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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Moothoo Pillai

Kudakovil, Madura

Father
Arunachellam Pillai
Kudakovil, Madura
Indentured ancestor
Moothoo Pillai
male · Kudakovil, Madura
The crossing
Origin
Kudakovil
Madura
Ship
PONGOLA XVII
no. 56250
Year
1894
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Moothoo Pillai’s family came from Kudakovil, Madura 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 Moothoo Pillai or Arunachellam Pillai?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Kudakovil, Madura?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1894)
  • Any family memory of a ship named PONGOLA XVII, or a passage to Natal around then?
Ask elders on WhatsApp
Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Moothoo Pillai and Arunachellam 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 Kudakovil

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

Moothoo 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.