Introduction / History

With a gentle touch, Anindita, the bride, applied sandalwood paste to the forehead of Chiman, her groom, as their marriage ceremony was concluding. Chiman then placed a dot of bright red sindoor paste in the center of her forehead. After six years of waiting, she was now his wife. Both sets of parents planned this wedding, even though they came from two different clans within their Pod tribe in India. She would wear the red dot on her forehead each day to bring good luck to her husband. Proudly, Anindita felt she would receive the blessing of the Hindu goddess Sati which would in turn bring honor to Chiman. She also was proud of the small piece of land her father gave them as her dowry.

West Bengal is the home of almost three million Hindu Pod people. They prefer to be called Poundra. Their name means lotus. They are divided into a number of clans. The majority live by farming small tracts of land. Some of these Dalits own their own land. The landless among them work in other occupations such as fishing, carpentry and bamboo work. Education has become important to them and they work hard so their children can attend school.

Prayer Points

* Pray that Christian Dalits will be witnesses to these people.
* Pray that Christian literature will be provided as their literacy is increasing.
* May the Pod people soon know God's gift of salvation.