Hindu genealogy registers at Haridwar

Genealogy registers, of families, maintained by Brahmin Pandits (Priests) or ‘Pandas’, who double up as professional genealogists, at Haridwar, has been a subject of study for many years now. In several cases, these voluminous records or Vahis (Bahi), have also been used in settling legal cases regarding inheritance or property disputes, as these records are held sacrosanct both by the pilgrims and the Pandas themselves, and in many places these records trace family history, for over twenty prior generations, stretching across many centuries.

As Haridwar has traditionally been a site, for death rites and also Shraaddha, amongst Hindus, it soon also became customary for the family pandits (priest) to record each visit of the family, along with their gotra, family tree, marriages and members present etc., grouped according to family and home town. And over the centuries, these registers became an important genealogical source for many families, part of splintered families, in tracing their family tree and family history as well, especially after the Partition of India in 1947, and later amongst the Indian diaspora,

This custom is similar to Panjis or Panji Prabandh, the extensive genealogical records maintained among Maithil Brahmins in Bihar.

This custom not well known today to Indians settled abroad, in an ancient custom detailed family genealogies of Hindu families for the past several generations are kept by professional Hindu Brahmin Pandits, popularly known as Pandas, at the Hindu holy city of Haridwar in hand written registers passed down to them over generations by their Pandit ancestors which are classified according to original districts and villages of ones ancestors, with special designated Pandit families being in charge of designated district registers, even for cases where ancestral districts and villages that have been left behind in Pakistan after Partition of India with Hindus having to migrate to India.

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