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| Present Spread and Social Structure The results of my interviews have not yet been evaluated finally. However, the following can be stated for the spread and social structures: About 2/3 of the followers belong to the Chasa (farmers) or allied castes (Kaibartha, Gopala etc.), about 8% are "tribal"; the number of Harijan members corresponds nearly to that of Brahmins. Both constitute about 4%. This assessment relates to the Balkaladhari group; in the case of Kaupinadharis, the participation of "tribal" is probably higher. On the whole, the attracting capacity of the sect as a characteristic sphere between the folk cults on the one hand and the Varnasrama Dharma on the other does not appear to have receded considerably even after independence, although with the merger of former Feudatory States the influence of Jagannatha cult, strengthened in the 19th century had ended and an intensified revival of folk-religion had set in (see below). There are scattered members of the middle class, as village school teachers, employees in government offices etc. These people are initiated, but on account o their position, they can not follow all ritualistic precepts, as for instance exclusively wearing of ochre clothes. They form an external sphere of initiated followers who do not participated in satsanga gosthi (common feast). The "sympathizers", as mentioned already, form the most external circle, who join the new religion theoretically comparable to the Seboumenoi of the Jewish Diaspora community in the age of Hellenism, without however undergoing the initiation and the strict norms of living. This sphere is not comprehensible statistically. To this belong in part, personalities of public life, a former minister, a development officer of Utkal University etc., who have often a Samnyasi of Mahima Sect as personal guru. Significantly, their wives are sometimes properly initiated. From these spheres come most members of the Mahima Dharma Alochana Sabha, a society founded in the thirties for the publication and circulation of Mahima Dharma works. Since 1881, the sect spread beyond the borers of Orissa in the neighboring provinces too. About the spread of the sect, according to existing Asramss or Tungis that are built from the donations of local communities, I was able to compile the following figures:
In this list the extensive expansion to Asram is especially striking which should be examined closely. 
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