Earlier record of 4,514 family members meeting was created in 2012 in France

Mysore/Mysuru: Kodava Clan portal, which had entered the India Book of Records for the largest family tree, attempted to break the earlier Guinness Book of World Records after hosting ‘Okkoota’ the largest-ever family reunion on Dec. 24. The event was attended by over 6,500 people/family members at ‘Coorg Ethnic’ in Bittangala, Kodagu district.

This was the first-of-its-kind attempt across the world to beat the existing world record of 4,514 family members meeting in France documented in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2012.

The largest family reunion is 4,514 and was achieved by the Porteau-Boileve family at Saint-Paul-Mont-Pénit, Vendée, France, on Aug. 12, 2012. The family tree traced by Jean-Michel Cheneau, the direct descendant of Georges Porteau and Madeleine Boileve, shows that the family was founded by this couple in the 17th century.

Verification is still on

Though the official confirmation has to come from the Guinness Book of World Records, the organisers are hoping to break the record with ease. Representatives from the World Record Association in Europe visited the Okkoota to conduct the spot inspection and according to Gummattira Kishoo Uthappa, founder of the Kodava Clan portal, the verification process was still on and the confirmation is awaited on the record.

“We floated an online registration form and conducted an extensive social media campaign and we had 6,500 people at the venue including men, women and children as young as two months. We gathered under one roof to prove that we all belonged to the same family. It might take 30 to 45 days for the World Record Association to confirm that we have broken the earlier record,” Kishoo Uthappa told Star of Mysore.

Kodava Clan is the first ever, a one-of-its-kind interactive, crowd-sourced virtual museum that has created the largest online family tree of the Kodava community going back at least 18 generations, comprising 751 families. It is the first online museum cataloguing data, statistics, history, culture and festivals, heritage, and language of the Kodavas dating back from the 16th Century.

Kodava Clan is also a social networking site for the Kodava community to find or establish their familial association with other Kodavas, irrespective of the generation he/she may be a part of, from any part of the world.

Connecting with ancestral lineage

“Through the portal and for the last eight years, we are helping the Kodava community connect with the ancestral lineage and we have succeeded in creating the largest family tree of over 21,000 Kodavas. This particular feature of the Kodava Clan won the India Book of Records for the largest family tree,” he added.

“The next process is to link everyone who was part of the ‘Okkoota’ to the family tree in the portal to find out if we all belong to the same family,” Kishoo Uthappa explained.

Meanwhile, the ‘Okkoota’ was an opportunity for the community members to join other Kodavas under one roof and they enthusiastically participated in it. A book exhibition was organised that had several Kodava books of different genres authored by various community members and writers.

Over 30 stalls were set up at the venue to promote Kodava culture. The community members were also given a chance to display their talent and several traditional dances were performed.