A Statistical and Ethnographic Study of Higher Educational Attainment among the Kshatriya Community of Lingarajupalem Village, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

This paper presents an ethnographic and statistical study of the attainment of higher education among the Kshatriya community of Lingarajupalem village in Anakapalle district of Andhra Pradesh. The study is based on primary data collected through a complete household census of all Kshatriya families covering five generations up to 2025. The total population studied comprises 2,060 individuals, among whom 508 attained graduate, postgraduate, professional, and doctoral qualifications. Data were collected through household enumeration, interviews, genealogical records, and communication with migrated descendants and were cross verified for reliability.
The origins of the community can be traced back nearly 275 years, and the entire Kshatriya population of the village consists of migrant lineages. Despite geographical hardships, including the absence of a bridge across the Varaha River until the late 1980s, the community sustained strong educational aspirations, resulting in higher educational levels significantly exceeding national and Andhra Pradesh averages. The study analyses gender-wise educational attainment, discipline-wise educational preferences, surname-wise distribution, and educational mobility across generations using descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The findings reveal that approximately 24.6% of the community attained higher education, significantly exceeding national and Andhra Pradesh averages. Science, engineering, medicine, management, and technology-related disciplines constitute the dominant fields of study, reflecting a strong professional orientation. The study identifies literacy traditions, collective educational aspiration, kinship networks, and migration-based occupational mobility as important factors contributing to sustained educational advancement in a geographically constrained rural setting