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SVASTI – Essays in Honour of Prof. Hampa Nagarajaiah
such as Sujangarh, as well as the area around Badmer and Kalkatta. The highest proportion of male renouncers came from villages. There is no significant evidence of (an impact of) family migration from villages to towns and cities or vice versa.
Place of Upbringing
Female Male
Village
Small Town
Town
City
Caste: The majority of the mendicants belonged to the Osvāl castes (85%) with a significant minority of Agravāls (12%) from the region of Hisar and Hansi in Hariyana (and Delhi and Orissa). Most respondents returned themselves as Bīsa Osvāl or emphasized that the status distinction between Bīsa- and Dasa Osvāl is not observed anymore. Father's Occupation: Generally, the data on father's occupation in the majority of cases equivalent with family occupation) show that nearly all mendicants (87%) came from traditional self-employed lower middle class business families with a modest but relatively secure source of income. This seems to reflect the overall pattern amongst the Rajasthani Osvāl castes. More than half of the business families from which Terāpanth mendicants emerged engaged in the traditional cloth (33%), jute (4%) and jewellery (5%) trades as well as in shop keeping (13%). Only 7% engaged in manufacturing, and 1% in finance. The rest were higher professionals and employees in government service and management etc. (11%), and a small number of (part time) farmers (0.8%). The fact that wealthy metropolitan Terāpanth Osvāls families produced only few mendicants was explained by Terāpanth nuns with reference to the "greater freedom" and "more entertainment” and “opportunities for self-development” rich women
