Introduction / History

The Bellara are a community of basket weavers, most of whom live in India's southern state of Karnataka. At home they speak their own dialect of Kannada, the language of this state. Publicly they speak standard Kannada.

What Are Their Lives Like?

They eat pork, which is rare for Hindus. Some of them have received cultivable land from the Indian government for farming, but most of them remain basket weavers.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Their form of Hinduism focuses on spirit worship. They also worship village and regional deities. Their priests are sometimes chosen from their own community, though they also rely on the Brahmins to perform priestly duties. There are few if any from the Bellara people who follow the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There are many good Christian resources in the Kannada language, but the Bellara suffer from illiteracy.

What Are Their Needs?

The Bellara people need the blessings of Jesus Christ, so they can live life to the full. As it stands, they are dependent on the spirit world, and gods that they bargain with. They need the father of light.

Prayer Items

Pray for audio materials to be made widely available in Bellara communities.

Pray for Indian believers who speak Kannada to produce songs, skits and stories about Jesus for this Hindu community.

Pray that soon there will be a strong, multiplying fellowship of Bellara believers.

Scripture Prayers for the Bellara in India.

References

Some information from "The Scheduled Castes" K. S. Singh, ed. Oxford University Press, USA (1994)