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Questions to ask the elders

A guide to recording family traditions. The answers to many questions that are still unconfirmed here lie in the memory of the elders.

A. Basic information

Name, age and the like may be left out if the person does not wish to give them. What matters is information about the village, the region and the family.

  1. Which is your village or region? Where do you live now?
  2. Which language do you speak at home (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, other)? Which language outside?→ Chapter 6
  3. What is your family’s occupation? What was it in the generations before you?→ Chapter 7

B. Family and migration

  1. Have the elders said which village your ancestors came from? What is the name of that village?→ Chapter 5
  2. When and why are they said to have come (famine, a king’s invitation, trade, other)? What is the approximate period?→ Chapters 5, 8
  3. Does the street or area where they first settled on arrival have a name (e.g. Weavers’ Street, Saliyar Street)? Does it still have the same name?→ Chapters 5, 8
  4. What is your house name (family name)? Have you heard anything about its meaning or origin?→ Chapter 10

C. Gotra, division, sampradaya

  1. Which is your gotra? Give the name of its rishi (in Telugu or Tamil script if you know it).→ Chapter 10
  2. When and in what context have you heard the term “Markandeya gotra”? (For example, is it said to be the gotra when one’s own is forgotten?)→ Chapter 10
  3. In marriage, which of the two do you look at, gotra or house name? Which relationships do you avoid?→ Chapter 10
  4. Has anyone spoken about the eight divisions (ganas), or said which of them your family comes under?→ Chapter 10
  5. Is your family Shaiva or Vaishnava? Does the family have a link with a guru or a matha? In which town?→ Chapters 9, 10

D. The Kulapurana and the story of Bhavana Rishi

  1. Who told you the story of Bhavana Rishi and Markandeya? On what occasion?→ Chapters 2, 3
  2. In the story you heard, how many wives did Bhavana Rishi have? How many sons? Do you know their names?→ Chapters 2, 12
  3. Do you or your relatives have a printed book, a palm-leaf manuscript or a handwritten copy under the name Kulapurana? Where is it?→ Chapter 3
  4. How have you heard the story of Vinayaka’s curse and of Parabrahmamurti (Padmabhavacharya)? Which details in it differ?→ Chapter 11
  5. Has anyone said where the place called “Srirama Agraharam” is today?→ Chapter 11

E. Worship and temple

  1. Who is your family deity? Where is that temple? Do you go there once a year?→ Chapter 9
  2. Are there temples or special days of worship for Bhavana Rishi or for Markandeya in your area? What are they called?→ Chapter 9
  3. Was there, or is there still, a custom in your village of stopping weaving for some days before Sankranti and worshipping a ball of thread? What is it called?→ Chapter 12
  4. In what way are the Bhavanarayana temples (Bapatla, Sarpavaram and others) important to your family or community?→ Chapter 9

F. The weaving trade

  1. What did your family weave (cotton, silk, coarse cloth, saris)? On which loom? Who taught you?→ Chapter 7
  2. How were yarn, dyeing and sales managed? Was there a system of taking loans or advances? Were you in a co-operative society?→ Chapters 7, 12
  3. When did you feel that the trade had declined? What reasons are given?→ Chapter 13
  4. What is the part of women in weaving? What work did they do?→ Chapter 13

G. Rites and customs

  1. Is the upanayana (sacred thread ceremony) performed in your family? How was it in the time of your father and grandfather?→ Chapters 9, 11, 12
  2. Are there any customs peculiar to your family in marriage and funeral rites?→ Chapter 9
  3. Have the restrictions that once existed in food, relationships and the like changed now? When, and why?→ Chapters 9, 12

H. Old documents

  1. Do you or your relatives have copper plates, palm-leaf manuscripts, inscriptions, old land deeds, trade accounts, caste certificates, photographs or the like?→ Chapters 8, 12
  2. Where are they, and with whom? Is there permission to photograph and share them?

I. Associations and leaders

  1. What do you remember about the Padmasali Mahasabha and the association in your town? Tell us about those who started it, the meetings held and the efforts at reform.→ Chapters 11, 13
  2. Have you heard names such as Tata Acharya and Pattabhi Ramaswamy in your family? When and where did they come?→ Chapter 11

J. In closing

  1. Who is another elder who knows these things well? Will you help us to speak with them?
  2. Do you agree to what you have said here being used on the website (without your name)?

Record form (copy and use)

Name of the person recording:
Person who spoke (consent to publish name: yes / no):
Village / region:
Date:
Gotra / house name (if known):

Question number:
Answer (exactly as they said it):

Source / note if there is a photo of a document:

How to send it