By OUR STAFFREPORTER
Haridwar, 24 Apr: The concluding film of the much-awaited Uttarakhand Series, “Bahi: Tracing My Ancestors”, premiered on Virtual Bharat’s YouTube channel, taking viewers on a magnificent journey along the banks of the Ganga.
This documentary puts the spotlight on an ancient tradition of maintaining hand-written records that has enabled numerous families to discover their ancestral origins, through scrolls dating back hundreds of years.
Haridwar, a spiritual hub in the lap of Uttarakhand, is the source and the destination for a plethora of social, religious, spiritual and cultural rituals, practices and traditions. Maintaining the hand-written “Bahis” is one of those remarkable practices that have survived technical advancements and digitisation, living and breathing in the precincts of Haridwar. The Bahis (scrolls) meticulously record births, deaths, and lineages, serving as a bridge between the past and the present. Thumbprints and signatures of one’s ancestors lend authenticity to these records.
