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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Garoda of India

The Garoda of India, numbering approximately 156,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Scheduled Caste of Gujarat tracing descent from the saint Gargacharya, traditionally serving as priests and astrologers to the Vankar, Chamar, and other artisan communities in exchange for food offerings. They are an Indigenous people in the Gujarati people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Gujarati and their primary religion is Folk Hinduism.

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Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Gujarati
Primary Language(s): Gujarati (guj)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 156,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041623
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Pray for the Garoda 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

98%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gujarati
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Gujarati Speakers

Media Resources in Gujarati:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Gujarati:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Gujarati 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): Expanding Unreached People Group, (LPI: 2), 0.5% or Greater but Less than 2% 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 Garoda:
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 Garoda 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 Garoda:
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 Garoda 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 Garoda:
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 Garoda of India

Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.
readGenesis 22:8

Pray that God will open the ears of those who are lost to understand and believe that only shed blood takes away sin and that, like Abraham, they will believe that God Himself provides the lamb for the burnt offering, who is Jesus the final, perfect sacrifice.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
readJohn 14:6

Pray that those who are searching for a way to God and desiring truth will encounter the good news of eternal life and accept it.

And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
read2 Corinthians 12:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grow in the spiritual gifts God has given them and use these gifts to glorify Him and build up the Church.

Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul.
read3 John 1:2

Ask God to grant protection and good health — both physical and spiritual — to those He sends cross-culturally to share the gospel.

Garoda, Hindu Across Countries (ROP3 - 112057) 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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