The Damai of Nepal

The Damai of Nepal, numbering approximately 680,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Nepali Scheduled Caste of West Bengal and Sikkim, also known as Darjee, whose name derives from damaha, a drum, traditionally serving as tailors and hereditary musicians at Nepali wedding ceremonies They are an Indigenous people, with Damai as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Nepali-Pahari people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Nepali (individual language) is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: Nepal
People Cluster: Nepali-Pahari
Primary Language(s): Nepali (individual language) (npi)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 680,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, Concentrated CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049116
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Damai of Nepal

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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nepali (individual language)
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Nepali Speakers

Media Resources in Nepali (individual language):

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

4 films

Bible Resources in Nepali (individual language):

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
New Revised Version✓✓
New Revised Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓

2 entries

Or check out the Nepali (individual language) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Damai 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 Damai:
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 Damai of Nepal

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
readPsalm 51:17

Pray that those who want to achieve salvation through their works will be unsettled in their pursuit and that, with a broken spirit and contrite heart, they will trust in Christ.

Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!
readPsalm 96:9

Pray that many who do not yet know Jesus will come to know Him and worship Him in the splendor of His holiness.

This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.
readEphesians 5:32-33

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will grasp the profound mystery of Christ's love for the Church, reflecting this love in their marriages.

Then he said to his disciples, “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."
readMatthew 9:37-38

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up believers to send out into His harvest field, which is ripe and ready.

Damai Across Countries (ROP3 - 111878) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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