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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Meda of India

The Meda of India, numbering approximately 54,500 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are a Scheduled Tribe of Karnataka comprising two distinct basket-making communities, one confined to Kodagu district and the other found statewide. Basket-making and cultivation remain their occupations. They mostly adhere to Folk Hinduism and Kodava is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: South Asian Tribal
Primary Language(s): Kodava (kfa)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 54,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042016
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Pray for the Meda of India

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kodava
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Kodava Speakers

Media Resources in Kodava:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kodava:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kodava bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 0), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Meda:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

Pray specifically for the Meda of India

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
readActs 4:12

Pray that those walking in darkness among them will come to know the name by which they must be saved, and call upon Him in faith.

For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God!
readDeuteronomy 32:3

Pray that believers will proclaim the Lord’s name and declare the greatness of our God so that others might believe in Him.

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
read2 Corinthians 6:14

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and want to marry, they will be led to other believers and enter into godly marriages.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
readMark 5:20

Pray that God will bring people who appear beyond hope to faith in Jesus and that they will then go and tell others of the marvelous things He has done.

Meda Across Countries (ROP3 - 112943) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
MedaPG042016MedaIndia54,500Unengaged and UnreachedKodavaFolk 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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