The Pardhi of India

The Pardhi of India, numbering approximately 360,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a historically nomadic tribal community best known for their traditional skills as hunters, trackers, and forest specialists. They are today recognized as a Denotified Tribe (DNT) and, in some states, as a Scheduled Tribe (ST) They are an Indigenous people, with Pardhi as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the South Asian Tribal people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Animism. They primarily speak Gujarati.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Harini Calamur - Flickr Harini Calamur - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: South Asian Tribal
Primary Language(s): Gujarati (guj)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 360,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041619
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Pardhi 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

95%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gujarati
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Gujarati Speakers

Bible Resources in Gujarati:

Or check out the Gujarati bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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): Pioneer Unreached People Group, (LPI: 1), 0.1% to 0.5% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active 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 Pardhi:
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 Pardhi 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 Pardhi:
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 Pardhi 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 Pardhi:
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 Pardhi of India

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
readMatthew 11:28

Pray for those who are tired, weary, and burdened by the weight of sin to encounter Jesus and experience the rest that only He can give.

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread."
readMatthew 6:10-11

As people go about their daily lives, pray they will have the opportunity to encounter Jesus-followers, receive the gospel, and respond with joy. Pray that, as God provides for their daily needs, He will also bring many into His beautiful kingdom.

Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
readMark 10:29-30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know that when they make sacrifices to follow Jesus, He is there with them and will bless them abundantly in this life and in the life to come.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.
read1 Corinthians 9:22

Ask God to raise up believers from around the world to go and share the hope of Jesus with the lost so that they might trust in Him and have the hope of eternal life.

Pardhi Across Countries (ROP3 - 113321) 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.

Scroll to Top