Are there any websites that have information about Indian surnames(and i don't mean native American here)?

Question

My surname is "Das" and i am a bengali.i am curious to find where this surname originated from. maybe try to track down my family tree. but when i went online i found plenty of genealogy websites about american and european families but nothing about indian families. do u know any website that can help me???

Answer 1

The british maintained the indian surname books..but, i am unable to locate in the british library.  There are websites..please go to google.com and findout.

Answer 2

das

Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: Hindu (Kayasth) name, from Bengali daš ‘votary’, ‘servant’, from Sanskrit dasa ‘slave’, ‘servant’. It is also commonly used as the final element of compound given names, for example Bhagavandas ‘servant of god’, Mohandas ‘votary of Mohan (an epithet of the god Krishna)’.

From Ancestry.com

Answer 3

http://genforum.genealogy.com/india/

I have seen others, but this one is persons interested in genealogy in India.  

another source (email based)

http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/intl/IND...

My friendly tip is that in most cases, think about tracing persons as individuals, not by surname. You are a part of all your ancestors, not just those with the same name.

The trick is to learn about WHERE to find available documents, starting with yourself, and working back.. that confirm your connection to relatives. Think of your birth certificate.. then continue thinking of those other records that show information.