The Valmiki of India

The Valmiki of India, numbering approximately 99,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Kupia-speaking tribal community of eastern India, concentrated in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. They maintain a distinct ethnolinguistic identity shaped by agriculture, local village traditions, and interaction with neighboring tribal peoples. They mostly adhere to Folk Hinduism and Kupia is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: South Asian Tribal
Primary Language(s): Kupia (key)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 99,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG041822
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Valmiki 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: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

95%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kupia
Language Family: Indo-European

74%
%
Kupia Speakers

Media Resources in Kupia:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Kupia:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2018 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Kupia bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Valmiki 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 Valmiki:
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 Valmiki of India

And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
readMatthew 24:14

Pray that the message of hope will reach those who are wandering in darkness, offering them a path to eternal life.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
readPsalm 51:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will quickly repent when they sin and walk with clean hearts and right spirits as they grow in their relationship with the Lord.

For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
readActs 13:47

Pray that as people come to faith, they will follow the Lord's leading to go to their neighbors and share the treasure they found in Christ.

Valmiki (ST) Across Countries (ROP3 - 113841) 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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