Simple workshops where the blacksmith made the wheel or the carpenter his wooden wares could be called factories of a sort.There were several ancillary industries such as carpentry, fishing, salt manufacture and construction that supported the trade and economic activity of this age.In addition to silk and cotton fabrics, cloth made of wood fibre called Sirai Maravuri and Naarmadi was used by the priestly class.Written records from Greek and Egyptian voyagers give details about the pearl fisheries off the Pandyan coast.The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea mentions that "Pearls inferior to the Indian sort are exported in great quantity from the marts of Apologas and Omana".[5] Literary references of the pearl fishing mention how the fishermen, who dive into the sea, avoid attacks from sharks, bring up the right-whorled chank and blow on the sounding shell.[7] The smithy, or the Panikkalari (literally: workplace), played an important role in the lives of ancient Tamilians (people of Tamil Nadu, India) Some of the essential items forged or repaired in the smithy include weapons of war, tools such as the plough, domestic utensils and the iron wheel.Ocean craft of varying sizes, from the small catamaran which was a bunch of logs tied together to the big ships with mast and sail, were used in Tamil ports.[11] Pottery, rope making, chank-cutting, gem cutting, manufacture of leather sheaths for war weapons, dealing in conches and ivory, manufacture of bangles and the making of religious structures such as temples, procession cars and images are other industries mentioned often in contemporary literature.
Pearl fishing was an important industry in ancient Tamilakam
