Temple records – gods don’t lie, but humans do

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Tamil Ancestry Research | Family Tree Guide

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In this article:

1. What counts as a “temple record” – not just stone inscriptions
2. The main types of temple records you’ll actually encounter
3. What temple records can do for family history (when handled properly)
4. The ugly side: caste, money, erasure and fake prestige
5. How to model temples and temple records inside TamizhConnect
6. Reading names in pooja lists and donor lists without fooling yourself
7. A practical workflow: from kovil notebook or stone to usable data

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1. What counts as a “temple record” – not just stone inscriptions

People hear “temple record” and instantly think:

• ancient stone inscription,
• royal grant,
• some dramatic Chola script nobody can read.

Reality is much broader and more boring (which is exactly what you need):

• Stone inscriptions on walls, pillars, gopurams, bases of vigrahams.
• Metal inscriptions on bells, lamps, vessels, processional deities.
• Palm-leaf / old paper account books – income, expenses, pattis, lists of offerings.
• “Kovil notebooks” – archagar’s notebooks with:
  • gothram, nakshatram, star & rasi,
  • names for regular pooja / abhishekam,
  • death anniversaries, special days.
• Donor lists & plaques – marble, granite, metal plates.
• Trust / committee minutes and registers – who ran the temple, who signed what.
• Festival pamphlets & receipts – Aadi, Panguni, Kumbabishekam, etc.
• Photo boards / banners – laughable but still evidence: names, titles, places, sponsors.

All of this is “temple record”.
Some of it is 800 years old. Some of it is last week. All of it can be useful if you stop worshipping it and start reading it critically.

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2. The main types of temple records you’ll actually encounter

Forget the rare academic-inscription case. Here’s what your family is most likely to handle.

2.1. Pooja / sankalpam notebooks

Handwritten books the priest uses, often with:

• householder name,
• spouse/children (sometimes),
• gothram, nakshatram / rasi,
• the deity / homam / archana details,
• frequency (monthly, yearly, specific tithi, birthday, etc.).

These are gold for:

• linking scattered branches to a specific temple,
• cross-checking nakshatram / star if older people forgot,
• identifying death dates (annual ceremonies).

They are also full of:

• spelling chaos,
• shorthand titles (“X Pillai”, “Y Gounder”),
• nicknames.

2.2. Donor inscriptions and plaques

On stone or metal:

• “So-and-so, son of X, from village Y, gave Z amount / lamp / land / jewel.”
• On modern granite/marble:
  • lists of donors for gopuram, kumbabhishekam, mandapam, annadhanam.

You get:

• names,
• sometimes father’s name,
• sometimes village or city,
• sometimes amount.

But never forget:

• donors = one slice of your family, usually the more privileged slice.

2.3. Land and endowment records

Many temples hold:

• pattas,
• inam records,
• land donation details,
• lease lists (kuliyal, panjam, etc.).

These may be in:

• old registers in the temple office,
• HR&CE records (for Tamil Nadu),
• court case bundles.

They show:

• which families endowed land,
• who leased temple lands,
• which line acted as trustees / dharmakarthas.

2.4. Administrative records & trust minutes

For bigger temples / diaspora temples:

• committee election lists,
• minutes,
• bank account mandates,
• AGM reports,
• newsletters.

Brutally: these show who had power and visibility, not who actually kept the faith running on the ground.

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3. What temple records can do for family history (when handled properly)

Temple records are strong at:

• Place anchoring

  • “Our line has a connection to this exact temple, not just this generic town.”

• Time anchoring

  • Dated inscriptions and registers can pin ancestors to decades/years.

• Cross-branch linking

  • Multiple branches worshipping at the same temple, same deity, same gothram/nakshatram, often signal a shared origin.

• Role identification

  • Priests, odhuvars, musicians, flower suppliers, oil vendors, cleaners, trustees – all show up somewhere, at least in recent records.

