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The Bawarchi of India

The Bawarchi of India, numbering approximately 178,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Sunni Muslim occupational community of traditional cooks, whose name derives from the Urdu word for cook and who trace their arrival in India to serving with Babar's army. They are concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat and often suffix Qureshi. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Urdu is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Urdu
Primary Language(s): Urdu (urd)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 178,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049440

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Pray for the Bawarchi 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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

—
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Urdu
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Urdu Speakers

Media Resources in Urdu:

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

4 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Urdu:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Easy-to-Read Version✓✓
Geo Version✓✓
Geo Version✓✓
Geo Version✓✓
Pakistan Bible Society✓
Revised✓

6 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Urdu bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Bawarchi 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 Bawarchi:
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 Bawarchi of India

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
readLuke 15:7

Pray that God will convict the lost of their sin, give them an urgency to run to Him for forgiveness, and feel His welcoming arms around them when they turn to Him.

"You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."
readMatthew 5:13

Pray that the lost will have the opportunity to hear a Christian witness of how the gospel can bring hope and that they will put their faith in Christ.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
readPsalm 51:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will quickly repent when they sin and walk with clean hearts and right spirits as they grow in their relationship with the Lord.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
readPsalm 23:6

Ask God to raise up believers who will share the hope that, for those who trust in Christ, goodness and love will follow them all the days of their lives, and they will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Bawarchi Across Countries (ROP3 - 117684) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDName ▼CountryPopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
BawarchiPG049440BawarchiIndia178,000Engaged yet UnreachedUrduSunni Islam

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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