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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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The Ghadwa of India

The Ghadwa of India, numbering approximately 4,900 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an early settler community of Bastar in Madhya Pradesh present since the thirteenth century, traditionally skilled in casting brass and bell-metal images for sale to neighboring tribal communities. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Halbi is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Marathi-Konkani
Primary Language(s): Halbi (hlb)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 4,900
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG049731

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Pray for the Ghadwa 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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

99%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Halbi
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Halbi Speakers

Media Resources in Halbi:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Halbi:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2017 Masihi Sahithya Sanstha, New Delhi in Association with Bastar True Light Samiti✓✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Halbi bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Ghadwa 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 Ghadwa:
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 Ghadwa of India

Claiming to be wise, they became fools.
readRomans 1:22

Ask God to pour out His mercy and bring those who are walking in their own wisdom to faith in Jesus.

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
readRevelation 4:11

Pray that the good news will advance and people will recognize and worship the One who created all things by His will, giving glory and honor to Him alone.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.
readTitus 3:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and might struggle with temptation to trust in their own works, they will remember that it is only because of God's mercy that they have been saved.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever.
readPsalm 9:18

Pray that God will raise up believers who can help meet emotional and physical needs among this people group. Ask Him to open doors for them and give them the courage to walk into difficult situations and share the hope of the gospel boldly.

Ghadwa Across Countries (ROP3 - 117791) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulationStrategic Progress Index ▼LanguageReligion
GhadwaPG049731GhadwaIndia4,900Engaged yet UnreachedHalbiHinduism

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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