• Name variants

  • The way names are written in sankalpam gives extra variants to match with other records (initials, titles, pet forms).

They are weak or incomplete for:

• women’s roles,
• oppressed-caste devotees and workers,
• non-donor, non-committee, non-landholder lines,
• nuance around belief vs social obligation.

Use them as one data layer, not “the place where our greatness is proved”.

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4. The ugly side: caste, money, erasure and fake prestige

If you’re honest, temple records show nasty truths.

4.1. Caste and access

Patterns you’ll see:

• In many temples, donor lists, trustee names, land donors are dominated by certain castes and classes.
• Workers from oppressed communities:
  • cleaners, drum players, manual labour, flower gatherers, cooks – rarely appear as named donors or trustees.
• Some temples restricted:
  • who could enter inner prakaaram,
  • who could see the deity up close,
  • who could even stand inside.

If your family appears heavily in donor lists, trust minutes, land grants:

• confront the obvious: you were on the power side for that temple.
• Don’t rewrite history into “we were just very pious”.

If your family is visible only in oral memory (“we did the work, they did the pooja”), log that too.

4.2. Gender

Women are:

• often completely absent,
• or labelled as:
  • “X’s wife”,
  • “Y’s daughter”,
  • anonymous “ammal” behind a husband’s name.

But in reality:

• they organised, cooked, cleaned, planned, donated jewellery, walked vows, maintained vrata-s.

Your TamizhConnect data must not repeat the erasure just because the records do.
Use temple records to anchor events, then supplement with oral info about who actually made them happen.

4.3. Prestige inflation and edited history

Modern donor plaques and souvenir books are full of:

• inflated titles,
• selective histories,
• “our ancestors did X for this temple” with no real evidence,
• families buying prestige by plastering names everywhere.

You must separate:

• actual records (inscriptions, old registers, receipts, court-certified documents),
• from modern PR (souvenir blurbs, speeches, glossy write-ups).

TamizhConnect should store both, but mark clearly which is which.

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5. How to model temples and temple records inside TamizhConnect

Stop dumping photos and calling it a day. Model properly.

5.1. Temple as an entity

Create a Temple object:

• templeId: internal ID
• nameLocal: full name in Tamil
• nameLatin: common Romanised name(s)
• deityPrimary: e.g. “Sri X”
• deitiesSecondary[]: other deities / shrines
• placeCurrent:
  • village/town, taluk, district, state, country (current)
• placeLegacyNames[]:
  • old names / spellings, historic districts (“Tanjore Dt”, “Jaffna, Ceylon”, etc.)
• templeType: village, town, city, diaspora, mutt, etc.
• control: hereditary, community-managed, HR&CE, other trust, etc. (if you know it)

5.2. Record objects

For each distinct record (or group), make a TempleRecord object:

• recordId
• templeId (link)
• recordType:
  • "inscription-stone", "inscription-metal", "pooja-notebook", "donor-plaques", "account-book", "festival-pamphlet", "trust-minutes", etc.
• dateApprox:
  • year or range (“c. 1920–1930”)
• languageScript: Tamil, Grantha-Tamil mix, English, Sinhala, etc.
• storageLocation: “temple office cupboard”, “HR&CE office”, “family trunk”, etc.
• imageLinks[]: scans/photos
• transcription: if you have it, even partial
• notes: any context or story.

5.3. Links to people

For each person found in a temple record, create a TempleRecordPersonLink:

• personId
• recordId
• role:
  • "donor", "pooja-subscriber", "trustee", "archagar/priest", "odhuvar", "musician", "cook", "flower-supplier", "cleaner", "devadasi/temple-dancer", "festival-organiser", "contractor", etc.
• description:
  • e.g. “Name appears in sankalpam list as R. Muthusamy, gothram X, nakshatram Y.”
• amountOrGift: if any (money, lamp, jewellery, land description)
• dateApprox
• nameAsWritten: raw string from the record.

