ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a critical reappraisal of the received knowledge and understanding of some aspects of entrepreneurial history. It provides a critical overview of the dominant paradigms vis-a-vis Indian entrepreneurship. The chapter outlines the inadequacy of existing conceptual typologies employed in understanding the sources of Indian entrepreneurship in the colonial period, highlighting in particular the limitations stemming from their narrow geographical coverage and the excessive emphasis on large groups. It deals with the Chettys as a case study in order to address the larger question of the importance of the specificity of the regional dimension, as well as to bring out the variations in entrepreneurial response within merchant capitalist groups. The chapter focuses on underlining, through a case study of Coimbatore, the importance of agrarian capital as a source of industrial entrepreneurship. It deals with artisanal capital as a source of industrial entrepreneurship, a route that was to gain considerable significance in the post-independence period.
