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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Ariya Pillai

Tirappur, Coimbatore

Father
Muthusami Pillai
Tirappur, Coimbatore
Indentured ancestor
Ariya Pillai
male · Tirappur, Coimbatore
The crossing
Origin
Tirappur
Coimbatore
Ship
UMLAZI XXXI
no. 126148
Year
1875
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Ariya Pillai’s family came from Tirappur, Coimbatore 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 Ariya Pillai or Muthusami Pillai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Tirappur, Coimbatore?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1875)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMLAZI XXXI, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Ariya Pillai and Muthusami 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 Tirappur

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

Ariya 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.