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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Rajagopalan

Kumbakonam, Tanjore

Father
Chidambaram
Kumbakonam, Tanjore
Indentured ancestor
Rajagopalan
male · Kumbakonam, Tanjore
The crossing
Origin
Kumbakonam
Tanjore
Ship
UMLAZI XVI
no. 89886
Year
1901
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Rajagopalan’s family came from Kumbakonam, Tanjore district. Living relatives may still be there — a voter-roll lookup can name them, and the modern village page shows land records and families we already track.

Verify with your elders

Colonial ship-clerks often mangled Tamil names. Before treating this as your ancestor, ask the oldest person in your family:

  • Was there a great-great-grandfather named Rajagopalan or Chidambaram?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kumbakonam, Tanjore?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1901)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMLAZI XVI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Rajagopalan and Chidambaram are added instantly, ready for you to extend with living relatives.

This is my family — build my tree

Two paths: build your tree if this is your ancestor, or submit evidence to help a South African family verify their village link. See the Village Verification Project.

More families from Kumbakonam

Source: theiii.in Natal indenture register (digitised ship record). Names and places are the colonial spellings as recorded; verify against family memory before treating a lineage as certain.

Privacy — no living person’s details are ever shown in public

Rajagopalan appears here only because this is a historical indenture record (1860–1911) — the person named sailed over a century ago. Family trees, voter matches and any living-relative data sit behind a login and are visible only to the account owner they belong to.