance. Today, he is a wholesale dealer for bead ornaments. Inside his house are huge wooden shelves in which thousands of chains made of colourful beads, crystal, tusli, rudrashakas, padigam and navaratha stones.
He supplies these chains to big shops particularly in pilgrim destinations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
T Arasakumari,40, of Om Sakthi SHG was one of the role models among Narikuravas women. She inspired women in her community to turn from employee to employer. “We work not less than 10hours a day to make the ornaments. Since the demand is high, we roped in women from other villages to meet the demand and make use of the business opportunity,” she said.
Fifty-year-old S Sekar is another entrepreneur from the community. A former resident of Rajapalayam, Sekar moved to Chengam Town to expand his business.
Thangarasu and Sekar are not alone. There are more big players in Rajapalayam and surrounding areas – Kannappan and Panneer in Chengam Town.
But interestingly, this does not stop with the narikurava community. These self-made entrepreneurs are now employers for hundreds of omen in 15 villages in the radius of 10 km. Not surprisingly, the Narikuravas have been distributing bonus or gift such as saree or household items for Deepali/Pongal for a decade now.
Nearly 150 women in Melpuzhithur and Pakkiripalayam, who were eking out their living by rolling beedi until a decade ago, have switched over to ornament making. “Rolling beedis took a toll on our health. But this (beads making) help to earn better, without compromising our health,” said a Muslim woman in Pakkiripalayam.
They purchase the beads from Mathura near Delhi and Kasi once or twice a year, while the copper wire and caps are purchased from Dharmapuri and Salem districts. These raw materials are distributed among the women.
Amudha, a resident of Kattamadu, has been making ornamentss for nearly 10 years. “I work in an agricultural field. When I return home, I make ornamentss during my leisure time after finishing domestic chores. This helps me earn an additional income to support my family,” said Amudha, who calls Thangarasu as ‘Mothalali’ (owner). She earns at least Rs50 to Rs70 a day.
Like her, Vijaya, a resident of Thiruvalluvar Nagar in Chengam Town, uses her leisure time to make chains to earn money. This, she says, helps her meet her daily needs. “We make the ornaments while watching TV and chit-chat with neighbours,” she said.
Vijaya’s neighbours echoed the same and added that for agricultural labourers like them, bead making has turned into a source of revenue during drought. Young girls too have been learning to make the beads during to augment family income.
“Earlier, I used to go and supply the raw materials and collect the finished products. Now, they come to my shop and collect the raw materials and handover the chains. We collect the chains made by them once a week or a fortnight and pay them the wages,” said Sekar, a wholesale dealer. He has engaged around 500 women in the town and neighbouring villages.
Women in the state’s indigenous tribe have formed self-help groups (SHG) and have obtained loans to the tune of Rs 2crore to build business. “It all started 16years ago. When they first approached us for loan in 2002, we hesitated to entertain them and doubted their repaying capacity. But they have proved us wrong,” said secretary of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Society S Sampath.
From avaiing loan of Rs 2,000, the Narikuravas’ societies and SHGs have grown to avail loans to the tune of Rs30 lakh each. “We are the number one society in the district. The main reason behind this is the Narikuravas here,” added Sampath.
Fact file:
Women in villages such as Kattamadu, Ilaguni, Illavambadi, Singarapettai, Kurumapatti, Vellalapatti, Kalladavi, Neethadurai, Naradapattu, Kuppanatham, Bandreav, Ravanthavadi, Pakkiripalayam, Thiruvallur Nagar and a few other surrounding hamlets are roped in by narikuravas to make beads ornaments.
Big players in neighbouring districts - Sivakumar, Malaysia and Sankar in Vellimalai in Krishnagiri district, Gopi in Harur in Dharmapuri district. They have roped in hundreds of women from other communities to make beads ornaments in their surrounding areas.
They paid between Rs 4 and Rs 10 per ornaments (each has 108 beads) based on its variety.
Narikuravas buy raw materials – different kinds of beads/stones/sandalwood – from Diwanipur, Mathura and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Ruthraksa from Nepal.
Copper wire and caps from Salem and Dharmapuri districts.
Narikuravas sell the ornaments from Rs 28 to Rs 50 (each). The business is hot during December and January months.
The ornaments sold to wholesale dealers in Tiruppur, Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Palani and other pilgrim spots in TN
Mandya, Bangaluru and Mysore and surrounding pilgrims spots in Karnataka, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Hyderabad and Chittoor in AP, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Guruvayoor, Thirussur, Palakkad, Kozhikod and several other places in Kerala.
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