Complete the traditions that still remain in India.
When you can't travel to India after a bereavement, we help arrange the family Bahi update and the appropriate traditional rites on your behalf.
Already immersed the ashes where you live? Our service focuses on what may still remain to be completed in India.
Need to update a birth, marriage or another family event? Family Bahi Update
The ashes do not need to travel to India.
If your family has already completed the ashes immersion where you live, we do not ask you to repeat it or send ashes to India.
Our service focuses on the family traditions that may still remain in India — the family record kept by the priest responsible for your family's Bahi, and any traditional rites your family would like arranged. Both can be arranged from where you live. Indian Archive does not transport ashes and will never ask you to send them anywhere.
Family Bahi Update — £395
Your family's names, generation after generation, written by hand into a register kept by a family priest. We help identify or reconnect with the priest responsible for your family's Bahi and have the record continued with the names and the event that are missing.
- • Identifying or reconnecting with your family's Bahi priest
- • Presenting your family information for the entry
- • Coordination in India and a documented outcome
Family Bahi + Traditional Rites — £595
Everything in the Bahi update, plus the traditional rites arranged in India on your family's behalf. The appropriate rites may include Sankalp, Pind Daan and other prayers or ceremonies advised by the appropriate priest, according to your community, region and family practice. Where rites are requested we coordinate an appropriate priest to perform them — that may be the same priest who holds your family's Bahi, or a different one.
- • Everything in the Family Bahi Update
- • The rites advised by the appropriate priest, arranged in India
- • A written account of what was performed
We work with the traditional custodians of the records, never around them. The priest responsible for your family's Bahi remains its custodian and decides what may be recorded; the priest performing or advising the rites decides what is appropriate for your family. Every family priest has his own practice: some accept a remote update as complete, some enter the update and leave space for a family signature on a future visit, and others require an in-person step. We tell you clearly which applies to your family. Your family's route may be connected with Haridwar, Pehowa–Kurukshetra, Gaya, Prayagraj, Varanasi or another relevant centre. We work on a best-efforts basis, and every family receives an honest written account of the work carried out.
Four straightforward stages.
- 01
Tell us about your family
Tell us what has already been completed and provide the family details we need.
- 02
We establish the right route in India
We help identify or reconnect with the appropriate family Bahi priest and establish what your family needs.
- 03
We coordinate what you've chosen
For the £395 service we coordinate the Bahi update. For the £595 service we also arrange the appropriate traditional rites with a suitable priest.
- 04
You receive confirmation from India
We tell you clearly what happened and provide the confirmation made available by the priests involved.
When a loved one passes away and you cannot travel to India.
The family Bahi may still need updating, and traditional rites may still need arranging. We help identify or reconnect with the priest responsible for your family's Bahi and, where traditional rites are requested, coordinate an appropriate priest to perform them — the same priest, or a different one. It is entirely optional, and traditions vary from family to family.
Family History Research
A separate, specialist service for families who specifically want to research historic Bahi entries and ancestral lineage. Our researchers work with the relevant record holders to look for earlier family entries, and any material shared is provided only where the custodian permits it.
The questions families ask first.
- Can our family Bahi be updated if we live overseas?
- In many cases, yes. Where your family tradition includes a Bahi kept by a priest, we can coordinate the update from abroad on your behalf. The priest remains the custodian and decides what can be recorded.
- Do I need to know who our family priest is?
- No. If you already know your traditional Panda or Purohit, we can work through that route. If contact has been lost, we help identify the appropriate priest or register route as part of the service.
- Will I receive a photograph of the Bahi?
- Not necessarily. Traditional registers remain under the control of their custodians. Photographs or other supporting material may be included where the priest permits and provides them, but they are not guaranteed.
- Do the ashes have to be sent to India?
- If your family has already completed the ashes immersion where you live, we do not ask you to repeat it or send ashes to India. Indian Archive does not transport ashes. Our service focuses on the traditions that may still remain in India.
- Is this official government death registration?
- No. This is a traditional family record kept by a priest's family, not a government register. It does not replace official death registration and it is not a compulsory religious act — traditions and practices vary between families and regions.
Finish what distance left unfinished.
Tell us what needs recording and what you know about your family. We take it from there and coordinate with the appropriate priest on your behalf.