Chapter 5: Family Tree (Banyan Map)

It is a map of your family. You are one pin, and every relative you add is another pin on the map, placed at their village or home. Lines join you to each relative. It keeps your family connected across villages and cities.

On the Samaj tab, tap the green tree icon in the row of icons under the top bar. If something is waiting for you, a number appears on the icon.

• Your own pin, in gold with a home mark and your village name.
• A pin for each relative, showing their name and your relation to them.
• A box at the top left saying how many connections you have.
• Four buttons at the top right: Refresh, Toggle satellite, Toggle lines and Fit all.
• Plus and minus buttons to zoom.
• Directory and Add Relative at the bottom.

• Gold: you.
• Green: a confirmed relative. Both of you agreed on the relation.
• Red: a relative who has not confirmed yet, or a relative added by hand who has no KuhuChat account.
• Dark red with a cross: a broken link. That person removed the relation (see 5.4).

A solid green line joins you to a confirmed relative. A dashed red line joins you to a relative who is not confirmed yet. Broken links have no line.

• Refresh: reloads the tree.
• Toggle satellite: switches between the normal map and the satellite view.
• Toggle lines: shows or hides the lines between pins.
• Fit all: zooms the map so that every pin is visible.

It is the number of people on your map, counting you.

1. Long-press your gold pin.
2. Drag it to your exact home.
3. Release it. A box asks "Set your home pin here?" and says only you can move this pin and your relatives will see you at this exact spot.
4. Tap Save. You see "Home pin saved". Tap Cancel to put it back.

Once you have set your own spot, KuhuChat always uses it.

At your native village, from the place list. Pins of your relatives are placed the same way, at their village.

When several people live in the same place, their pins would sit on top of each other. KuhuChat spreads them out a little so each one can be tapped. When you zoom in close, pins that still overlap are nudged apart so every name is readable.

No. Only the person a pin belongs to can move it.

A list of everyone on the map. Tap Directory at the bottom to open it. It is called "Family Directory" on your tree and "[Name]'s Family" on someone else's tree. It shows how many people there are, and a legend: You, Confirmed, Pending and Broken.

Each row shows the photo, name, relation and village. From a row you can:

• Tap the photo to see it full screen. You can pinch to zoom.
• Tap Show on map to jump to that pin.
• Tap Remove to take the relative out of your tree (see 5.4).
• Confirm or Dismiss, when a banner is shown under the row (see 5.3).

A card opens from the bottom with the photo, name, relation, village and status. If the relative has a KuhuChat account, a button "View [Name]'s Family Tree" opens their tree.

Other members of your Samaj can open your tree in view-only mode from the tree icon on your tile in the Members list. People looking at your matrimony profile can also open it if you have added relatives. They can look but cannot change anything.

Open the Members list and tap the green tree icon on their tile. The map opens in view-only mode, with a "[Name]'s Relations" button at the bottom and a "My Tree" button at the top right to come back to your own tree.

You or that person has blocked the other. A blocked person cannot open the tree (see 3.6).

Yes. A new tree starts with just your gold pin. Tap Add Relative to build it (see 5.2).

No. Your tree is tied to your native village, so it stays exactly as it is when villages merge or separate.

Yes. The map and your relatives load from your account, so you need a connection.

1. Open your Family Tree.
2. Tap Add Relative at the bottom. The screen "Expand Banyan Tree" opens.
3. Choose From Samaj or Manual Entry (see below).
4. Pick the relation, check the name and tap CONNECT TO BANYAN TREE.

You see "Relative added successfully!"

• From Samaj: for a relative who is already a member of your Samaj on KuhuChat. They get a request and must confirm. Their own tree also shows you.
• Manual Entry: for a relative who is not on KuhuChat. You type their name and place. No request is sent, and nobody needs to confirm.

1. Tap the From Samaj tab.
2. Under "Search Samaj members:", type a name or a phone number in the "Name or phone…" box.
3. Tap the person in the list. Their name and village appear in a card.
4. Tap Select Relation and choose how that person is related to you.
5. If a box asks "Clarify your relation", tell it who you are to them (see below).
6. Check the name. You can change how it appears in your tree.
7. Tap CONNECT TO BANYAN TREE.

Members of your own Samaj, including villages merged with yours. You do not see yourself, and you do not see anyone you have blocked or who has blocked you. People already in your tree are greyed out with the note that they have already been added.

Some relations can go two ways. If you pick "Father", the app needs to know whether you are their Son or their Daughter, so that their tree shows the right relation. The box says "Your [relation] is in the system. Who are you to them?" Tap the right answer. Tap Cancel if you picked the wrong relation.

1. Tap the Manual Entry tab.
2. Tap Select Relation and choose the relation.
3. Type the Full Name.
4. Choose the location (see below).
5. Add a house or street if you like. It is optional.
6. Tap CONNECT TO BANYAN TREE.

There are two ways.

• Tap Search & pin on map. Search for the village, taluka or district, or drop a pin on the map.
• Or go step by step: State, then District, then Sub-District (Taluka), then Village. You may stop at the district or the taluka. At those steps you can tap "Don't know it — pin on map instead".

A location is needed. If it cannot be worked out you see "Location could not be resolved."

Search for it in the Search & pin box. If it is not found, drop a pin on the map at the exact spot. You will see a note that the exact spot you picked was saved, even though it is not in the place list yet.

103 relation names, in 13 groups, each in all 13 app languages. The groups are Spouse, Parents, Children, Siblings, Siblings-in-law, Grandparents, Grandchildren, Great Grandparents, Great Grandchildren, Paternal Relatives, Maternal Relatives, Nephews and Nieces, and In-Laws. They include family words such as Dada, Nana, Chacha, Mama, Jeth, Devar, Saala and Bhabhi, and step, adopted and foster relations.

