The Khandelwal of India

The Khandelwal of India, numbering approximately 248,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a community of India concentrated in the states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and in major cities including Delhi. They are an Indigenous people in the Bania people cluster of the South Asian Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Marwari (India) and their primary religion is Folk Hinduism.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Khandelwal

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Bania
Primary Language(s): Marwari (India) (rwr)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 248,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041261
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Pray for the Khandelwal 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: Folk Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

60%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Marwari (India)
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Marwari (India) Speakers

Media Resources in Marwari (India):

Films:

Bible Resources in Marwari (India):

Or check out the Marwari (India) bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Khandelwal:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Khandelwal 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 Khandelwal:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Khandelwal are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Khandelwal:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Khandelwal of India

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
readPsalm 96:5

Pray that those who are seeking after worthless idols will not be satisfied until they seek the truth and find it in Christ.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.
readMark 4:20

Pray that those who have never encountered the gospel will have the opportunity to receive it, and that it will fall on good soil and bear much fruit.

This God - his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.
readPsalm 18:30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have access to His Word and the ability to understand it, so that they can grow in their faith and find refuge in Him.

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe."
readJohn 6:35-36

Praise God for the things such as bread that He has provided as natural conversation bridges to the gospel. Pray that believers will use any bridges He provides to share the gospel with those who do not yet know the good news.

Bania Khandelwal Across Countries (ROP3 - 115156) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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