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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Watal of India

The Watal of India, numbering approximately 250 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a community of India and can also be known as Batel, Sheikh, Battal, Batul, Seraj. They are an Indigenous people, in the Kashmiri people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Kashmiri.

Watal in India photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Create International Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Kashmiri (kas)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 250
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG049375
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Watal of India

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kashmiri
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Kashmiri Speakers

Media Resources in Kashmiri:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kashmiri:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kashmiri bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Watal

The Watal 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 Watal

The Watal 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 Watal

The Watal 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 Watal of India

He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him
readLuke 10:34

Pray that the lost among them will experience the kind of compassion Jesus taught His followers to show others, and that they will trust in Him because He is the one who brings healing to the broken and lost.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
readPsalm 8:1

Pray that those who have yet to believe will soon recognize the majesty of God's name and raise their voices in praise to the Lord Almighty.

The LORD bless you and keep you.
readNumbers 6:24

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be blessed with God's grace, trusting that He will never abandon them.

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven."
readMatthew 16:17

Pray that God who is in heaven will place believers in the lives of people who need to encounter the gospel and that He will reveal to them the truth of what they hear.

Wattal, Muslim (ROP3 - 113880) 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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