Sirvi

The people's tradition traces back to Rajput warriors who, according to oral memory, fought hard battles against the king of Girinar around the 12th century. After heavy losses, the survivors laid down their weapons and migrated to the region of Jalore, in present day Rajasthan, where they came to be known as Kharadia Rajputs.

In this new land, the group struck an agreement with the local crown: they were granted permission to farm in partnership with local farmers, in exchange for a share of the produce going to the royal treasury. The king settled them in 24 villages of Jalore, and it was there that the Sirvi identity as known today was born.

Agriculture remains at the center of Sirvi life, a direct inheritance from the agreement struck centuries ago between the former warriors and local royalty. Working the land is treated as a family calling, passed down from generation to generation along with the sense of partnership that gives the people its name.

Community life revolves around the village and the kinship network, with a strong emphasis on one’s given word and collective effort. Honesty is held up as a hallmark of the people, a trait the Sirvi themselves cultivate as part of their identity before their neighbors. In recent years, part of the community has left the fields of Rajasthan to settle in urban centers in other regions of India, where they have also built a reputation in business.

The Sirvi are Hindu, and their faith is interwoven with the memory of their Rajput origin and with the agricultural life they have practiced for centuries. Worship of Hindu deities, family rituals and the festivals of the Hindu calendar mark the community’s yearly rhythm.

Belonging to a lineage of Rajput warrior roots also carries social weight: the Hindu faith is not only religious practice but part of a status identity that the community preserves with pride before other groups in Rajasthan. Among them, devotion to regional deities of popular Rajasthani Hinduism is common, worshiped in temples that bring together families from different villages on festive occasions.

Hindi, the main language spoken by the Sirvi, has had the complete Bible available for many decades, with the New Testament and even older portions before that. Marwari, the community’s second most spoken language, is also a living language among them, though the real reach of the Scriptures in that language is uncertain. Despite availability in Hindi, there is practically no record of the Sirvi having real access to these Scriptures, and Christianity remains almost absent from their cultural horizon.

Their Rajput origin gives the Sirvi a high social status, which makes them reserved about mixing with Christians, generally seen as coming from more modest backgrounds. Added to this, they live in Rajasthan, a state with one of the lowest proportions of followers of Christ in all of India, which drastically reduces any natural contact with the Christian faith.

As a people devoted to agriculture, the Sirvi face the uncertainties typical of rural life in India: dependence on the weather, unstable harvests and the economic challenges of communities tied to the land. There is also a deep spiritual need, since there is practically no Christian community among them nor any living witness of the gospel in their midst.

The people lack any meaningful history of contact with followers of Jesus, which makes the need for genuine bridges of friendship and dialogue that respect their identity and their pride of origin all the more urgent.