Capildeo family

The Capildeo family (कपिलदेओ) is a family of politicians and writers in Trinidad and Tobago. The most notable members are 2001 Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul and mathematician and politician Rudranath Capildeo. The ancestral home of the Capildeo family is known as "The Lion House" (Anand Bhavan) and is in Chaguanas, Trinidad and Tobago. No one today knows how the name Kapil transformed into Capildeo. It is possible that Kapil added dev meaning God from his village's name of Mahadevadubey to his name. Translation from Hindi to English was not well developed in the 19th century and words were spelt differently then from the way they are now. Thus, Kapil was changed to Capil and dev to deo, giving Kapil's descendants the surname of Capildeo.

Family tree

• Pundit Capildeo († 1926)= Soogee Gobin (1880-1952)
  • Droapatie Capildeo (1913–1991) ∞ Seepersad Naipaul (1906–1953)
    • Sati Naipaul ∞ Crisen Bissoondath
      • Neil Bissoondath (1955 – )
    • V. S. Naipaul (1932 – )
    • Shiva Naipaul (1945–1985)
  • Simbhoonath Capildeo (1914–1990)
    • Sita Capildeo
    • Devendranath Capildeo(1938-2003)= Leila Bissoondath
      • Kavi Capildeo (1969- ) = Ratna Byragie
    • Tej Capildeo
    • Kovid Capildeo
      • Vahni Capildeo (1973 – )
    • Surendranath Capildeo ∞ Shakti Maraj
      • Preeti Capildeo
      • Priya Capildeo
  • Rudranath Capildeo (1920–1970) = Ruth Goodchild
    • Rudy Capildeo = Sandra Melough
      • Jamie Capildeo
    • Rudy Capildeo = Rita Lucia Campolini
      • Rudy Charles Capildeo
      • Lucy Capildeo
      • Joseph Capildeo
      • Oliver Capildeo
  • Rudranath Capildeo (1920–1970) = Shirley Gasteen (1933–2007)
    • Anne Saraswati Gasteen Capildeo = Ken Macdonald
      • Andrew Neil Gasteen Macdonald
      • Catherine Louise Capildeo Macdonald