The Chain of India

The Chain of India, numbering approximately 523,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a Hindu cultivating and fishing community of West Bengal, concentrated in the Malda and Nadia districts and in Purnia, Bihar, who claim to be original inhabitants of the region. Also known as Chain-Mondal They are an Indigenous people, with Chain as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Mallah people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Hinduism. They primarily speak Bengali.

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

Fast Facts*:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Mallah
Primary Language(s): Bengali (ben)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 523,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041408
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Chain 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: Hinduism
Religious Affiliation: Hinduism

100%
%
Hinduism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bengali
Language Family: Indo-European

100%
%
Bengali Speakers

Media Resources in Bengali:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film
MagdalenaView Film
The SaviorView Film

5 films

Bible Resources in Bengali:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Common Language Version
Mussolmani
Re-edit Bangla Version

3 entries

Or check out the Bengali bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Chain 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 Chain:
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 Chain of India

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
read1 Chronicles 16:26

Pray that those among them who are lost and seeking after worthless idols will have the opportunity to hear and respond to the good news, seeing that Jesus is better than any idol.

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.
readPsalm 127:3

Pray that God will bless this generation of children, that they will come to know Jesus early in life and follow Him always.

But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
readIsaiah 53:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will find comfort and spiritual healing as they remember the wounds of Christ, who understands their suffering because He also walked through suffering on their behalf.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that God will bring people to faith who are excited about the eternal life they have in Christ and will want to cross cultures to share this hope with others.

Chain Across Countries (ROP3 - 111755) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

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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