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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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The Mahale of Bangladesh

The Mahale of Bangladesh, numbering approximately 25,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Munda-speaking people who migrated from Jharkhand's Dumka district to Bangladesh's northern districts in the early 1900s, sharing twelve clans and 80 percent language similarity with the neighboring Santal, traditionally skilled in bamboo basketry. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Santali is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Mahale

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Bangladesh
People Cluster: Munda-Santal
Primary Language(s): Santali (sat)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 25,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG001187
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Pray for the Mahale of Bangladesh

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

39%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Santali
Language Family: Austroasiatic

100%
%
Santhali Speakers

Media Resources in Santali:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Santali:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Santali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Mahale 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 Mahale:
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 Mahale of Bangladesh

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.

“I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name."
readIsaiah 65:1

Pray that the lost will be found by God, even when they are not seeking Him. Pray that He will reveal Himself to them in a way they cannot ignore and that they will respond in faith.

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
read1 Peter 3:8

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will live in harmony with one another, showing sympathy, love, compassion, and humility.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
readEphesians 6:11

Pray that those God sends to cross cultures will put on the full armor of God so that they will be able to stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Mahli, Mahali Across Countries (ROP3 - 106041) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MahliPG041634MahliIndia558,000Engaged yet UnreachedMarathiHinduism
MahalePG001187MahaleBangladesh25,000No Longer UnreachedSantaliProtestantism

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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