In describing Kirippūr, my second village, I shall omit much of the detail that was presented for Kumbapeṭṭai. My chief aim is to highlight similarities and differences between the two villages and the relationships among the differences. I shall also give some account of how the Communist movement had taken hold and was operating in this East Thanjāvūr village in 1952.

Kirrippūr lay in Nāgapaṭṭaṇam tālūk, two miles south of the Thanjāvūr Nāgapaṭṭaṇam road and railway and a few miles from both Nāgapaṭṭaṇam and Tiruvārūr towns (see Maps 2 and 6). A cart road led east out of the village to join the main paved road and bus route south to Tirutturaipūṇḍi, and a tiny portion of the main road passed through the village at its southeast corner. Villages to the north and west of Kirippūr were accessible only by narrow raised footpaths across the paddy fields. On the south side, the village was bounded by the River Kaduvaiyār, a branch of the Ōḍumbōkkiyar and ultimately of the Vettār and the Kāvēri. For much of the year the river was too deep and swift for villagers to cross except by the main road bridge (see Map 6).

Kiruppūr was an ūr, or “Non-Brahman village” in contrast to Kumbapeṭṭai, which was a grāmam, or “Brahman village.” Unlike Kumbapeṭṭai, Kirippūr's revenue village and socioeconomic community were coterminous and occupied a continuous area. In 1952, Kirippūr had not yet been organized as a panchāyat and had only the traditional village officers – the village headman, the accountant, and their assistants.