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Ancestry in India is oral. Ask grandmother's. They know everyone and everything and everything about everyone in the family tree.

As a gujarati American like Kal Penn, this was wonderful to see. I thought it would be impossible trace back that far. Glad you were able to help Kal Penn.

Wow, watching this after finding out he got engaged! Congrats on this amazing journey of family 💕

Unfortunately, most people don't seem to know how well Hindus keep ancestral records. The names of ancestors are invoked during prayers and such. At each pilgrimage spot that also conducts cremations, a Hindu would find their family's genealogical records in bound books that are kept by the priests there. Every time someone in the family has a birth, death, or goes to pilgrimage there, they are tasked with finding the priest who upkeeps their records and updating the book. These books go back centuries and more often than not 10+ generations. You'd find the name of the ancestor, when they were born, when they died, where they were born, who they married, how many kids they have, etc. Hindus also track these lineages to prevent intermarrying. A 'Gotra' is tracked via the y-line (Paternal) and individuals belonging to the same gotra regardless of whether they have any known ancestors in common or not, live anywhere near each other or not, etc are not allowed to get married to each other. This is because whether they know it or not, they indeed have a common ancestor, and marrying each other would be consanguinity which is not allowed. It's a shame that many people assume genealogy and record keeping is a norm for Western societies, but not for others when in fact there are many Eastern societies that have been record-keeping long before Western civilization. Let's not forget that the oldest scripture in the world is in fact The Rigveda, the first book of the foundational text of Hinduism, The Vedas. We have a long history of record-keeping and writing. The issue is that foreigners like to believe we're savages and don't care to learn or look for said records.

Kal was my favorite on House MD. So cool they (Ancestry) found so much on his mother's side! Way to go Ancestry! Keep up the good work!

I like Kal Penn he is a nice guy. I hope to meet him one day in Whitecastle

Dr. Gates is awesome . I just admire him and he has such empathy and is the perfect host for this series.

In India, history is oral and precedes contemporary governing systems. The only reliable written family history for North Indian Hindus is those with pandits on the ghats of Varanasi have family details that go back centuries. The best way to get that info is to find out your paternal and maternal village and tell them of the same. It’s the Ghat where Hindus are cremated and where it’s said that souls find peace. The pandits there have been doing this for generations so they have the list of everyone who has ever gone there for cremating their dead.

And it means even more now that he's engaged to his true love. My best and fondest wishes to Kal and his fiance.

As an Indo-Caribbean I don’t even know if this would be possible for me to trace back but this was so beautiful.

Man that is cool to see 9 generations of the family. A lot of history is there in that itself. I remember when I would go to my Dads village somewhere in southern India and over their we had graves of all our ancestors and it was interesting to learn their names and how the farmland we still have are taken care of by them

There are quite detailed genealogy archives in Haridwar and Varanasi

I am deeply touched with their stories. How wonderful to be connected with one's root.

I loved it when the young man said it makes him feel more global; and as an American, we are all from somewhere. So very true.

My family has oral and written history going back 40 generations !! Not just that. Every of those 40 generations can be described by their physical, color features, temperament, careers and disabilities. Like my 7 great grand father cut a British officers throat before losing his 3 fingers while protecting a minor girl that the Britisher tried to rape ! Another grand mother came from wealthy family that owned 300 horses at the time for the king of rajasthan. And so many such amazing history. It's now all thoroughly written and copies handed down to government archives, the priests, the extended families ranging throughout the world from US to Germany and even to one living in Greenland (possibly the only indian there)

Such a blessings to be able to go that far back!!

Wow to be able to trace your family all the way back to 1700! Kal was emotional and I felt that for him.

We're happy to share these stories with everyone, Bonnie. We're glad you enjoyed it and hope that you'll learn more about your own family lines.

What a coincidence! I was watching his works nowadays. Good for him that he was able to so his old roots 😌

"That's a whole lot of Butts" - Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.

