The Markande of India

The Markande of India, numbering approximately 182,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a small community of Purnia district, Bihar, tracing descent from the sage Markande Muni, said to have been degraded for eating food set aside for Brahmins. Agricultural labor is their main occupation They are an Indigenous people, with Markande as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bihari people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Hinduism. They primarily speak Angika.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Bihari
Primary Language(s): Angika (anp)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 182,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041671
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Markande 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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Angika
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Angika Speakers

Media Resources in Angika:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Angika:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Angika bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Markande 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 Markande:
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

Pray specifically for the Markande of India

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
read1 John 4:10

Pray for those without the hope of Christ to understand the depth of God's love and the sacrifice He made for them.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 8:38-39

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence in their salvation, knowing that nothing can separate them from the One who conquered death and loves them as His children.

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
read2 Corinthians 5:20

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will be His ambassadors, faithfully imploring people on Christ's behalf to be reconciled to God through Jesus.

Markande Across Countries (ROP3 - 112863) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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 Data Standards section.

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