How the family record search works
Five stages, from what your family remembers to a record you can pass down. Typical research completes within 2–10 weeks; complex, specialist or multi-centre cases may take longer.
Which centre we search depends on your family's ancestral place and tradition. See the centres we work with.
- 01
Share what your family knows
Start with the free assessment. Tell us about your ancestral village, district and state, your community, caste and gotra, and any family traditions — by typing or by voice. Signing in protects and saves your progress.
- 02
We identify the most likely register route
We use what you have shared to suggest the traditional register centre, or centres, most likely to hold your family's records. Our team reviews the suggested route.
- 03
You choose the centres and see the price
Select between one and four centres to search, and decide whether to add the optional register entry/update service. You will see the full price for your chosen centres before you pay.
- 04
Our researcher searches in India
Once you have paid, our researcher travels to the selected centre or centres and begins work in person. There, they meet the hereditary register holder — the person whose family has kept the community's handwritten books, often for generations — and work alongside them to locate the right volume for your family's village, community and gotra. The registers are searched by hand, page by page, since none of this material is digitised or indexed. When your family's entry is found and the register holder gives permission, our researcher photographs it, and where the register holder is willing, records them reading the entry aloud, which can help with names and dates that are difficult to make out on the page. Either way, the visit itself is confirmed with evidence of the centre's location and the date the search took place, so your family has a clear, honest account of what was done — though not every search leads to a surviving entry.
- 05
We translate and preserve the result
What is found is transcribed, translated and organised into a lasting family archive.
Not sure how to spell a name or village? Say it aloud in the way your family pronounces it. We will turn the recording into text and suggest a spelling for you to review. The strongest clues are usually ancestral village, district or state, gotra or clan, community/biradari, religion or family tradition, and any known family pilgrimage or last-rites route.
- • Ancestral village or town — the place your parents, grandparents or earlier ancestors originally came from. Spelling varies — enter it as you know it.
- • District and state — helpful if the exact village is uncertain.
- • Gotra or clan — may be known from family documents, wedding records, previous register visits or family memory.
- • Community/biradari, where known.
- • Religion or family tradition, where relevant.
- • Audio notes for spelling or pronunciation — optional and helpful when you are unsure how a name is written.
You will not have to start again after payment. Everything you have already shared stays with your research.
From the register page to your account
Photographs taken at the centre are transcribed in the original script and translated into clear English. Where the register holder permits a recording, that is included too. Everything is brought together with the account of the visit and delivered through your secure Indian Archive account, where you can read and download it at any time.