*This was such a wonderful find and revelation. SO happy for Kalpen and many thanks to Dr. Gates!*

We're glad you enjoyed the video! Thank you for sharing with us.

Do you guys have any episodes with people tracing their ancestry through the early native Americans and pueblo people when Spain came through Mexico? I never see anyone who has that type of ancestry on these shows, would love to see it!

He seems so nice. Happy to hear of his engagement.

These episodes always gets me emotional

Very few people have made me laugh as much as this man. Seems such a warm and genuine person too. Long may his success and happiness continue

Amazing. Bless the Grandmothers.

Oh I love the name Bhatt because I was healed in India with Ayuveric medicine for fistula by a Doctor who is so amazing and takes care of his patients his name is Dr. Ramesh Bhat in Bangalore. I’ll never forget him or how the Indians treated me never.

We're glad you enjoyed the video!

Wow, I'm surprised they were able to do this for someone Desi.

It's great that this man was able to get help to find his ancestors names and where his family is from. And on a side note I have a you tube channel type in Russell Mills May 22, 2017.

1:47 Geneology in india is simple. Just speak to the family members on either parents side or go to places like haridwar where people register themselves after a person dies in the family.

THAT'S A WHOLE LOT OF BHATTS! 😁 So exciting for him so be able to find so many of his ancestors! 💜

Awesomeness! These stories never fail to touch me.

Chota(small) lal was like a go-to name for the youngest son those days😂

It’s nice to know people so far down your ancestry, isn’t it?

In south india we have another way.... every family has a family diety and also a family village and a family gotra. So every person who has these things same as you is related to you in some way..... Also we have another genealogical record called "grand mother" who knows everything about the family...

I was lucky enough to trace my ancestry, in my paternal line, back to my 9x great grandfather in The Netherlands to the early 1600s and the creation of our family name. It was pretty awesome to see back to the one who started it all for our family.

What a beautiful reflection.

Boy I wish I could have this done! Amazin!

Same for me , i have learnt names of my last 10 generation of family, during chat puja there names are called and prayed (I think) in sort of a poem way

Wow that's so cool to be able to find this many ancestors in India. I would like to see Ancestry find a person's ancestors in Sri Lanka. A lot of documents are non-existent due to the war, but it'll be nice to see.

Thank you for sharing with us!

I gotten back as 3rd ggg grandparents. Thanks to Ancestry

As a proud and patriotic 1st generation Indian American your answer to 3:06 made me tear up!!!!

We want the Designated Surviver back!! I love that serie so much!! Does anybody know if they gonna air the show again somewhere in the future? 😬

That has to be the best response of patriotism I've ever heard, and can fiercely relate to - I'm so proud to be from my birth country, but my home country is the US, through and through. It makes me feel like a citizen of the world, not just from two awesome countries.

I would love to have this done for my family. We have done a lot of research but are stuck on one family member and more assistance would really help to crack our family code.

Alya aato aapda walo che ....♥️♥️ Maza ayi gai

We wish you the best, Alex. Keep researching and learning what you can. Find out what other family members know and what you can add that way. We know your hard work will pay off. Please let us know as you find out new facts about your family's history.

Wow. So many negative comments. Don't think he cares, but it's interesting to know you spent time hating someone who doesn't even know YOU exist. 😏🤣 Much success to this gentleman.

Nice!

Hy heritage is from Punjab India and I have some orally passed down names but much about them is unknown. I do know being of the tanner caste, they were considered untouchable and often abused and denied opportunities to make much progress by higher castes individuals. Such abuse stems from Hinduism which is loaded with traditions thay support inequity within society and family structures. So what I dont know I can estimate and where we are now is travelling at a fast pace beyond those acts of indecent behaviours on others by others who claimed superiority. Gandhi was nothing more than a fighter for independence in a passive way and wanted to maintain social inequality. His greatness has been over exaggerated by those who benefited by doing so to maintain their access to best resources and opportunities in India. That world is falling away, but not fast enough. Ambedkar an untouchable was a true hero of India, his achievements and ideals are the bedrock of the only way India can ever be a true great.

