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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Palani Pillai

Gudapakkam, Chingleput

Father
Komma Pillai
Gudapakkam, Chingleput
Indentured ancestor
Palani Pillai
male · Gudapakkam, Chingleput
The crossing
Origin
Gudapakkam
Chingleput
Ship
UMHLOTI VI
no. 145988
Year
1884
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Palani Pillai’s family came from Gudapakkam, Chingleput 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 Palani Pillai or Komma Pillai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Gudapakkam, Chingleput?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1884)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMHLOTI VI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Palani Pillai and Komma Pillai 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 Gudapakkam

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

Palani Pillai 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.