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People group profile · PG041238

The Kayastha of India

The Kayastha of India, numbering about 9,400,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a pan-Indian literate administrative community historically responsible for record-keeping, government administration, accounting, and secretarial work across many Indian kingdoms and empires.

They are an indigenous people in the Kayastha people cluster of the South Asian Peoples. Their primary religion is Hinduism, and they primarily speak Bengali.

Pray for the KayasthaPrint profile

AI-generated illustration representing the Kayastha people
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph. Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite: Kayastha

Fast facts

Country
India
Population
9,400,000
Affinity group
South Asian Peoples
People cluster
Kayastha
Primary language
Bengali (ben)
Primary religion
Hinduism
Strategic Progress Index
Engaged yet Unreached
Evangelical
Less than 2%
GSEC
Less than 2% Evangelical, Dispersed CP Activity
Lostness priority
Frontier Unreached People Group
Region
Southern Asia, Asia
Location
Widespread in north India: northern Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand states; Delhi

Where they live

Gospel status

The Kayastha are Engaged yet Unreached, which means fewer than 2% are evangelical Christians, but there are sustained efforts to establish self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. In GSEC terms, this people group is less than 2% evangelical but there has been dispersed church planting among them within the past two years.

  • Congregations exist Yes
  • Church planting in the last two years Dispersed Church Planting

Next steps for the Kayastha

  • 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

Primary religion

Hinduism

100% adherents

Primary language

Bengali · Indo-European family

100% speak Bengali

Gospel resources in Bengali

  • Bible available
  • JESUS Film available
  • Radio programs available
  • Gospel recordings available
  • Audio resources available
  • Bible stories available

Films

Bibles

Find more at the JESUS Film Project, Bible.com and Faith Comes by Hearing.

Pray for the Kayastha

  1. 2 Timothy 2:2. Pray for faithful local leaders who will teach others, so that the church multiplies.
  2. Ephesians 5:8. Pray that those walking in darkness will turn to the light and live as children of light.
  3. Romans 10:14–15. Ask God to send messengers, so that people can hear, believe and call on the name of the Lord.
  4. Matthew 9:37–38. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field.

Download a prayer guide

Kayastha in other countries

The same people (ROP3 112470) is reported in 1 other country.

People groupCountryPopulationStatus
KayasthaNepal80,000Engaged yet Unreached

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