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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Panan of India

The Panan of India, numbering approximately 258,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Scheduled Caste of Palakkad, Thrissur, and Ernakulam districts in Kerala, traditionally umbrella-makers and exorcists. Agricultural labor, masonry, and government service now supplement umbrella-making. They mostly adhere to Hinduism and Malayalam is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: South Asian Peoples
Country: India
People Cluster: Tamil
Primary Language(s): Malayalam (mal)
Primary Religion(s): Hinduism
Population: 258,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG041767
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Pray for the Panan 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: Malayalam
Language Family: Dravidian

100%
%
Malayalam Speakers

Media Resources in Malayalam:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
MagdalenaView Film

2 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malayalam:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Bible League International✓✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version - LUMO Christmas Film✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version - LUMO Easter Film✓
Holy Bible, Malayalam Contemporary Version ™✓

4 entries

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malayalam bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Panan 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 Panan:
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 Panan of India

"For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:25-27

Pray that the lost who think they have everything they need will recognize their spiritual poverty apart from Jesus and turn to Him in faith.

And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:26-27

Pray that the lost will seek God and find Him, for He is not far from each one of us. Pray that they will have opportunities to access the gospel, learn God's purpose for their lives, and believe in Him.

But my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
readHebrews 10:38

Pray that as people trust in Christ, they will live by faith and not shrink back from their hope in Christ.

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.

Panan Across Countries (ROP3 - 113298) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
PananPG041767PananIndia258,000Engaged yet UnreachedMalayalamHinduism

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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