Do they find more information than just the list of name? In India that’s probably more than most people could do but for a program like this it seems like they would have had more if they made a whole episode based on his heritage.

AMAZING

Wow! He’s from my area!!!

This made my hair stand up.

Amod is huge!

That was just so beautiful 🌍🎩👏 ..

best ep

9 generations!!! That’s amazing! I’m jelly

Love Kal Penn!

I have a great grandmother named Bibi Jahora Gulam Maydin who is born to an Indian Muslim Father and Malay mother. She appears exactly like a mixed Indian-Malay descent lady. One of the uncles at the mosque in Dunlop Street her dad came from Nagore Nagapattinam. and My grandmother can’t remember and don’t know much about her maternal grandfathers heritage

Kumar has come a long way😉.... So good to see you thrive bud.... Oh and Harold is the lead in Cowboy Bebop

Love this!! Americans aren’t from America. We are all from the world.

India has a rich historical oral tradition. Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, and Puranas are some of the greatest examples of this tradition.

well, if you really wanted to dig deep you could have gone to Haridwar. They are keeping a record of Ancestry for way over a couple of century

I love what he said about feeling more American with new knowledge of his family history. That's what people miss. Connecting with your own roots, and embracing the cultural roots of others is what America is actually f***ing about.

Amazing guy

Amazing!

REALLY appreciate this as I never thought an Indian would get to know ancestry past our grandparents lol. Thank you!

And thanks to his movie ’Harold and Kumar’, he’s the Bhatt of all jokes.

Dude, just find an indian's family bahikhaata and u can trace ur ancestors literally hundreds of years

So very amazing this discovery. I would love to discover who my paternal parents were. The only thing I was ever told was they came to the USA from Lithuanian. Never spoke any English. So. They conversed with their children in their native tongue. The kids learned to speak Lithuanian and English. They grew up in Portchester, NY. This is where I it ends.

Cool Guy. And, congratulations on the engagement with Josh!

The problem with shows like this is most often they do this for people, celebrities that can easily afford to have this done for them. They should do it for the average person.

Love Kal Penn

dude, this is cool

One of the more amusing discoveries in our genealogy was to discover that my sister married a possible cousin, albeit 10th cousin at that. Our 8th great grandmother maiden name is same as my sisters married name: Anna H.

Ancestry here in India is also written. Check out the Barots, keepers of genealogical records that possess these records for centuries.

It sucks because I’m interested in my family history in Pakistan but alot of my family members have passed away at relatively young ages like 45-50 years old so there’s no one to ask anymore and a lot of their records are written in old Qurans I don’t have access to.

It’s pretty cool I’ve gotten to the 1500!

You know you're cool when you can say "I hung a photo of Gandhi with my grandfather in my office in the White House"

What is the name of the song that plays in the begining?

I remember watching him in Harold and Kumar when I was a kid, just laughing at the ridiculousness of their adventures. Now I'm older and I'm just like: "Who is Kal Penn really?"

My first Indian Crush & one of my few movie star crushes 🥰 So handsome. So smart. So funny. I will always like this dude.

Can I order a kit from ancestry without having to visit anyone in person? I have no way to travel. I have a subscription to Ancestry. How can I pay a kit? Are the kits on special now? I would like to know ASAP.

I love Him

0:17-0:19 Montclair, New Jersey.

@ancestry cant you do something about indian records?

This is my favourite one I have Indian background

I’m born in India but adopted. Unfortunately limited access to my ancestral history. I’ve taken multiple dna-tests including Ancestry, but nothing 😢

SHIVA BLESS KAL PENN

I believe they misspoke when suggesting that "We are all from somewhere else". This negates so many people's histories...and it does seem trite.

I like how he put it he felt more global was well said. The only original 'Americans' are the Natives.

Just watching Harold and Kumar vid and I'm watching this

I like this guy.

As always, great work. Too brief, obviously. Can I just remind you that we don't *all* come from somewhere else, unless you're considering dozens of millennia.