"Rishabh! Don't ever forget our past!" The old man called to his grandson as he lounged on the couch. "Let me tell you about the time our ancestors built the Adinath Temple. It was the year 961 AD by the time they even finished…" he began. He went on to describe the details of how they built the impressive Jain temple, despite many obstacles. The boy settled himself in to hear the story yet again.

The Porwal (also called Porvad or Porwad) are a community of Banias who, long ago, were great in number and in riches. They built many of the most famous Jain temples. Now other Jain communities are larger and wealthier than the Porwals. They are still a wealthy people, but their numbers have fallen when compared to the other Jain groups around them. Today they number less than four million out of India's more than 1,215,000,000 people.

Far smaller is the number of Christ followers among them. Their Jain beliefs offer them some good moral guidelines regarding the sanctity of life. But without a church or a Bible or any appropriate evangelistic tools, the Porwals remain without knowledge of a Savior who offers not only solid moral teachings about the importance of life, but also the chance to have a personal relationship with the God who created them.

* Scripture Prayers for the Bania Porwal in Sri Lanka.

Pray that the Porwal people will soon get to hear the good news that Jesus Christ died for their sins.

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