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The Thanga of India

The Thanga of India, numbering approximately 112,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a lake-dwelling community of Loktak Lake's foothills in Manipur, settled since the sixteenth-century reign of Maharaja Khagingamba. Fishing remains their livelihood, alongside gathering wild produce. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Manipuri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Himalayan Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Manipuri
Primary Language(s): Manipuri (mni)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 112,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049545

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Pray for the Thanga 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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Manipuri
Language Family: Sino-Tibetan

100%
%
Meitei Speakers

Media Resources in Manipuri:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Manipuri:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2019 Bibles International✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Manipuri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Thanga 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 Thanga:
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 Thanga of India

But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
readPsalm 130:4

Pray that God will bring those who have hard hearts to repentance and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins.

Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
readRomans 2:4

Pray that, in God's kindness and according to His nature, He will lead many to repentance.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
readGalatians 3:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be united in Christ across all differences of ethnicity, social status, and gender.

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.

Thanga Across Countries (ROP3 - 117752) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
ThangaPG049545ThangaIndia112,000Engaged yet UnreachedManipuriHinduism

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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