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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.

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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

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
readRomans 10:14

Pray that the gospel will advance among those who don’t know the good news of salvation in Jesus so that they might believe and trust in Jesus.

"...I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
readMatthew 16:18b

Pray that God will build and grow His Church among this people.

Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
readPsalm 134:1

Pray that God will raise up believers among them who are in awe of Him and that, in service to Him, they will share the gospel with others so that they too may bless the Lord!

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

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
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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