Fun fact: In certain schools of thought within Hinduism, you aren't allowed to marry up to your 7th cousin from your father's side and up to your 5th cousin from your mother's side. To facilitate this, socio-religious institutions meticulously maintained records of family and ancestry. It was strictly followed until my parents' time, and that's the reason why I can trace my ancestry back to the early 1400s

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It’s cool that you can trace your lineage back to that far

Where were the records stored, in haridwar ?

Haridwar and Kurukshetra as far as I know there are other places too, this is a very common tradition.

Didn’t know kurkshetra had records too

Nice

There is a branch of Hinduism in Assam called Ekasharana Naamdharma, basically Vishnu worship with Krishna as the avatar, no idol worship, etc. There are these places called satras where these records are kept

Did you find anything interesting about your lineage?

In the 1400s my ancestors were living about 5 km from where I grew up. They left, scattered across eastern India, but somehow people kept ending up in the same place

In some traditions though (south India mostly), it's suggested not to keep a trace. It's a taboo to even bring it up to ask beyond grandparents.

Huh interesting 🤔