" A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin & culture is like a tree without roots”
Marcus Garvey
The Raja Family of Palkhada is a private webiste documenting the genealogy of the Raja Family originitaing from Palkada Village, near Probander, Gujarat State, India. The earliest ancestor I have been able to trace is Girdharlal Raja and I have documented the genealogy of his descendents and their extended families.
Girdharlal's grandsons, Narandas, Jinabhai, Laljibhai and Kanjibhai [sons of Kalidas Girdhar Raja and Zaverbai Hirji Madhavji] emigrated to Lugazi, Uganda in East Africa in the late 1890s or early 1900s wherin they made their fortune prior to General Idi Amin, the then President of Uganda declaring all foreigners 'persona non grata' and expelling them from Uganda in 1972.
Their descendents have settled mainly in the United Kingdom with other members of the extended family in the USA, Canada and India.
I am Asit Kumar Haridas Jinabhai Kalidasbhai Girdharbhai Raja. My paternal grandfather is Jinabhai Raja. My maternal grandfater is Nanji Mawji Ruparelia of Junaghad. This tree therefore also details the family tree of the Visram Gordhan Ruparelia Family of Junaghad
Raja and Rajani Family Gotraj
Gotra: Ratithar
Kuldevi: Bhagwati Mataji (Tukde)
Kulguru:Vadia
[For an explanation of the terms Gotra, Kuldevi and Kulguru, please refer to the files within 'media']
My Genetic Test
I had a DNA Test with 23& Me [https://www.23andme.com/] in January 2020. I belong to Paternal Haplogroup R1a1-R-Z93.
Paternal Haplogroup
My paternal Haplogroup is A, [R1a1 R-Z93]
A>F-M89>K-M9>R-M207>R-M420>R-M512>R-Z93
The stories of all of our paternal lines can be traced back over 275,000 years to just one man: the common ancestor of haplogroup A. Current evidence suggests he was one of thousands of men who lived in eastern Africa at the time. However, while his male-line descendants passed down their Y chromosomes generation after generation, the lineages from the other men died out. Over time his lineage alone gave rise to all other haplogroups that exist today.
It's interesting that my ancestor originated in Easter Africa and I was born there!
Only isolated samples of the new paragroup R-M420* were found by Underhill 2009, mostly in the Middle East and Caucasus: 1/121 Omanis, 2/150 Iranians, 1/164 in the United Arab Emirates, and 3/612 in Turkey. Testing of 7224 more males in 73 other Eurasian populations showed no sign of this category.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1a#R-M17/M198_(R1a1a)
My paternal haplogroup, R-Z93, traces back to a man who lived approximately 6,000 years ago. I share a paternal lineage with "Mal'Ta Boy", who lived 24,000 years ago in Siberia
Mal'Ta Boy
Buried with a variety of trinkets including an ivory crown and stone-hewn figurines, “Mal'Ta Boy” was a freckled three-year-old who lived 24,000 years ago near Lake Baikal in Siberia. Although Mal'Ta Boy’s life was cut short by unknown circumstances, his genome contains important clues about the ancestors of modern Native Americans.
From Mal'Ta Boy’s bone samples, researchers determined that he carried paternal haplogroup R, an ancient lineage that is still relatively common in Western Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. One striking discovery was that Mal’Ta Boy’s genome showed affinities with both modern European and Native American populations, but not with modern East Asians. This suggests present-day Native Americans are likely descended from at least two source populations: one originating in East Asia and the other closely related to Mal’ta boy’s Central Siberian roots.
Maternal Haplogroup
My Maternal Haplogroup is M4b1. As our ancestors ventured out of eastern Africa, they branched off in diverse groups that crossed and re-crossed the globe over tens of thousands of years. Some of their migrations can be traced through haplogroups, families of lineages that descend from a common ancestor. My maternal haplogroup can reveal the path followed by the women of my maternal line.
My maternal haplogroup, M4b1, traces back to a woman who lived less than 12,500 years ago. That's nearly 500 generations ago! What happened between then and now? As researchers and citizen scientists discover more about my haplogroup, new details may be added to the story of my maternal line.
Neanderthal DNA
I inherited a small amount of DNA from my Neanderthal ancestors. Out of the 7,462 variants tested, 23&Me found 280 variants in my DNA that trace back to the Neanderthals.
All together, my Neanderthal ancestry accounts for less than about 2 percent of my DNA.
[Please see under 'Media' then 'Files' for "23&Me Ancestry Reports"]