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== Brief History ==There were three main communities of Jews in India : the Bene Israel (near Bombay), the "Black Jews" of Cochin and the "White Jews" from Iraq. The Virtual Jewish History Tour has a summary of the History of Jews in India online. [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/indians.htmlHistory of Jews in India online] .

General information about Jewish India genealogy can be found at [http://www.haruthjewishgen.comorg/infofiles/AsianIndia.html] is a comprehensive website with a wealth of links to sites related to the Jewish communities of India.  General information about Jewish genealogy can be found at JewishGen InfoFiles], which has a host of links providing guidance on researching Jewish family history throughout the world. [http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/]

If your ancestors were baptised, married or buried in a European church in British India, then the church records should have been transcribed and sent to the capital of the [[Presidency]], where they would later have been forwarded on to London. These records were indexed and about 80% of church records in British India are believed to have survived. You can access these records at the [[APAC]] in the British Library in London, or at [[LDS]] [[Family History Centres]]. The FIBIS website has extensive information on locating [[church database contains many transcribed BMD records]] on microfilm for British India.

If you your ancestors were married in a Registry Office, then their records will be included with the index to the church records. However, the full details of Registry Office marriages are not available on microfilm through the [[LDS]], so if you find an ancestor in an index that shows it was a Registry Office marriage, you will need to visit the [[APAC]] in London, or have someone visit there on your behalf. FIBIS volunteers have transcribed the Registry Office index and this is on the [http://www.search.fibis.org/frontis/bin/aps_browse_sources.php?mode=browse_components&id=4&s_id=102 FIBIS database].

Some records of birth the births of Jewish people were included in the [[church records]] for the Bombay Presidency. It would seem that Jewish parents submitted a letter from their Rabbi or other figure of authority certifying that the individual was born on a certain day at a certain place. These letters were then included with the regular church records. Later, this 'registration' could then be used as proof of British citizenship. This does not seem to have been a very widespread practice. However, if you are at a loss to find a record of your ancestor, it may be worth examining the indexes to the [[church records]] of the Presidency in which they resided.

Many European, Anglo-Indian and other businessmen were named in the [[Directories ]] of their day. The most prominent Directory was Thacker's, which originally only covered Bengal, but eventually encompassed all of British India. If your Jewish ancestors were merchants or businessmen, there is a good chance that they would have been listed in Thacker's Directories. A complete set is now housed at the OIOC in London, but most major libraries will hold a few copies for given years. For a comprehensive description, and lists of where they can be located, visit the informative Thacker's Directories webpage. [http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~poyntz/India/directories.htmlThacker's Directories webpage].

*[http://haruth.com/AsianIndia.html Jewish India]is a comprehensive website with a wealth of links to sites related to the Jewish communities of India.