The Arakh of India

The Arakh of India, numbering approximately 390,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as an occupational caste of Awadhi-speaking agriculturalists distributed across Uttar Pradesh districts including Kanpur, Lucknow, and Faizabad. The Arakh traditionally engaged in cultivation and military service They are an Indigenous people, with Arakh as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Marathi-Konkani people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Folk Hinduism. They primarily speak Awadhi.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Anonymous

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Marathi-Konkani
Primary Language(s): Awadhi (awa)
Primary Religion(s): Folk Hinduism
Population: 390,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041401
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Arakh 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

80%
%
Folk Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Awadhi
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Awadhi Speakers

Bible Resources in Awadhi:

Or check out the Awadhi 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 Arakh:
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 Arakh 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 Arakh:
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 Arakh 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 Arakh:
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 Arakh of India

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

...I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
readPsalm 13:5

Ask God to bring many to trust in His unfailing love and cause their hearts to rejoice in His salvation.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
readJohn 10:28

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have assurance of eternal life, knowing that no one can snatch them out of the loving hand of Jesus.

And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
readLuke 18:29-30

Pray that God will raise up people to go and share the gospel and help them trust His promise that anyone who has left those they treasure for the sake of the kingdom of God will receive many times more in this life and in the life to come.

Arakh Across Countries (ROP3 - 111345) 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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