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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Holeya of India

The Holeya of India, numbering approximately 984,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a scheduled caste indigenous to the India state of Karnataka, traditionally involved in agriculture, labor, and skilled crafts like blacksmithing, carpentry, and pottery. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Kannada is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3 Flash: Holeya

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Kanarese
Primary Language(s): Kannada (kan)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 984,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041392
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Pray for the Holeya 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: Kannada
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Kannada Speakers

Media Resources in Kannada:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Kannada:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Easy-to-Read Version✓✓
Indian Revised Version✓✓
Kannada Contemporary Translation✓

3 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Kannada bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Holeya 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 Holeya:
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 Holeya of India

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
readRomans 5:7-8

Pray for the many who don't yet understand the hope of the gospel, and pray that God will reveal to them that while they were in darkness, Christ died for them.

The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
readPsalm 146:9

Pray for God to watch over people, wherever they are, and cause them to meet believers who will share the gospel with them clearly and lovingly.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.
readEphesians 2:4-5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will remember God's mercy and grace and experience joy as they walk in new life with Christ.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!
readPsalm 51:2

Pray that God will raise up believers to go and share the gospel with those in this people group who need to be washed of their iniquity and cleansed from their sins.

Holeya Across Countries (ROP3 - 114454) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
HoleyaPG041392HoleyaIndia984,000Engaged yet UnreachedKannadaHinduism

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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