When a loved one passes away and you cannot travel to India
Two family traditions may still remain in India: the family Bahi may need updating, and traditional rites may still need arranging. Indian Archive coordinates the India side on your behalf — helping identify or reconnect with the priest responsible for your family's Bahi and, where traditional rites are requested, coordinating an appropriate priest to perform them. These may be the same person, or two different people.
Indian Archive does not transport ashes. 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.
Indian Archive is not a funeral director or government-registration service. The Bahi update and any traditional rites are optional family traditions, and practices vary from family to family and from region to region.
Before payment, your family must know the ancestral village, Gotra and family name. Parents', grandparents' and other remembered family details are collected during the intake.
Why a death may be recorded in the family Bahi
In many communities, a family's names, lineage and life events were written by hand into a family register kept by a hereditary priest. After a death, the family would traditionally visit that priest so the record could be continued — often alongside other changes such as births, marriages and the names of a new generation.
Families who settled overseas frequently lost touch with the priest connected to their ancestral village, so recent events were never added. Continuing the record is a way of keeping each generation connected to the one before it — a private family tradition rather than an official document.
How Indian Archive coordinates the update
1. Your family provides the details
Tell us who has died and what your family knows about its ancestral village, district, community and Gotra. Before payment we need the ancestral village, Gotra and family name; other names and details are collected during intake.
2. We review the ancestral information
Our office reads through what you have shared and works out how your family's traditional record may be reached, and which centre in India it is likely connected with.
3. The Bahi priest is contacted, or identified
If you know the priest responsible for your family's Bahi — a Panda, Pandit or Purohit — we work through that route. If contact has been lost, we help identify the appropriate priest or register route first.
4. Requirements are established
Every priest works differently. We ask what he needs for the record and prepare that information carefully with your family.
5. The Bahi update is coordinated
We coordinate the update from overseas by telephone, WhatsApp or through a local representative, depending on the priest's normal practice. Where a local visit is required, our researcher or representative can attend on your behalf.
6. Where rites are requested, a priest is arranged to perform them
On the £595 service we also coordinate an appropriate priest to perform the traditional rites. This may be the same priest who holds your family's Bahi, or a different one — it depends on your family's tradition and the practice of the priest concerned.
7. The outcome is confirmed to your family
We record what happened — the Bahi outcome and, where applicable, what rites were arranged and performed — and provide your family with the available confirmation.
The priest remains the custodian of the Bahi and decides what can be recorded and which rites are appropriate. We work on a best-efforts basis and cannot guarantee that every case results in an update. Every family priest has his own practice: some accept a remote Bahi 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. Supporting material may be included where it is permitted and provided by the traditional record custodian; availability varies according to the individual priest, record holder and local practice.
Which service families normally take after a bereavement
Both are managed by our office from the first conversation to the confirmed outcome. You do not need to know the names of the rites — we establish the appropriate arrangements with the priest.
Recommended after a bereavement
Family Bahi + Traditional Rites — £595
The Bahi update, plus the appropriate traditional rites arranged with a suitable priest in India on your behalf. The appropriate rites may include Sankalp, Pind Daan and other prayers or ceremonies advised by the priest performing them.
The £595 service includes coordination of the appropriate traditional rites and the normal priest, dakshina and ritual-material arrangements required for the rites agreed as part of your case. If a priest recommends something outside the normal agreed service, we will explain it to you before any additional cost is incurred.
Family Bahi Update — £395
For families who only need the family record continued — the names, the event and the generation now living — without traditional rites being arranged.
What the price includes
- •The traditional offering and payment made to the priest or register-holding family
- •Coordination and communication with the priest on your family's behalf
- •The fees of our researchers or local representatives where a visit or local assistance is required
- •Translation of anything shared with us as part of your case
- •Delivery of any supporting material the custodian permits, through your secure account
There are no separate charges for the priest, our researchers, coordination or translation. Supporting material is included where it is permitted and provided by the traditional record custodian, and availability varies from case to case.
Funeral directors and community organisations are welcome to share this page with families. Information for funeral and ashes-service partners.