Pray for the Chaturtha of India:

The Chaturtha live mainly in the state of Maharashtra in southern India. They are strictly vegetarian, avoiding underground stems and roots. They follow four variations of Jainism, and women play a significant part both in religious and cultural leadership. Their traditional occupation is agriculture, but many Chaturthas are also active in business and industry. They have a generally high literacy rate.

My name is Jina*. I live with my husband and three children in the city of Pune.

Before I had children, I worked as a teacher at a secondary school. But now I stay home to take care of my children and my home and manage the family finances while my husband works at the hospital.

We are very devout Jains. I make sure that my family goes to the temple every day to worship, strictly observes the religious fasts and only eats acceptable foods.

 We believe it is wrong to eat meat or anything that has been dug up from the earth, because it needlessly takes the life of these animals and plants.

It is my hope that in guiding my family to live respectfully and honor the spiritual nature of all life, we will attain freedom from karma, called Moksha. Attaining Moksha requires intense self-discipline and respect for all life. 

*Jina is a fictional character whose story is based on research and anthropological profiles of the Chaturtha.

“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance”    (2 Peter 3:9, NASB)

Reaching South Asia with the Gospel is a God-sized task, and He invites you to participate with Him through prayer. The Ends of the Earth is filled with millions of people who need your intercession — Unengaged Unreached People Groups.

To be most effective in your prayer, learn about the specific needs of the South Asia’s UUPGs or pray for specific UUPGs by name.

The seven countries of South Asia contain more unengaged unreached people groups (UUPGs) than all other parts of the world combined.  In fact, three-fourths of all the world’s UUPGs are in South Asia.  People group researchers in recent years have documented about 345 UUPGs with a population of more than 100,000.  Today that number stands at 177!   A UUPG is classified as a people group with less than 2 percent Christian population and no evangelical work among them.  This means that most of these people have never had any exposure to the Gospel and even now have no one working among them to bring them the Good News.  Southern Baptists are putting special emphasis on reaching these people groups in South Asia with the Gospel.