Bahi Heritage
India Family Archives
Discover the family history already written in India.
We help British Indian families locate their traditional ancestral registers, retrieve and translate the family history within them, and preserve that history in a secure modern family archive.
Traditional records · Local researchers in India · Secure UK case management
"Your family may have generations of history recorded in India, even if you have never seen it."
What is a Bahi?
A traditional handwritten register, kept by hereditary priests for generations.
A bahi is a traditional handwritten register or record book. In India's pilgrimage centres, hereditary priests have maintained family bahis for generations, recording ancestry, family relationships, ancestral villages and important family events.
Bahi is pronounced approximately "BAA-hee".
Why your family may not know these records exist.
Families who left India a generation or two ago often lost the routine of returning to ancestral pilgrimage centres where the family bahi is kept. The records didn't disappear — the connection did.
We help bridge the distance between families living abroad and the traditional records preserved by hereditary priests in India.
How It Works
A respectful, well-documented process.
Share what you know
You complete a guided intake form with names, places and any clues. Even partial information often leads to a match.
Local research in India
Our field researchers visit the relevant pilgrimage centre and work with the hereditary priests who hold the registers.
Translate and preserve
Confirmed entries are photographed (where permitted), transcribed, translated, and added to your secure family archive.
Services
Two ways to begin.
Everything is included in the package — researcher travel, priest access, fair compensation for the hereditary priests who maintain the registers, transcription, translation and your secure digital archive. There are no hidden extras. If we cannot locate your register, £150 covers the completed search and the rest is refunded.
Find and Translate My Family History
One package fee — everything included
- ✓Review of submitted family information and alternative spellings
- ✓Assignment to a Haridwar researcher
- ✓Search for the correct hereditary priest and family register
- ✓Photographs of relevant entries where permission is granted
- ✓Transcription and English translation
- ✓Basic digital family tree
- ✓Family-history summary report
- ✓Secure family archive access
If no register is found after the agreed search: refund £245 (we retain £150 for completed research). All priest fees, travel and archive costs are already included — there are no extra charges.
Begin this packageFind, Translate and Update My Family Register
One package fee — everything included
- ✓Everything in the Find and Translate package
- ✓Verification of submitted update information
- ✓Coordination with the record-holding priest
- ✓Request for an approved birth, marriage or death entry
- ✓Standard priest payment or donation allowance
- ✓Photograph of the completed new entry where permitted
- ✓Updated family tree and family-history report
- ✓Updated secure family archive
If no register is found after the agreed search: refund £345 (we retain £150 for completed research). All priest fees, travel and archive costs are already included — there are no extra charges.
Begin this packageHonest pricing
One fee, everything covered.
Full payment allows the research, travel and priest-access process to begin immediately. If we cannot locate your family register after completing the agreed search process, we retain £150 for the completed research and refund the remaining package amount.
Package 1
- One fee of £395 — everything included
- If not found, receive £245 back
- £150 covers the completed search
- No extra priest fees. No hidden charges.
Package 2
- One fee of £495 — everything included
- If not found, receive £345 back
- £150 covers the completed search
- If update not possible: convert to Package 1, refund £100
- No extra priest fees. No hidden charges.
What you receive
Documented, translated, preserved.
- ✓ Photographs of the relevant register entries, where permission is granted.
- ✓ Transcription and English translation of the entries.
- ✓ A basic digital family tree based on the records.
- ✓ A family-history summary report you can keep and share.
- ✓ Secure ongoing access to your family archive.
Your Family Archive
A modern home for an ancient record.
Everything we recover is preserved in a private, secure family archive in your account — yours to revisit, share with relatives, and pass on to future generations.
Our Story
Built for families who live abroad but trace their roots to India.
Bahi Heritage was founded to make traditional Indian ancestral records reachable for the diaspora — combining on-the-ground research with secure UK case management, so families can reconnect with the generations recorded in India without travelling there themselves.
Read our story →Questions
What families ask us most.
From how the registers work, to refunds, to what happens if your records are held at a pilgrimage centre we do not yet actively support.
Read the FAQ