The Chopan of India

The Chopan of India, numbering approximately 50,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Kashmiri shepherding community whose name denotes their traditional role as keepers of sheep and cattle for landowning zamindars, now also engaged in agricultural and institutional labor They are an Indigenous people, with Chopan as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Kashmiri people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. They mostly adhere to Sunni Islam and Kashmiri is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Kashmiri
Primary Language(s): Kashmiri (kas)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 50,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049444

Pray for the Chopan 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.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

—
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Kashmiri
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Kashmiri Speakers

Media Resources in Kashmiri:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Kashmiri:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Kashmiri bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Chopan 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 Chopan:
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 Chopan of India

Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
readRomans 11:22

Pray that God will transform those who persist in unbelief and, in His everlasting kindness, graft them into His family.

Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.
readMatthew 13:8-9

Pray that they will have open hearts and minds to the Word of God, and that it will take root in their lives and bear fruit for His glory.

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
readColossians 3:1

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father sends me, even so I am sending you."
readJohn 20:21

Ask God to raise up and send out believers cross-culturally who will go out in His authority and be sustained by His peace as they share the gospel with the lost.

Chopan Across Countries (ROP3 - 118726) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

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