India, Hindu Pilgrimage Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Title in the Language of the Records
भारत, हिंदू तीर्थ रिकॉर्ड्स

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, Family Search makes images available for all users. However, ultimate rights to view images on our website are granted by the record Custodians. The India, Hindu Pilgrimage Records, 1194-2013 collection is available to members of the supporting organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Microfilms of these records are available for viewing at a Family History Center. Please see Using the FamilySearch Catalog to find a microfilm and see Ordering Microfilm or Microfiche.

Record Description
This includes records from 1194 to 2013. Hindu pilgrimage records are kept by Pandits in India. The records can be for people and families making pilgrimages from numerous places throughout India. These records are created and updated when family members pass on. No women are mentioned unless their deaths are referred to indirectly.

The ancient custom of keeping family genealogies is not well-known today to Indians settled abroad. Professional Hindu Brahmin Pandits, popularly known as "Pandas", kept detailed family genealogies over the past several generations at the Hindu holy city of Haridwar. The registers are handwritten, having been passed down to them over generations by their Pandit ancestors, and are classified according to original districts and villages of one's ancestors. Special designated Pandit families are in charge of designated district registers, including ancestral districts and villages that were left behind when Hindus had to migrate from Pakistan to India after the Partition of India.

In several cases, present-day Hindu descendants are now Sikhs, Muslims, and even Christians. It is not uncommon for researchers to find details of up to or even more than their past seven generations in these genealogy registers.

Hindu ancestors have visited the holy town of Haridwar for centuries for various religious and cultural purposes, including:


 * Religious pilgrimage
 * Cremation of their dead
 * Immersion of a kin member's cremated remains into the holy river Ganges

For centuries, Hindu ancestors who have visited Haridwar for any of these purposes also visit the Pandit in charge of their family registers and update the family's genealogical family tree with details of all marriages, births, and deaths in the extended joint family.

In present-day India, people visiting Haridwar are dumbfounded when Pundits unexpectedly step forward and invite them to come update their very own ancestral genealogical family tree. The news of a visiting family travels quickly to the Pandit in charge of their district.

With Hindu joint family system having broken down into nuclear families, the Pandits prefer visitors to Haridwar to come prepared after getting in touch with all of their extended family and to bring all relevant genealogical events, such as:


 * Ancestral district and village
 * Names of grandparents and great grandparents
 * Births
 * Marriages
 * Deaths

They also ask for as much information as is possible about the families they are marrying into. A visiting family member is required to personally sign the family genealogical register furnished by his or her personal family Panda after updating it for future family visitors and generations to see and to authenticate the updated entries. Friends and other family members accompanying on the visit may also be requested to sign as witnesses.

For a list of volume numbers currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

Record Content
The registers are arranged by "caste" and contain the following information:


 * Native residence
 * Names of family members
 * Last occasion on which a family member came to this place of pilgrimage and made an entry in the register
 * Ceremony performed at the time
 * Offering made to the priest

How to Use the Record
To begin your search, it would be helpful to know the following information:


 * Ancestor's name
 * Year in which they made their pilgrimage
 * Place of birth

Search the Collection
To search the collection image by image select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page: ⇒Select the appropriate "State" ⇒Select the appropriate "City or Town" ⇒Select the appropriate "Pandit" ⇒Select the appropriate "Volume and Description" which will take you to the images.

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

As you are searching it is helpful to know such information as your ancestor’s given name and surname, some identifying information such as residence and age, and family relationships. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name as your ancestor and that your ancestor may have used nicknames or different names at different times.

No women are mentioned unless their deaths are referred to indirectly.

Related Websites

 * Hindu Pilgramge Sites: an Interactive Map
 * Other Hindu Geneological Records
 * BBC Video Report of Meera Syal as she traced her Indian ancestry.

Related Wiki Articles

 * India Church Records
 * India
 * India History

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Records collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher, and archive for the original records.