Family Tree

A Family Tree (वंशावळ) is a visual representation of family relationships across multiple generations, showing how individuals are connected through blood, marriage, and lineage. In India, family trees serve more than just genealogical curiosity — they are formally required for caste certificate scrutiny applications, succession certificates, property inheritance disputes, court submissions in family matters, and detailed family record-keeping for traditional and religious ceremonies.

Our Family Tree Maker is a powerful canvas-based tool that lets you build comprehensive multi-generational family trees with automatic layout. Start by adding the oldest known ancestor as the root, then add spouses, children, and descendants. The tool supports multiple spouses for any individual — important for accurate representation of remarriages, multiple unions, and complex family structures common in Indian families. Color coding distinguishes male (blue) and female (pink) members at a glance, and any individual can be highlighted with a custom color for special significance — for example marking the applicant in a caste scrutiny case, or highlighting deceased members.

The canvas supports drag-to-reposition for fine-tuning the layout, scroll-to-zoom for navigating large trees, and click-and-drag panning. The undo and redo system tracks up to 40 changes so you can experiment freely without fear of losing work. Both Marathi and English are supported with one-click language toggle, and the official Tiro Devanagari Marathi font ensures proper rendering of Devanagari names.

When your tree is complete, export as a print-ready A4 image suitable for caste certificate applications, or copy directly to clipboard for pasting into other documents. The output is high-resolution and looks professional in both digital submissions and printed paperwork.

This is a premium tool (5 coins per export or copy) because of the canvas-based architecture, multi-generational layout algorithms, undo/redo state management, and high-resolution export. All processing runs entirely in your browser — your family information never leaves your device.

Building a comprehensive family tree takes about 5 to 15 minutes depending on the size. Here is the complete process.

Step 1: Choose Language
Click Marathi or English at the top of the side panel. Marathi uses the Tiro Devanagari Marathi font for proper Devanagari rendering. English uses standard fonts. The choice affects all labels, buttons, and the displayed names.

Step 2: Add the Root Ancestor
Type the name of the oldest known ancestor — typically a great-grandfather or earlier. Select male or female gender and click Add Root Ancestor. The first node appears at the top of the canvas. This person serves as the foundation of your tree.

Step 3: Add Spouse to Any Person
Click any person on the canvas to select them. The Add Spouse button becomes active. Type the spouse name, select gender, and click Add Spouse. The spouse appears next to the selected person, connected by a marriage line. You can add multiple spouses to the same person — useful for remarriages.

Step 4: Add Children
Once a couple is created (one or two spouses connected), select either parent and click Add Child. If the person has multiple spouses, a dropdown appears asking which union the child belongs to — this is critical for accurate family tree representation. Type the child name, select gender, and add. Children appear below the parents connected by descent lines.

Step 5: Continue Adding Generations
Repeat steps 3 and 4 to add spouses for the children, their children (grandchildren), and so on. The tool auto-arranges the tree using a hierarchical layout algorithm so generations align horizontally and family branches do not overlap.

Step 6: Drag to Reposition
If the auto-layout is not exactly what you want — common with very wide or unusual trees — you can drag any node to reposition it manually. The connecting lines update automatically to maintain relationships.

Step 7: Highlight Specific Members
Select any person and click the highlight color picker. Choose any color and click Highlight. The person box gets a coloured outline. Useful for marking the applicant in caste scrutiny cases, marking deceased members in a different color, or distinguishing maternal from paternal lineage.

Step 8: Edit or Delete
Select any person and use the Edit Selected section to update their name or gender. The Delete button removes the person — this also removes their descendants if they have any. Use Undo (up to 40 steps) to recover from accidental deletions.

Step 9: Zoom, Pan, and Fit
Use scroll wheel to zoom in and out. Click empty canvas areas and drag to pan around the tree. Click Fit to Screen to center the entire tree at maximum visible zoom. The current zoom percentage is shown in the bottom-right corner.

Step 10: Export or Copy
Click the A4 button to download a print-ready high-resolution PNG sized for A4 paper. Click Copy to copy the tree image directly to clipboard for pasting into emails, Word documents, or other applications. Both options use 5 coins per use.

For caste scrutiny applications, start the family tree from the oldest known male ancestor in the paternal line. Caste certificates trace through male lineage in most Indian communities, so the paternal line is the focus of scrutiny. Female members should be included but the descent line is followed through fathers and grandfathers.

Highlight the applicant in a distinct color (typically green or yellow) so the caste scrutiny committee can immediately identify the person whose claim is being verified. This significantly speeds up review and reduces errors.

For complex families with multiple marriages, add all spouses and use the union dropdown carefully when adding children. Misattributing a child to the wrong union can cause major issues in legal proceedings, especially in succession and inheritance cases.

Use the highlight feature to mark deceased members in a different color (typically grey or black). This is useful for genealogy records, ancestral documents, and traditional family records used in religious ceremonies.

For wide trees with many descendants in one generation, the auto-layout may stretch the canvas horizontally. Use the drag feature to compress the layout where possible, or split the tree into branches and create separate exports for each major lineage.

For Hindi or Marathi names with conjuncts (joined letters like क्ष, ज्ञ, त्र), make sure the font has fully loaded before exporting. Refresh the page once if Devanagari characters appear broken in the canvas.

Save your work frequently by using the Copy button — paste the tree image into a document for backup. The current tool does not save tree state between sessions, so keep periodic backups while building large trees.

For court submissions and legal proceedings, include both the family tree image and a written narrative document describing the relationships in plain language. The combination is more legally robust than the tree alone.