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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

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
readExodus 2:23-24

As the lost among them labor, groan, and cry out under false religions and sin, pray God will have mercy on them and hear their cries, that He will be their Rescuer from the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the kingdom of light.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
readRomans 3:23

Pray that the gospel will advance and many will acknowledge that all have sinned, fall short of God's glory, and need a Savior to reconcile them to God.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
readPsalm 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and still struggle with the worries of this life, God will deliver them from worry for the sake of His steadfast love.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Ask God to raise up people who will trust in His sovereignty as they share the gospel, knowing that it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

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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