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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.

Pray Now!
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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

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
readRevelation 3:20

Pray that those who have not opened their hearts to Jesus will hear His knock and invite Him in as their Savior and Lord.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
readMalachi 1:11

Pray that they will worship God in spirit and truth, offering Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving that He desires.

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
readIsaiah 41:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will not fear, for the Lord is with them, and He will strengthen, help, and uphold them with His righteous right hand.

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
readJeremiah 29:7

Pray that God will lead the lost among them to followers of Jesus who will share the gospel with them so that they may believe and take the message of hope to their families and friends.

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group ID ▼NameCountryPopulationStrategic 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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