The Kharia of India

The Kharia of India, numbering approximately 900,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a tribal community of eastern and central India, found in Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, and Assam, and recognized as a Scheduled Caste in Tripura. Traditionally shifting cultivators, most now work as agricultural laborers. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Kharia is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Munda-Santal
Primary Language(s): Kharia (khr)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 900,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG041457
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Kharia 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

56%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kharia
Language Family: Austroasiatic

100%
%
Kharia Speakers

Media Resources in Kharia:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Kharia:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Kharia bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Kharia 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 Kharia:
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 Kharia of India

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
readPsalm 73:26

Pray that those who are lost and struggling to find hope will find their strength and hope in God, recognizing Him as their portion and deliverer forever.

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.

But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.
read1 Peter 3:15

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will always be prepared to share the reason for the hope that they have in Jesus with gentleness and respect.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Kharia Across Countries (ROP3 - 112503) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

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