ABSTRACT
Shamirpet is a village situated at a distance of about twenty-five miles from the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundrabad in the Deccan plateau of India. Culturally, it lies in the region known as Telangana, which is itself a part of the wider culture-area of Andhra-desa. No village in India can be singled out as being typical of the country as a whole, but Shamirpet possesses most of the characteristics which are common to the rural communities in middle and peninsular India. According to the census of 1951, the total population of Shamirpet, which included the two neighbouring hamlets of Babuguda and Upparpalli, was 2,494, with a total of 508 houses. There are only two untouchable or depressed castes in Shamirpet, the Mala and the Madiga. The dwellings in Shamirpet can be classified into three main groups: the Bhawanti, the Penkutillu and the Gudse. All the houses in Shamirpet can be classed into one of these three types.