This way:

• a person profile can show all temple roles/mentions across life,
• a temple profile can show all family links.

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6. Reading names in pooja lists and donor lists without fooling yourself

This is where people usually trip up.

6.1. Don’t turn one donor into “founder of the temple”

Common nonsense:

• one ancestor’s name on an old stone = “Our family built this temple.”
• committee role for a few years = “Hereditary trustees from time immemorial.”

In TamizhConnect, log exactly what you can prove:

• eventType: "donation", "trust-position", "festival-role"
• dateApprox: from the record
• description: “Appears as donor of X, no evidence of earlier role.”

If later you find supporting records, you update.
But you never upgrade a single occurrence into some royal myth.

6.2. Matching name variants carefully

R. Muthusamy, R MUTHUSAMI, Muthusamy R, Ramasamy Muthusamy in different temple records might be the same person, but you confirm by:

• gothram / nakshatram (if consistent),
• village / street,
• time period,
• matching with known relatives.

If it’s ambiguous:

• create two possible links with low confidence,
• or log the name in a scratch field and wait for better evidence.

Guess-merging is how you create fake genealogy.

6.3. Respect vs legal identity

Name used in temple may be:

• “Chettiar”, “Pillai”, “Gounder”, “Ayya”, “Amma” – respectful or caste-coded forms,
• while legal documents have leaner forms.

Store:

• nameAsWritten from temple,
• plus link to legal-form variants in nameVariants in the person profile.

Don’t treat respectful “X Ayya” as a separate individual.

6.4. Don’t erase small donors and workers

Modern plaques often:

• highlight big donors,
• ignore small amounts,
• almost never list workers.

Your notes should explicitly mention:

• who did unpaid labour,
• who cooked, cleaned, organised, ran around – even if their names aren’t in stone.

Temple records show power. Your archive should show work.

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7. A practical workflow: from kovil notebook or stone to usable data

Stop collecting photos like stamps. Do this instead.

Step 1: Identify and photograph

For each temple your family cares about:

• list all record types you can physically access: stones, plaques, notebooks, receipts, pamphlets, office registers.
• photograph systematically:
  • full shot,
  • close-ups broken by panel/line,
  • label files with temple + approximate location + date shot.

Step 2: Make a minimal transcription

Don’t be precious; do a rough job first:

• write down:
  • names,
  • roles (donor, pooja, trustee),
  • amounts/gifts,
  • any place names,
  • dates.

Even partial transcription already makes the data searchable.

Step 3: Create Temple + TempleRecord entries in TamizhConnect

• one Temple per kovil,
• one TempleRecord per:
  • inscription set,
  • notebook batch,
  • donor wall,
  • trust register.

Attach images and rough transcription to each.

Step 4: Link to people with roles

For each recognisable family name:

• connect to a person profile (or create a placeholder if needed),
• specify role, date, and how confident you are.

Add notes like:

• “Likely same as R. Muthusamy (ID 23) based on gothram + village, but not fully proven.”

Step 5: Add context that records never show

In branch or family notes:

• spell out:
  • caste/gender pattern around this temple,
  • access restrictions,
  • known conflicts,
  • who got erased or under-credited.

You’re allowed to be uncomfortable. You’re not allowed to lie.

Step 6: Revisit with elders

Once you’ve digitised:

• sit with elders and:
  • show inscriptions / list of names,
  • ask who each person was,
  • attach those identifications and stories to the corresponding profiles.

Lock in this oral knowledge now before it disappears, or your pretty temple photos will be useless context-free decoration.

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If you treat temple records as holy trophies, you’ll end up with a gallery of self-congratulation and zero real history.

If you treat them as:

• partial, biased, but powerful documents,
• tied to land, caste, gender, politics and devotion,
• modelled cleanly inside TamizhConnect,

then your temple data will finally do what it should:

anchor your family stories in real places and dates – while still exposing who had power, who did the work, and who got written out of the stone.