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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Devadiga of India

The Devadiga of India, numbering approximately 192,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Karnataka and Kerala community also known as Sherigaru, traditionally serving as musicians in Hindu temples, and following a matrilineal system of inheritance in which property passes through the female line. They are an Indigenous people in the Other South Asian people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Tulu and their primary religion is Hinduism.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Devadiga

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Other South Asian
Primary Language(s): Tulu (tcy)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 192,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041593
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Pray for the Devadiga of India

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tulu
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%

Media Resources in Tulu:

Films:

No language code (ROL) found for this post.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Tulu:

The filter value is not set for this post.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tulu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Devadiga:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Devadiga are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Devadiga:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Devadiga are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Devadiga:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Devadiga of India

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
readPsalm 9:9-10

Pray that God will help those who are oppressed and without hope to hear the good news of Jesus and trust in Him, for He has never forsaken those who seek Him.

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the gospel of God's kingdom will reach more people and that they will respond in faith, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ.

In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
readJohn 14:2-3

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will persevere in hope, remembering that Jesus went to prepare a place for them to be with Him for eternity!

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Devadiga, Hindu Across Countries (ROP3 - 111921) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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