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The Pathiyan of India

The Pathiyan of India, numbering approximately 15,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Scheduled Caste of Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Kollam districts in Kerala, also called Varnavar or Mannan, organized into several lineages. Coconut-plucking and wage labor remain common occupations. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Malayalam is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Malayali
Primary Language(s): Malayalam (mal)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 15,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042109
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Pray for the Pathiyan 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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malayalam
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Malayalam Speakers

Media Resources in Malayalam:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malayalam:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible League International✓✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version - LUMO Easter Film✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version ™✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malayalam bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Pathiyan 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 Pathiyan:
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 Pathiyan of India

Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
read1 John 3:8

Pray for those living in darkness to recognize the destructive power of sin and the victory Christ has won over it.

Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
readPsalm 67:5

While there are many who do not yet praise God, pray that He will work in their lives, advance the gospel among them, and bring many to saving faith in Christ.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Pathiyan Across Countries (ROP3 - 113339) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
PathiyanPG042109PathiyanIndia15,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalayalamHinduism

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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