Yes. Relations are shown in the language you chose for the app (see 2.1). Two people who use different languages each see the same relation in their own language.

Pick the cousin relation that matches, for example "Chachera Bhai" or "Mausera Bhai". For some cousins the app shows four choices when it asks "Clarify your relation", because it cannot know whether the uncle is older or younger. Pick the one that fits.

For a Samaj member, their tree shows you with the matching reverse relation. For example, if you add them as your "Son", they see you as their "Father" or "Mother", whichever you chose. They get a notification asking them to confirm (see 5.3).

Not directly. Remove the person (see 5.4) and add them again with the correct relation.

No. You see "This person is already in your family tree." If the earlier link was broken because the person removed it, you can add them again.

• "Select a Samaj member." You have not tapped a person in the list.
• "Select a relation." Choose a relation before saving.
• "Enter the person's name." The name cannot be empty.
• "This person is not available to add." The person is blocked or you are blocked. You cannot add each other while blocked.
• "Selected user has no location data." That member has no place saved yet.
• "Could not fetch location. Check connection." Check your internet and try again.
• "Save failed. Check your connection and try again." Try again when you are online.

Add as many as you like. Repeat the steps for each one.

So nobody can claim a relation that is not true. When you add a Samaj member, the relation stays pending until that person agrees.

• Your tree shows them with a red pin and a dashed red line, marked pending.
• Their tree shows you with the matching reverse relation.
• They get a notification: "New Family Connection Request".

1. Tap the notification. It opens your tree and shows a card: "[Name] connected to you as [relation]. Confirm if this is correct."
2. Tap Confirm Relation. You see "✓ Relation confirmed!"

You can also open Directory and tap Confirm on that person's row.

Only the person who was added. The person who added the relation cannot confirm it. If they try, they see "You added this — nothing to confirm on your side."

When you tap that pin, the card says "Waiting for [Name] to confirm". On someone else's tree you see "Pending confirmation".

The pin turns green, the line becomes solid, and the card says "Confirmed & linked". The person who added you gets a notification: "Family Connection Confirmed ✅".

Until the other person confirms, or one of you removes it. There is no time limit.

KuhuChat matches the two entries. If the other person had already confirmed you, your entry is confirmed at once.

A relative is linked when they have a KuhuChat account and have confirmed. You can then tap their pin and open "View [Name]'s Family Tree" to see their relatives too. This is how families of different villages join up.

Open Directory and tap Remove on that person's row. They are told that you removed the relation (see 5.4).

No. A relative added by hand has no account, so nobody can confirm. They show in red because they are not linked.

Remove the relation (see 5.4) and ask them to add you again if needed.

1. Open your Family Tree and tap Directory.
2. Tap the bin icon on the person's row.
3. A box titled "Remove Relation" asks you to confirm. Tap Remove, or Cancel to stop.

You see "Relation removed".

No. The gold pin is your own origin and you see "Origin pin cannot be removed."

• They get a notification: "Family Connection Removed 🌳".
• Their entry for you turns into a broken link: a dark red pin with a cross, marked "Relation removed".
• A banner says "[Name] has removed the relation with you."

It is what you see when someone removed the relation with you. Tap Remove broken link in the Directory (or "Remove from my tree" on the card) to clear it. The message "Removed from your tree" confirms it. You can also tap Dismiss on the banner in the Directory.

No. Relatives added by hand have no account, so they are deleted silently.

Yes. Any old broken link is cleared when you add them again. They get a new request to confirm.

No. Add the person again and ask them to confirm.

No. It only changes the family tree.

Yes. Changing your Samaj deletes your family tree (see 3.5).

• "New Family Connection Request 🌳": someone added you as a relative. Tap to confirm.
• "Family Connection Confirmed ✅": someone confirmed the relation you added.
• "Family Connection Removed 🌳": someone removed the relation with you.

For a new request, your tree opens and the confirm card for that person opens by itself. For the other two, the app opens on its home screen. Open your tree to see what changed. This works even if the app was closed.

It counts family tree notifications you have not looked at yet. It also adds to the number on the Samaj tab and your app icon (see 2.3).

Open your Family Tree. All family tree notifications are marked as seen. The number also clears if you tap the tree icon on your own tile in the Members list.

KuhuChat does not keep a notification list for the tree. Open the Family Tree and check the Directory. Relations waiting for you show an amber banner with Confirm. Broken links show a red banner.

No.

• The relative was added by hand, so no account was notified.
• Notifications are switched off for KuhuChat in your phone settings (see 2.4).
• Your internet or battery saver is blocking them.

No. When you add, confirm or remove a relative, only the other person is notified.

Your Matrimony dashboard has a card called My Family Tree. It shows your relatives in a list, so you can see your family at a glance without opening the map.

• The number of family members.
• How many are verified and how many are pending.
• A View Map button that opens your Banyan map.
• Your relatives grouped by type, such as Parent, Sibling, Spouse, Child, Grandparent and Aunt / Uncle. Scroll sideways to see them all.

Tap a relative to see their photo, name, relation, group, and whether they are Verified or Pending. Below that, if known, you see their Samaj and their location: village, sub-district, district and state.

You have not added any relatives yet. Tap Start Your Tree to open the map and add the first one (see 5.2).

People who open your matrimony profile see your family card too, as view-only. They do not see a "build" prompt, and if you have no relatives, the card is not shown at all.

No. Others can only look.

Yes. Both read the same tree. Add, confirm or remove a relative on the map and the card updates the next time it loads.