Mangali in India

Introduction / History

The Mangali people of Odisha are one of the other backward castes (OBCs). That gives them middle status, and they are a poor community.

What Are Their Lives Like?

Since the Mangali people are landless, they have to depend on other means of making a living. They drum for special events such as festivals. Others make rope and sell cheap goods at the market. Their children cut stones or work in the rice fields. The Mangali people maintain cultivator-labor relations with communities that have land and wealth.

Inheritance goes to all children, although the oldest son gets a little more than his siblings. When the father dies, the eldest son becomes the family head. Families are becoming more nuclear rather than extended. Only men drink alcohol, though men and women both crew betel.

Unlike most Hindu communities, the Mangali might bury their dead, though they prefer cremation.

What Are Their Beliefs?

These Hindus worship Durga, Dakshin Kalika, Bhoirabi, Baburai and Thakurani. They also have village spirits they worship in hopes they will be protected from sicknesses, evil spirits, natural disasters and crop failures. They also attend various festivals, some of them Hindu based, and others are not.

What Are Their Needs?

Mangali children seldom get adequate education because their parents don’t have the will or the funds to put them through school. As a result, they have had few if any chances to take on high paying jobs or to be represented in politics.

They also don’t have access to modern medicine, so they rely on traditional methods, which are often faulty.

Prayer Points

Pray for a "Book of Acts" type of movement to Christ among the Mangali people.

Pray God will have mercy on the Mangali, doing whatever it takes to place them in a position to receive him.

Ask God to open the hearts of the Mangali to the gospel.

Pray for an unstoppable movement to Christ among them.

Text Source:   Joshua Project