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Jaina Community-A Social Survey good number of ascetics. Among the Mūrtipūjaka Śvetāmbara castes it has been reported that among the castes like Visā Śrimāli, Dasā Srimāli, Visā Osvāla and Dasā Poravāda the number of people in the ascetic order ranges from 500 to 2000 in each caste. The same is said about the Dasā Śrimāli and Visā Osavāla castes from the Sthānakavāsi sub-sect. In the Terāpanthi sub-sect it is stated that there are nearly 600 male and female ascetics. On the contrary among the Digambara castes only the Chaturtha and Panchama castes claim, even according to their estimate, to have the number of ascetics up to one hundred. It has been mentioned that a few castes like Khandelavāla, Paravāra, Hummada, Saitavāla, Bogāra, Vaisya and Kshatriya have at least 50 ascetics, while the other castes like Jaisavāla, Narasingapurā, Kathanerā, Golāpūrva, Bannore, Dhākaļa, Nevi, Bagheravāla and Buļhelā hardly possess any ascetic at all. Further, it will be observed that among the Śvetāmbara ascetics the proportion of females seems to be greater than that of males. Thus it is reported that in the Sthānakavāsi Dasā Srimāli caste there are 400 male ascetics and 1500 female ascetics. It must be remembered that the ascetics do not belong to one caste alone. A member of any caste can become an ascetic and the ascetics of a particular sub-sect are respected equally by all castes of that sub-sect.
22. RELIGIOUS DISABILITIES The imposition of religious disabilities is one of the main characteristics of the Hindu caste system. By this restriction certain caste people are debarred from performing some religious rites, like worshipping the God from the innermost part of the temple or performing a ritual according to Vedic rites, etc. With a view to find out the position about this in the Jaina community at present the question number 23 was asked and from the replies it will be noted that no religious disabilities have been imposed on the castes as such. It is true that a particular type of people from some castes only are not given freedom to observe certain religious rites, but this does not mean that these castes, to which such people belong, are penalised as a whole. It appears that the religious disabilities of any kind are not found among the Svetāmbara castes at all and among the Digambara castes they are traceable in some few castes. Among the Digambara vastes of Northern India like Khandelavāla, Paravāra, Golā pūrva, etc. the outcasted
