23andMe and other DNA based Ancestry Kits

[aneelmaan]

SSA sariya nu,

Coming from a family that doesn't know all that much about their roots (parents born in Fiji) I opted to do an ancestry test to see if it could tell me which populations I was most related to. I know that most of my ancestors that migrated to Fiji were from Punjab, but I also know that 2 of my great grandmothers were from Sarawan, Gonda, UP (which would explain the high percentage of ancestral South Indian). My other ancestral villages are Bharsinghpura and Gujarpur. After doing this test, I realized that Punjabi's are quite a diverse group. Here are the results that I got from GEDMatch (23andme results were very vague). According to GEDmatch's site, anything less than 2% can be noise, so interpret this as you will. Both results were using the HarappaWorld admixture calculator.

Here is one of my friends results whose parents are from Jandiala and surrounding areas.

 

[Dhillon]

What is ancestry test and How do you take it ?

 

[aneelmaan]

A DNA ancestry test is a kit that can be purchased online (23andme, ancestryDNA, etc) that can be used to determine where a persons ancestors came from. To take it, you order a kit online, spit in the provided tube, and send back to the lab for processing. It usually costs around 100 USD, but at times it goes on sale and is available for around 50 USD. Most of the major DNA tests don't have much information about Indians, let alone Punjabis. This is why there are tools such as GEDMatch, which allow you to upload your raw DNA data and allow you to calculate your heritage based on various calculators which take different populations into consideration.

 

[Dhillon]

Baloch lineage is interesting. So you are Maan & what is your friend's surname?
and if you don't mind your moms maiden surname.?

 

[aneelmaan]

My friend's surname is Johal. My mother's surname is Virk and her mother's surname is Nijjer. My dadi's surname is Leal. I found it very interesting, especially looking at different Balochi people. I could not distinguish between a few of them an most punjabis that I have seen. I can easily tell the difference between a gujarati and punjabi, but no so much for punjabi and balochi.