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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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The Varli of India

The Varli of India, numbering approximately 1,450,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Scheduled Tribe of Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, their name recalling uplanders, known for pictographic wall paintings. Agriculture remains their primary occupation, and many practice Christianity. They mostly adhere to Folk Hinduism and Varli is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Marathi-Konkani
Primary Language(s): Varli (vav)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 1,450,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041406
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Pray for the Varli 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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

98%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Varli
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Varli Speakers

Media Resources in Varli:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Varli:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Varli bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Varli 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 Varli:
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 Varli 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.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:3

Pray that God will be working in people's hearts, give them opportunities to receive the gospel, and bring many to faith in Himself.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
read2 Corinthians 5:17

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will understand and experience the truth that in Christ, they are a new creation, and the old has gone and the new has come.

"Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water."
readJohn 7:38

Ask God to raise up believers and sustain them as they cross cultures to share hope with those who need it. Pray that many might come to know Christ and that streams of living water will flow from their hearts so they will never thirst again.

Varli Across Countries (ROP3 - 113844) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion ▼
VarliPG041406VarliIndia1,450,000Engaged yet UnreachedVarliFolk Hinduism

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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