In ancient times, Divar or Dev-wadi had a series of tantric temples that were demolished under various colonial and non-colonial powers. Porne Tirthe, in particular, was a settlement situated close to these temples. The primary occupations of this settlement were agriculture and traditional fishing. However, as the functionality of the sluice gate decreased, agriculture as an occupation disappeared.

With the paddy fields for agriculture now vacant, a new practice of pisciculture appeared. Meanwhile, as primary occupations disappeared, the people of the settlement opted for secondary or tertiary occupations away from the island. This change in occupational and aspirational realms, along with a strong colonial influence, created a shift in manifestations of concepts such as ownership, the built and unbuilt environment, family relations, and their manifestations in space, degrees of publicness and gendered spaces.