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Archival family tree · South African Tamil roots

Rajagopala Naik

Porkunam, South Arcot

Father
Venkatchella Naik
Porkunam, South Arcot
Indentured ancestor
Rajagopala Naik
male · Porkunam, South Arcot
The crossing
Origin
Porkunam
South Arcot
Ship
UMKUZI XVII
no. 108011
Year
1904
Arrived
Natal, South Africa
The origin village

Rajagopala Naik’s family came from Porkunam, South Arcot 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 Rajagopala Naik or Venkatchella Naik?
  • Did family ever mention coming from Porkunam, South Arcot?
  • Do the dates line up with when your family arrived in Natal? (Record: 1904)
  • Any family memory of a ship named UMKUZI XVII, or a passage to Natal around then?
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Is this your ancestor?

Claim this record to start your family tree — Rajagopala Naik and Venkatchella Naik 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 Porkunam

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

Rajagopala Naik 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.