Agriculture & Business

This village has a wealthy agriculture sector. Main crop is coconut and all the coastal lands have coconut trees. Until recent years, these coconuts were dispatched to the near by business centers through small boats and other means of water transport through the river. We had very big paddy fields but nowadays these fields are giving way to fast developing coconut plantations since paddy cultivation is leading the farmers to impoverishment. Once the paddy fields were widely spread at both sides of the main road from Edat to Kandankulangara but due to scarcity of land for dwellings, people started building houses/bungalows by filling the paddy fields and now the paddy fields are rarely seen in these areas.

A special tasty mango known in the name of this village is famous to the north of Payangadi. Seventy five percentage of the people are farmers and the fertile land is good for any type of crops such as black pepper, bananas, arecanuts, etc… Due to the landscape and natural water resources, Kunhimangalam became a land of farmers.

Industry

Kunhimangalam is much backward in industrial development. There are not much industries in this village but ‘Chenoli Mill’, the first industry in the village is a company manufacturing raw materials for the match industries of various places in south India. This factory was established in the year 1930 and up till recent years it accommodated several workers. Even though the earlier years’ robustness is not there, but the factory still continue working with its few workers. The first trade union was formed in this mill and the union gave a call for strike in this factory which was the first of its kind in this area. In association with this strike, the people of Kunhimangalam witnessed the first ladies participated procession under the leadership of then Secretary Mr. M. Balan and Joint Secretary Mr. C.V. Damodaran.

Brass & Bronze Industry

Kunhimangalam is the biggest gunmetal works center in Kerala. The craftsmen of Kunhimangalam are famous for their work in making of ‘Panchaloha’ idols, traditional lamps and other handicrafts made of brass/bronze metal which are exported to various destinations all over India and the world. “Nilavilakku” and Lakshmi Vilakku (two kinds of traditional oil lamps) crafted here are known all over India. It is believed that these lamps bring harmony and prosperity to the houses. The Lakshmi Vilakku is beautiful and attractive. The Goddess Mahalakshmi sitting in a full-blown lotus is being smeared by two female elephants are beautifully portrayed in this lamp. The “moosaris” (the traditional name of the craftsmen community) consider these works as a sacred job exchanged through generations rather than a mere profession or business. There were renowned Sculptors working in this field of art. Since the plastic age has come there are less demands for some of these crafted items which led the sculptors to a jobless condition. A society was formed for the uplift of moosaris but the same has already been closed down now. We can never forget the names of the famous sculptors, ‘Chandu Gurukkal’ and his son ‘Kannan Gurukkal’ who were associated with this expertise works.

Coir Industry

Having a long coastal area, all facilities are available for the healthier growth of coir industry. Unfortunately the hand made coir products are unable to compete with the machine made coir products in price-wise but the quality of hand made coir products are better than any other kind of coir products. Since the wages are comparatively less for this profession nobody is willing to take-up this venture now.

There are several other unified work segments in Kunhimangalam such as hundreds of toddy workers, fishermen, Beedi labours, sand load workers, etc…..

Chenoli Mills, Kunhimanagalam.

Weaving Industry

There were several weaving centers concentrated in south of this village. Weaving is just like a small-scale industry here but due to lack of cooperation of the authorities concerned, this industry became very weak. There are many handloom centers and several workers, mostly women workers working in this field now.

Mat Weaving

We can see that most of the occupation is correlated with the casts and Mat weaving is one of the cast based profession, especially a right of the scheduled casts. Once upon a time, there was a great demand for these hand woven mats made from the leaves of a plant known as “Kytha” which were abundantly grown in the banks of the rivers. Now there is a scarcity of these leaves and the new comers are not willing to take up this kind job, which are adversely affected to this profession.

Also a special type baskets are available here made of bamboo. This is also a cast-based profession and the workers in this field are known as “Velar”.

Hand made Umbrellas

When we hear about umbrellas, immediately it flashes in our mind the presently available fashioned, multicoloured and sophisticated umbrellas. There was a time that various sizes of umbrellas made of palm tree leaves were widely used by the farmers as well as the common man. Also these types of umbrellas were used in special occasions in the temples by distinctive personalities. Now, very much sophisticated colorful nylon umbrellas which can be kept in a vanity bag are available in the market and hence the old type palm tree leaves umbrellas are no more in use except for some occasions associated with special episodes of the temples functions.

There is no doubt that abundance of natural resources are the main factor for the progress of a country. Almost with three sides covered with water, Kunhimangalam village has the best fertile land for agriculture. Whatever restrictions or limitations and shortage of basic development elements we have, like any other panchayat, this traditional village Kunhimangalam is in the path of fast development and the inhabitants of Kunhimangalam can be proud of that.

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