Importance:
Mostly every Maharashtrian, particularly a Brahmin, would know the literal meaning of ‘Kulvruttant’. However for those who do not know, ‘Kulavruttant’ refers to the record, pertaining to a particular surname (at times Caste), of existence, achievements and demise of all the known personalities who have lived through the past many years, along with the record of their interpersonal relationships’. The ‘Kulavruttant’ represents the relationships graphically in the form of ‘Family tree’. As for the Chitpavans, their settlement in various parts of the Konkan region of Maharashtra, gave rise to a ‘Gharane’ depending upon the place of settlement. Conceptually, each ‘Gharane’ consists of individuals with the original settler or the ‘Mul Purush’ at the helm and his descendents in various subsequent generations. All such individuals of each Gharane will find a place in the Kulvruttant and their particulars listed in it. As such the Kulavruttant becomes a data bank of all individuals of a particular surname and enables anyone to access information about his/her ancestors. It expects everyone to continue the process by recording information and achievements of not only himself but also of his descendants, who again are expected to keep the wheel moving. This enables the historians to have a record/ documentation of a period and helps the sociologists to understand and analyse the behavior, rituals, cultural/ religious practices, life style and standards of living, trends in educational and professional preferences and priorities, levels of education and aptitude for enterprise and many more aspects. Another advantage of the Family tree in the Kulavruttant may be from legal angle. Though it may not act as admissible legal evidence, but it can still be used as a supplementary document in the suits establishing succession of the deceased as per the Hindu succession act.
As per the trends observed recently in last 15/20 years, in the western countries, the awareness of people about knowledge of their ancestors is on a rise. As such, many a genealogy sites have come into being, facilitating creation of family trees and making the records of US/ UK censuses, death records etc available to the participants to enable them to trace their ancestors. Some such sites are ancestry.com, myheritage.com, wikitree.com, Legacy.com, usgenweb.com, myfamilytree.com. The picture is not so rosy here in India, particularly in Maharashtra. The strenuous efforts and hard work put in by the people 3/4 generations back, in collecting, tabulating, recording and printing the data about the ancestors in form of Kulavruttant, is neither recognized nor valued by the present generations as much as they need to. It should be appreciated even more, as this work was done in times when the modes of communication were a postcard or a personal visit. At times, people spent from their own pockets for such data collection work. The apathy of the prospective respondents towards such an exercise was experienced at that time as well. But despite all odds, the persons who undertook this daunting task, not only completed it, but completed it in such an immaculate manner which is obvious from the contents and the analysis at the end in many Kulavruttants. And one more thing…. All this work was done manually i.e. in the times when computers were not available.