Introduction / History

In the colonial period, the word kol acquired a pejorative connotation. It became a synonym for the savage, the lowly, those performing menial jobs, the militant and the aggressive. The highest concentration of the Kol people is in Central India. Others are scattered throughout India, but a smaller number are further east in Bangladesh.

What Are Their Lives Like?

In some regions, their traditional and present-day occupation is the collecting and selling fuel of wood and leaves from forest and wage labor.

What Are Their Beliefs?

They worship family deities like Birmidevi and Simoridevi, village deities, and regional deities.

What Are Their Needs?

An animistic, polytheistic worldview is an obstacle to faith in Christ, but not an insurmountable obstacle. Many workers are needed to carry the good news about Christ to the several language groups within the Kol community.

Prayer Points

There are a few followers of Christ among the Kol community. Pray they will experience Christ's love that surpasses knowledge. Pray the Kol community will increasingly hunger to know the creator God. Pray for people of faith to demonstrate to the Kol the power of Jesus to free them from bondage to the deities they serve.

Scripture Prayers for the Kol in India.