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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
Bengali - বাংলা | Chinese (Simplified) - 中文（简体）
Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
Hindi - हिन्दी | Indonesian - Bahasa Indonesia
Korean - 한국어 | Nepali - नेपाली
Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
Spanish - Espanol | Tagalong / Filipino
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Santal of India

The Santal of India, numbering approximately 8,995,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an Austroasiatic-speaking Munda tribal group indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. They are an Indigenous people, in the Munda-Santal people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Hinduism - Folk. They primarily speak Santhali.

Santal in Bangladesh photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Find Your Feet - Flickr Find Your Feet - Flickr Licensed under CC BY 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Munda-Santal
Primary Language(s): Santhali (sat)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism - Folk
Population: 8,995,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG046350
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Santal of India

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Hinduism - Folk
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

%
Hinduism - Folk Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Santhali
Language Family: Austro-Asiatic

%
Santhali Speakers

Media Resources in Santhali:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Santhali:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Santhali bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Santal

The Santal are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Santal

The Santal 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.

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

Next steps for the Santal

The Santal 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Santal of India

For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.
readEphesians 5:8

Pray that those who are lost will turn from the darkness they are walking in and embrace the light, becoming children of light who bear fruit in every good work.

Ascribe to the LORD, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength!
readPsalm 96:7

Pray that entire households will come to faith in Jesus and that God will bless their families with faith in Him for generations to come.

And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
readZechariah 2:11

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have a heart that longs to see all people from all parts of the world worshiping Jesus as He deserves.

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
readPsalm 105:1

Pray that many among them will call on the name of Jesus, develop a heart for the nations, and go to places where the gospel has not yet been received.

Santal (ROP3 - 108674) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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