Download the People Group List (16 languages .csv)

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 Mali (Bengali) of India

The Mali (Bengali) of India, numbering approximately 399,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a large traditional horticultural and gardening community found across much of India, especially in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and parts of eastern India. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Bengali is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Mali (Bengali)

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Mali
Primary Language(s): Bengali (ben)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 399,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG047906

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Pray for the Mali (Bengali) 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

100%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bengali
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Bengali Speakers

Media Resources in Bengali:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Bengali:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Common Language Version✓✓✓
Mussolmani✓✓
Re-edit Bangla Version✓✓

3 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Bengali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Mali (Bengali) 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 Mali (Bengali):
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 Mali (Bengali) of India

For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?
readPsalm 18:31

As people look to their own efforts for hope, pray they will have the opportunity to learn and believe in the Lord, who is the only Rock worthy of their faith.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
readPsalm 22:27

Pray that all families of the nations will worship the Lord in spirit and in truth.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Mali (Bengali) Across Countries (ROP3 - 116762) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
Mali (Bengali)PG047906Mali (Bengali)India399,000Engaged yet UnreachedBengaliHinduism

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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